ROBIN SKEATES

TRITON’S TRUMPET: A NEOLITHIC SYMBOL IN ITALY

Summary. The distribution and uses of triton shells in Italyfrom the Neolithic
to modern times are described in detail, along with a summary of examples
from the Neolithic and Copper Age of Central Europe and the central and eastern
Mediterranean. Attention is then focused upon the triton shell trumpet, which
is interpreted both as a Neolithic visual symbol and an oral signal, and
suggestions are offered concerning its changing meaning in historical and more
recent times.

INTRODUCTION

Triton shells have long been recognized by
archaeologists as more than mere molluscs.
The deposition of these shells and their
skeuomorphs in prehistoric ritual contexts has
been frequently attested in the eastern
Mediterranean (Mosso 1910, 363-365;
Montagu 1981; Reece 1985, 353-364), and
their use as conch shell trumpets is known from
around the world (Jackson 1917). The Italian
examples of these shells, however, have so far
received little attention, which is surprising,
considering their early date and prolonged use.
This paper therefore seeks to redress the
balance. Detailed contextual data are presented
below concerning the human uses of triton
shells in Italy, from Neolithic to modem times,
and more generally for Neolithic and Copper
Age examples from Europe and the Mediter-
ranean. Interpretations of these uses are then
offered.
CHARONIA NODIFERA
Triton shells belong to the genus Charonia.
There are about a dozen species, which are
found world-wide. The name ‘Triton’s
Trumpet’ belongs, strictly speaking, to the
Indo-Pacific species, Charonia tritonis,
whereas the Mediterranean variety is Charonia
nodifera. The latter are characterized by high
spires, long siphonal canals, and large
apertures, and can grow up to 30 cm in length.
They are carniverous, and live on rocks and
gravel in the lower coastal zone in fairly deep
sea water. They can, however, be collected
dead on beaches (Oliver 1975, 144; Reece
1985,353). Fossil examples have been found
in Sicily and Calabria, and also throughout the
Mediterranean, in Pliocene and Quaternary
marine formations (Gignoux 1913).
TRITON SHELLS AND TRUMPETS:
CONTEXTUAL DATA
Neolithic Italy
1 ) Caverne dei Balzi Rossi, Liguria
Triton shells were found here in an unspeci-
fied context (Mosso 1910, 363):

0 OXFORD JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY lO(1) 1991 17

 TRITON’S TRUMPET
2 ) Grotta di Bergeggi, Liguria
Some triton shells were found. Human
remains comprised a minimum of 14 indivi-
duals, predominantly adults. Many Neolithic
Square Mouthed Pottery (SMP) sherds were
also found. (Issel 1886,218; Tink 1968; Issel
1892, 242; Delfino 1981, 114-5).
3) Grotta di Galuuo, Liguria
Triton shells were found here in an
unspecified context (Mosso 1910, 363).
4) Caverna della Pollera, Liguria
Five triton shells were found, all with the
apex artificially cut off, and one with a small
drill hole through its lip. Artefacts made of
shell fragments included a segment of a large,
regular, and well smoothed bracelet probably
made of triton shell. Human remains com-
prised at least 49 individuals, including 27
children and juveniles, and 11 adults. Charac-
teristic pottery included bichrome painted
sherds, SMP, and Lagozza pottery. (Issel
1893, 64; Bernabb Brea 1946, 218; table
LIX. 1 and 5 , Bernabb Brea 1947,85; Delfino
1981, 109-113).
5) Arma del Sanguineto or della Matta,
Liguria
One triton shell was found, with its apex
artificially cut off. Human remains included
a minimum of 11 individuals, all children.
Perrando’s excavations in 1870 revealed a
group of three skulls (two coated with red
ochre), the mandible of a child and other
bones, and near to these were found: shells,
a ‘pintadera’, a bone spatula, two greenstone
axes, and a sherd of pottery. SMP, Lagozza,
and painted pottery were found. (Issel 1893,
75; Delfino 1981, 115-6).
6) Caverna delle Arene Candide, Liguria
Triton shell finds included: whole examples;
others with artificially removed apexes (18 of
these were found by Don Morelli); spoons or
scrapers; pendants - three pendants forming
18
the central group of a necklace, flat circular
pendants with a small hole, a pendant cut
horizontally at the apex and in the middle of
the shell, and a cylindrical curved strip with
hole; awls; cut, thinned, and smoothed pieces;
sea-worn pieces; and numerous fragments (200
fragments were found by Don Morelli). These
were found by Bernabb Brea in the following
strata: 26 and 25 (Cardial impressed, graffiti
decorated and SMP pottery) - three examples;
24, 23, 22, 21, 20, 19, 18, 17 (SMP) - 23
examples; 11 (Lagozza pottery) - one
example. A radiocarbon sample, R-101, from
levels 25 and 26, produced a date range of
5316-5005 Cal. BC (2-sigma) (Alessio et al.
1966; Stuiver and Reimer 1986). Many other
shell species were also found here. There were
numerous Neolithic burials found in the cave,
particularly of children and young people, and
especially heads or parts of heads. (Issell886,
,218; Issel 1892, 190; Mosso 1910; Bernabo
Brea 1946 and 1956; Delfino 1981).
7) Grotta delle Felci, Capri
Pieces of large shells, probably triton,
forming necklaces and bracelets were found,
along with onraments of Patella and Ciprea.
Human remains found at the mouth of the cave
comprised two skulls and female skeletal
remains, in the little cave there were bones
from six or seven individuals, and in the small
cave near to this there were human bone
fragments. Capri painted pottery and Diana
pottery were characteristic. (Rellini 1923,
351).
8) Ripoli, Abruuo
Triton shells were found in ‘Hut’ XXV in
the settlement. One human tibia came from the
upper deposits of this cavity. Artefacts in the
lower deposits included: three bone awls;
numerous lithics, such as blades, flakes and
single barbed arrowheads; a limestone mace-
head; and many pierced Pectunculus and
Ostrea shells. Pottery comprised: coarseware
OXFORDJOURNALOF ARCHAEOLOGY
 R. SKEATES

- trunco conical vessels with walls riddled

with small holes, and ring handles with raised
edges, sometimes pointed; black fineware -
spherical vessels with tubular handles; and fine
yellow ‘figulina’ - high cylindrical cups, and
large plates with raised and slightly inturned
rims decorated with little applied discs (Rellini
1934, 16). This assemblage was similar to
pottery from ‘Hut’ 3, which produced a radio-
carbon sample for the Pisa laboratory, and a
date range of 4231-3438 Cal. BC (2-sigma)
(Cremonesi 1965, 152; Stuiver and Reimer
1986).

9) Grottu dei Piccioni, Abruzzo

A triton shell, identified as Churoniu
nodifera, was found in the ‘Level of the
Circles’. It measured 16.5 cm in length. Its
apex had been removed, a small cylindrical
hole was drilled near to the lip, and it was
partly tinted with red ochre (Fig. 1). It is worth
describing the context of the ‘Level of the
Circles’ in some detail, because it is the best
recorded and published Neolithic context for
a Neolithic triton shell in Italy. (See Cremonesi
1976).
A line of rather scattered circles of stones
lay on a large flat slab of rock near to the back
wall of the cave. The shallow soil around these
was blackened, and contained charcoal, ashes
and pebbles, in contrast to the brown soil found
in the same stratigraphic level in a trench ten
metres away.
Articulated human bones from the upper half
of the body of an infant were uncovered within
circle I, at the left hand end of the line of
circles; and at the opposite end, near to a small
niche in the cave wall, the skulls of two
children were found along with a few skull
fragments and particularly some post-cranial
body parts of a child.
A large quantity of animal bones, pottery,
lithics, and bone and shell artefacts were
deposited both in and around the circles of
Figure 1
Charonia nodifera from the Grotta dei Piccioni in
Abruzzo. Length: I I cm. Reproduced by kind
permission of Prof. G . Cremonesi (University of
Pisa).
stones, and these exhibit clear, and seemingly
intentional, spatial patterning in relation to the
child remains. Overall one can distinguish two
major concentrations of animal bones and
artefacts at each end of the line of circles, close
to the child remains, along with a smaller
concentration in the middle of the line.
The intentional breaking of pottery vessels
possibly took place, for there is a notable
decrease from left to right in numbers of whole
vessels. and a corresponding increase in
numbers of sherds. Ethnographic instances
show that the deliberate breaking of vessels
is sometimes associated with conspicuous

OXFORDJOURNALOF ARCHAEOLOGY 19
 TRITON’S TRUMPET
feasting. Such an interpretation is supported
by the predominance of meat bones amongst
the remains of the major animal species
(sheep/goat, pig, red and roe deer, and cattle),
and the almost exclusive presence of meat
bones for the minor species (bear, dog, wild
cat, hare, fox, and marten).
An outstanding group of unusual artefacts
was located around circle XI, near to the main
group of child remains, and the triton shell was
found amongst these. There were 11 bird
humeri (mostly of surface feeding duck) and
one hare metatarsal, each with a red coloured
pellet of clay at the distal end (or traces of this);
six clay weights; a half drilled round and flat
pebble; and a collection of five intact fineware
pottery vessels which included: two bowls, and
two closed forms with handles, one of which
was covered by an inverted third bowl.
Pottery fabrics included coarseware and fine
‘figulina’?the latter being sometimes decorated
with red paint or little applied discs. Forms
included flasks with high necks and everted
rims, ollas with small handles, and round
bodied vessels with straight necks and lug
handles. There were also fine burnished fab-
rics, of which were made a variety of bowls
and cups, wide handled vessels with low necks,
convex walls and flat bases, one spout, and
two black burnished fineware cups carrying
graffiti decoration.
Typologically the material has been assigned
to the later Neolithic Ripoli culture, which is
broadly confirmed by a C14 sample, Pi-49,
taken from the overlying levels. This produced
a 2-sigma date range of 3780-3340 Cal. BC.
(Ferrara et al . 1961; Stuiver and Reimer 1986).
The deposits in the ‘Level of the Circles’
seem markedly ritual in nature, as is suggested
by the presence of human remains and some
particularly unusual artefacts, the high degree
of structure in the spatial deposition of material
remains, and the possible evidence of feasting.
In addition, the location of the cave, hidden
20
on the edge of the Neolithic settlement land-
scape, high above the Orta gorge, might be
considered as liminal, and hence appropriate
for ritual activities (Skeates forthcoming a).
Neolithic and Copper Age Temperate Europe
1 ) Chamblandes culture, S. W. Switzerland
Bracelets made from Tritonium species shells
were found in cist graves of the Chamblandes
culture (Sauter and Gallay 1969, 61). This has
its closest affinities with the final Neolithic
Chassey/Lagozza culture (Sakellaridis 1979,
57), which perhaps points towards a north
Italian or southern French source for the shells.
2) BtMsmegyer 11, Hungary
A triton shell with its apex neatly removed
was found in this settlement. It lay on a pottery
dish of the Baden Pkcel culture. (Banner 1956,
69 and plate 39.1; Montagu 1981, plate 11).
3) Fenkpuszta I , near Keszthely on lake
Balaton, Hungary
A triton shell, with a large irregular sided
hole in its body, its apex removed, and a small
round hole drilled in its lip, was found in a
‘cult house’ at this site of the Copper Age
Balaton group (Kalicz 1973, fig. 11S ) .
4) Osel, Wolfenbuttel, Lower Saxony, W.
Germany
A triton shell, with its apex worked off, and
filled with 12 worked pieces of flint, was found
on the summit of the Osel hill in 1898. It lay
on the bedrock in the middle of a soil filled
pit, and was surrounded by a further seven
pieces of worked flint, which were thought to
have been placed intentionally. The lithics
were generally non-retouched, but the three
retouched pieces have been typologically
assigned to the early Neolithic Bandkeramik.
A Neolithic pottery sherd decorated with
horizontal impressed lines was found three
metres away, and numerous lithics, including
OXFORDJOURNALOF ARCHAEOLOGY
 R . SKEATES
arrowheads and perforated axes, were col-
lected from the surface of the hill (Virchow
1902; Busch 1983).
Neolithic and Copper Age Eastern and Central
Mediterranean
A full account of triton shells from the
eastern Mediterranean has been published by
Reece (1985). A summary of this is provided
below, with the addition of some recently
discovered examples, and others from Malta.
1 ) Mainland Greece
A Neolithic example of a worked triton shell
comes from Kitsos cave in Attica, and another
triton shell was found in the Rachmani
Neolithic deposits at Magula Pevkakia in
Thessaly.
2 ) Cyclades
The remains of 94 triton shells were found
at Late Neolithic Saliagos, and included ground
spoons. The remains of 31 triton shells were
found in the Final Neolithic settlement at
Kephala on Keos, and two large distal end
fragments came from the upper cemetery area
there. A triton shell vessel was also discovered
in the Early Cycladic tomb 21 at Panayia on
Paros, and fragments were found at the Early
Cycladic cemeteries at Lakkoudhes and Ayioi
Anargyroi on Naxos.
3) Crete
Fragments of triton shells were recovered
from the Neolithic deposits at Knossos,
including one whole example with the apex
removed, and a cut and smoothed piece from
the Early Neolithic stratum IX. Many broken
triton shells were also discovered in the
Neolithic rock shelter at Magasa. Two triton
shells were found at Final Neolithic Phaestos.
One of these was broken, but the other was
whole, save for its apex, which has been cut
OXFORDJOURNALOF ARCHAEOLOGY
off. The latter was decorated with ochre, and
was found with two vessels which were also
decorated with ochre. The remains of 29 triton
shells were found at the Early Minoan IIA-B
site of Myrtos (Fornou Korifi), and one whole
example, from Room 28, had its apex broken
off.
4) Cyprus
Neolithic Triton shell vessels and spoons
were found at Cape St. Andreas. Five whole
triton shells, along with two vessels and eight
fragments, came from Khirolutia. One of these
shells was found with a flint implement among
boulders placed on the head of a child buried
in Grave IV of Tholos XXII. Unworked triton
shells were found at Ayios Epiktitos, and other
examples are known from Erimi, Episkiop,
and Maa-Palaeokastro.
In the middle Chalcolithic settlement at
Kissonerga-Mosphilia, a pit (1015), containing
material described as ritual in nature, was
found under a building (994). There were fire-
cracked stones mixed with pebbles, ground
stone tools, organic remains, and some sherds;
and against the south wall of the pit there was
a stack of pottery vessels in Red-on-White
ware, of the Ermini culture, which overlay a
building model with thirty objects packed
tightly into it, including figurines, stone tools,
a bone point, and a whole triton shell
(Peltenburg et al. 1988, Peltenburg and Project
Members 1989). Radiocarbon samples from
the pit date this deposit to the later 4th
millennium Cal. BC (E. Peltenburg pers.
comm. 1990).
5) Malta
A portion of a triton shell, ‘sharpened as if
for use as a cutting instrument’, was found at
the Hajar Qim Temples (Evans 197 1, 94). A
triton shell wzs also found recently during the
excavation of a ritual pit, known as the
Brockdorf Circle, on the island of Gozo (S.
Stoddart pers. comm. 1990).
21
 TRITON’S TRUMPET
Roman Italy
I ) Mythological contexts
According to Greek and Roman mythology,
the sea god Triton was the son of Poseidon and
Amphitrite, and was Neptune’s trumpeter. He
was half-man and half-fish, anci lived in the
depths of the sea, especially near to the coast
of Libya. He is associated especially with the
roar of the sea and its wild movement, as his
attribute, the conch or triton shell trumpet,
tends to indicate (Guirand 1959; also see
Dressler 1916-24).
The use of his shell trumpet, following a
flood, is described in Ovid’s Metamorphoses
(Bk. 1 : 330-345):
‘Then he called to the sea-god Triton, who
rose from the deep, his shoulders covered
with clustering shellfish. Neptune bade him
blow on his echoing conch shell, and recall
waves and rivers by his signal. He lifted his
hollow trumpet, a coiling instrument which
broadens out in spiraling circles from its
base. When he blows upon it in mid-ocean,
its notes fill the furthest shores of east and
west. So now, too, the god put it to his lips,
which were damp from his dripping beard,
and blew it, sending forth the signal for
retreat as he had been bidden. The sound
was heard by all the waters that covered
earth and sea, and all the waves which heard
it were checked in their course.’
(trans. Innes 1955)
In Virtil’s Aeneid (Bk. VI: 170-5) he kills
a rival trumpeter, Misenus:
‘Yet on that day, while haply he makes the
sea ring with his hollow shell, madman! and
with his blare calls the gods to contest,
jealous Triton - if the tale can win belief
- caught and plunged him in the foaming
waves amid the rocks.’
(trans. Fairclough 1927)
22
Tritons, collectively, were also half-men,
half-fish, who frisked around the chariots of
Amphritite, and Venus. They lived at sea, but
sometimes ventured onto land (Guirand 1959:
169). Lucius Apuleius, in lhe Golden Ass (Bk.
IV: 31), describes them accompanying Venus:
‘straight away appeared her servitors from
the deep . . . the bands of Triton trumpeters
leaping hither and thither, the one blowing
on his shell with heavenly noise’
(trans. Gaselee 1915)
and Pliny reports, in his Natural History
(Bk. IV: IV), that:
‘An embassy from Lisbon sent for the
purpose reported to the Emperor Tiberius
that a Triton had been seen and heard
playing on a shell in a certain cave, and that
he had the well-known shape.’
(trans. Rackham 1947)
2) Coins and sculpture
A few Italian coins, dated to c 200-67 BC,
show the figure of a Triton carrying a trident
and blowing a conch shell; and a Greek coin
from Agrigentum shows a Triton holding a
conch in both hands and blowing into it (Poole
1876, 15).
A colossal figure of a river-god, known as
the ‘Marforio’, holding a conch shell trumpet
in one hand, and a horn of plenty in the other,
was found at the bottom of the Capitoline Hill
in Rome, and is now housed in the Capitoline
Museum (Rossiter 1971, 53-4).
3) Funerary contexts
Tritons blowing trumpets are depicted on a
number of Roman funerary monuments
(Cumont 1942). For example, the sarcophagus
of the Nereides in the Vatican Museums carries
centrally a Triton blowing a conch (Cumont
1942, 167, plate XII.l). The tomb of the
Valerii on the Latin Way also has a Triton
blowing a conch, accompanied by a Nereid
OXFORDJOURNALOF ARCHAEOLOGY
 R. SKEATES
(Cumont 1942, 167, fig. 68). A sarcophagus,
formerly housed in the Villa Ludovisi, shows:
above, two wives accompanied by spirits of
the four seasons; in the middle, two Tritons
blowing into conches, two sirens, and two lions
each ripping apart a roe deer; and below a
description of the donor of the sarcophagus
(Cumont 1942, 165). Also, a cremation urn
in the Galleria Lapidaria in the Vatican shows
Tritons carrying conches and holding up an
epitaph (Cumond 1942, plate XII.2).
A partial explanation of this funerary
symbolism may be provided by the scene on
a stucco relief which fills the semi-dome of
the subterranean basilica outside the Porta
Maggiore in Rome. It depicts the last voyage
of the soul of a woman over the sea to the
Islands of the Blest, and an element in the scene
is a Triton who is not only blowing his
trumpet, but also holding an oar (Cook 1925,
136, plate XIX).
4) Pompeii
A large conch shell (probably belonging to
the Strombus genus rather than Charonia),
with its apex missing, was found in the
‘atriolum’ (courtyard) of the Cassa Menandro.
It was found near to a wall niche containing
three lamps, which was situated above a
platform. The triton shell was found with two.
much smaller shells, three shallow bronze
‘frying pans’, a terracotta jug, and two strigils,
which had presumably fallen from above,
perhaps from a shelf. Groups of other shells
were found in other courtyards. This context
must be considered as domestic until shown
otherwise. (P. Allison pers. comm. 1990).
Art in 16th-19th century Rome: some
examples
1 ) Renaissance painting
Raphael included in his Triumph of Galatea
OXFORDJOURNALOF ARCHAEOLOGY
fresco a Triton blowing a conch shell trumpet.
This was painted in 1514 for the Villa
Farnesina (Vermeule 1964, 65, fig. 52).
2) Late Renaissance and Baroque fountain
sculptures
Between 1575 and 1576 the Fountain of the
Moor was sculpted, based on a design by
Jacopo della Porta. It showed four Tritons
blowing water from double conch shell
trumpets. It was intended for the Piazza del
Popolo, but was placed in the Piazza Navona,
where it was later modified by Bernini, and
from where it was removed in 1874 to the
Giardino del Lago of the Villa Borchese.
(D’Onofrio 1957, 67-8, figs. 49, 51, 52).
There were also two fountains in the Vatican
gardens which incorporated Tritons: a fountain
sculpted by Cordier (Franciosino) between
1609 and 1610, which showed a child with a
conch in its hand spouting water (D’Onofrio
1957, 194-5); and the Fontana dell’aquila,
designed by Maderno and constructed between
161 1 and 1612 by de Pomis and Valperga,
which is a so-called rustic or grotto fountain.
A Triton sits in one of the caves on a dolphin
blowing water up through a conch shell
trumpet (D’Onofrio 1957, 193, figs. 159,
162).
Tritons blowing conch shell trumpets are a
feature of the work of Bernini, Baroque
Rome’s leading sculptor and architect, who
believed that historical subjects from
mythology, ancient history and the Bible were
the most worthy of representation.
In 1620 Bernini executed his ‘Neptune and
Triton’ sculpture, which shows Neptune and
Triton holding a trident and a conch trumpet
respectively. It was designed to crown a large
fish pond in the garden of Cardinal Peretti’s
Villa Montalto, and is now in the Victoria and
Albert Museum (Wittkower 1955, 4-5, fig.
21).
23
 TRITON’S TRUMPET
More than a decade later, between 1632 and
1637, he designed the lay-out of the Piazza
Barberini, and placed his monumental ‘Triton
Fountain’ in the centre. This masterpiece is
formed by four dolphins supporting an open
bivalve shell on which is seated a Triton
blowing a jet of water through a conch shell
held up in his hands (Rossiter 1971, 175). It
was created in honour of the Barberini family,
Bernini’s greatest patrons, as is shown by the
entwining of the papal insigna and the
Barberini coat of arms in the dolphins’ tails,
and was completed in 1643.
Finally, between 1641 and 1644, he
designed the monumental Trevi Fountain for
Pope Urban VIII, with two giant Tritons, one
blowing a conch, conducting the winged
chariot of Neptune.
In 1652 the Fountain of the Snail was
sculpted by Vannelli, reputedly based on a
design by Bernini. It shows three dolphins
supporting a conch shell spouting water. It
originally stood in the Piazza Navona, but was
later moved to the Villa Pamphilj (D’Onofrio
1957, fig. 54).
3) 18th and 19th century sculptures
During the second half of the 18th century
the sculptors Penna and Righi produced stone
relief wall panels for the Roman-style Room
of the Emperors in the Casino Borghese, which
formed part of the renovations carried out
under Prince Marcantonio Borghese. Penna’s
panel depicts Venus on the sea with an
attendant blowing a conch; and Righi’s shows
Neptune, accompanied by an attendant blowing
a conch, stirring up the winds against the navy
of Eneo (unpublished Borghese Gallery guide).
After the return of Pope Pius VII from
France in 18 14 the Piazza del Popolo was laid
out according to a design by Valadier. This
included a fountain on the west side showing
Neptune with two Tritons, one blowing a
conch shell trumpet (Rossiter 1971, 148-9).
24
19th and 20th century Italy
1) Religious contexts
Mosso (1910, 365), the Italian prehistorian,
relates that: ‘The triton shell is still sounded
in church in Piemont, and I have myself
sounded it as a child. During the services in
Holy Week at Chieri, when the choir was
singing the psalms, and a table was struck with
sticks during the Tenebrae of the Sepulchre,
the sacristan gave us the triton shell to sound.
Dr. Issel relates that during the services of
Holy Week in the Cathedral of Genoa a Triton
nodiferum used to be sounded, the same shell
which I have found in caves among axes and
knives of stone’. At Piedigrotta, near Naples,
a Strombus shell trumpet is played in the
festival of the Madonna (Fig. 2), accompanied
by a clay friction drum and a small squeaker
(Harrison and Rimmer 1964, fig. 9).
2) Economic contexts
At Casamicciola on the island of Ischia
conch shell trumpets were sounded to scare
away thieves and birds from vineyards and
gardens. On the islands of Elba and Sicily shell
trumpets were blown to summon fishermen
and field labourers, and Sicilian fishermen are
reported to have used triton shells as trumpets.
Also, the larger species of Buccinum is still
used by Italian herdsmen in directing their
cattle. (Jackson 1917, 32-33).
INTERPRETATIONS
To begin with, it can be argued that the
examples of whole triton shells, with their
apexes intentionally removed, were used as
trumpets. This is in agreement with the
interpretations of their excavators, such as
Cremonesi (1976). This view is based upon
analogies with Classical and more recent
ethnographic evidence from Italy. The mytho-
logical sounding of conch shell trumpets by
both Triton and the Tritons is described by
OXFORDJOURNALOF ARCHAEOLOGY
 R . SKEATES

Figure 2
Shell trumpets (Srrornbus gigas) blown at the festival of the Madonna at Piedigrotta near Naples. Photo by
courtesy of the Pitt Rivers Museum. Oxford.

Classical authors and depicted on Classical
funerary monuments and coins, and their actual
use has been variously observed in northern
and southern Italy during the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries.
Experimental studies and ethnographic
observations suggest, however, that triton shell
trumpets were not used simply as musical
instruments. End blown triton shell trumpets
produce only a limited range of notes: one or
two harmonics (Picken 1975, 552), and the
nature of the sound has been described, more
subjectively, as loud, braying and unmusical
(Jackson 1917). The sound produced by them
probably acted as a signal: evoking emotions,
announcing simple messages, directing and
impelling men and gods to action. That shell
trumpets have continued in use up until modern
times suggests that they have functioned
efficiently in these ways.
More specifically, the Neolithic examples
from Italy may have been blown in connection
with Neolithic ritual performances. They have
been found almost exclusively in contexts in
which human remains were present, (with the
possible exception of the poorly recorded
Grotta di Galuzzo), and usually in caves. As
Mosso (1910, 363) says: ‘the fact that they are
found near human bones gives reason to
suppose that even in neolithic times these shells
were sounded with a religious signification’.
These bones were in general intentionally
deposited and positioned, along with collec-
tions of artefacts, (although it is unclear

OXFORDJOURNALOF ARCHAEOLOGY 25
 TRITON’S TRUMPET
whether the Ripoli tibia was intentionally
deposited, or found its way less directly into
the upper levels of cavity XXV). The ‘Level
of the Circles’ can be regarded explicitly as
a ritual context, although the ritual perform-
ances carried out there may not have been
simply funerary in nature (Skeates forthcoming
a). The fact that a shell trumpet was deposited
in a ritual context does not necessarily mean
that it was sounded in that place, but it is at
least possible that this was so. And one can
think of the modem examples of the sounding
of triton shell trumpets during religious
ceremonies in northern and southern Italy.
The coast of Liguria seems to have acted as
a source for triton shells in Neolithic Italy. In
support of this, one can cite the facts that: the
earliest dated Italian examples come from the
late 6th millennium Cal. BC Neolithic levels
26 and 25 in the Caverna delle Arene Candide;
there were sea-worn fragments reported from
that cave; and triton shells were present in the
Ligurian caves in outstandingly greater num-
bers than in Abruzzo or Capri. However, it
must be stated that both living and fossil triton
shells were potentially available elsewhere in
Italy.
There is some evidence to suggest that triton
shells moved down the Italian peninsula, and
possibly across the Alps to Switzerland, as
elements in a late Neolithic long-distance
exchange network which indirectly linked
different regions and sites (see Barfield 1981;
and Malone 1985) (see Fig. 3). Where suffi-
ciently detailed publications exist, it is possible
to say that the late Neolithic Italian triton shells
were usually found in contexts which also con-
tained other exchange goods, such as obsidian
and trichrome painted fineware pottery.
Furthermore, the wide range of exchanged
material found in Arene Candide and neigh-
bouring caves seems to indicate that the Finale
area was a nodal point in this network during
the late Neolithic. For example, obsidian found
26
in the middle and later Neolithic levels of
Arene Candide came from the same sources
as that found in the Grotta delle Felci and at
Ripoli. Arene Candide received obsidian from
three sources, Sardinia, Palmarola and Lipari,
but only Palmarolan obsidian is known from
the Grotta delle Felci and from the island of
Capri, and only Liparian obsidian from Ripoli
and other sites in the Abruzzo region (Hallam
et al. 1976; Williams Thorpe et al. 1979;
Bigazzi and Radi 1981). Also, a sherd was
found at the Caverna dell’Acqua in Liguria
with a distinctive painted motif of a row of dots
bordered on each side by a single line, which
almost certainly indicates that the vessel to
which it belonged originated in the Abruzzo
region. This motif is found most frequently and
characteristically at Ripoli (Cremonesi 1965),
and also at other sites in Abruzzo, including
level 15 of the Grotta dei Piccioni, which was
stratigraphically associated with the ‘Level of
the Circles’ where a triton shell was found.
The Hungarian Copper Age examples of
triton shells can less definitely be linked to Italy
as a source. Links have been recently postu-
lated between the artefacts of the Balaton
Lasinja I1 or ‘Furchenstich’ culture and
material found in north-east Italian caves
(Kalicz 1988, 87), but similar links have also
been suggested between the Baden culture and
the Early Bronze Age Aegean, which could
equally have acted as a source for the
Hungarian triton shells. The discovery of a
triton shell so far north of the Mediterranean
in a possible early Neolithic context at Osel
is simply astounding. That it was exchanged
is perhaps suggested by its association with a
group of worked flints, found in and around
it, but the possibility that this is a fossil
example originating away from the Mediter-
ranean should be borne in mind.
Triton shell trumpets not only functioned as
emitters of oral signals, they also seem to have
been regarded and used as visual symbols in
OXFORDJOURNALOF ARCHAEOLOGY
 R. SKEATES

Figure 3
Distribution map of Neolithic and Copper Age triton shell finds from around the central Mediterranean. 1.
BCkismegyer I1 2. FenCpuszta I 3. Chamblandes culture graves 4. Caverne dei Balzi Rossi 5 . Caverna delle
Arene Candide 6. Grotta di Galuzzo 7. Caverna della Pollera 8. Arma della Sanguineto or della Matta 9.
Grotta di Bergeggi 10. Grotta dei Piccioni 1 1 . Grotta delle Felci 12. Brockdorf Circle 13. Hajar Qim Temples
14. Ripoli

OXFORD JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY 27

 TRITON’S TRUMPET
ritual. Symbols have been defined by Cohen
(1974) as: ‘objects, acts, relationships or
linguistic formations that stand ambiguously
for a multiplicity of meanings, evoke emotions
and impel men to action. They usually occur
in stylised patterns of activities, such as ritual,
ceremonial, gift exchange, prescribed patterns
of joking, taking an oath, eating and drinking
together, acts of etiquette and various cultural
traits that constitute the style of life of a group.’
The example from the Grotta dei Piccioni
best illustrates this: it stands out as an exotic
and unique artefact in the Neolithic of
Abruzzo, and, as if that were not enough, it
was also partially painted red; it was provided
with a hole, which can most sensibly be
regarded as a suspension hole, perhaps in order
to display it as an ornament, and also to tie
it to its owner to avoid loss; and it was inten-
tionally placed within a collection of similarly
unusual artefacts, adjacent to the main group
of child remains, which included two skulls
(powerful symbols in their own right), and in
a context where the deposits seemed to focus
attention upon those child remains. The
repeated occurrence of triton shell trumpets in
similar, although less well defined contexts,
is also suggestive of a symbolic value.
I do not intend to guess at the significance
of this symbol, but the similarities between the
treatment of the Grotta dei Piccioni trumpet
and those from the Ligurian caves do suggest
a certain similarity in the ideas behind the
symbol. For example, one of the specimens
from the Caverna della Pollera carried a
suspension hole, and the one from the Arma
del Sanguinetto was associated with three
skulls and a predominance of the remains of
young children.
Triton shells were also used as a source of
raw material for ornaments, such as pendants
and bracelets, and other artefacts, such as awls
and either spoons or scrapers. Triton shell
ornaments probably had some symbolic value,
28
especially as they have only been found in
association with human remains, but this
symbolism may not have been specific to the
species, for triton shell ornaments have usually
been found with shell ornaments belonging to
a range of other species.
The Caverna delle Arene Candide might be
regarded as a manufacturing centre for triton
shell ornaments, due to the outstanding num-
bers of fragments found there, many with cut
marks. However such evidence could also
reflect their use as a molluscan food source.
Charonia nodifera is not commonly eaten in
the Mediterranean, and is not listed with the
molluscs in Palombi and Santarelli’s (1969)
catalogue of edible animals of the Italian seas,
but it was reportedly eaten by the poor of
Marseilles and also on Crete (Reece 1985,
354).
The long and recurrent use of the conch shell
trumpet in Italy from the Neolithic to modern
times is remarkable. This might partly be
attributed to its successful functioning in
secular contexts, as perhaps at Pompeii, and
in relation to subsistence activities more
recently in Italy. However, its repeated
recognition as a symbol was probably a more
important factor. Conch shell trumpets and
representations of them have most commonly
been found in association with ritual activities,
and in religious and mythological contexts.
Symbols are employed in all of these contexts,
and through their emphasis upon tradition and
oral history, old symbols can be expected to
have been maintained in them. In ritual, for
example, the repeated use of old symbols is
encouraged by the formalization and very
repetitiveness of the performances, and by their
reference to tradition and the past in justifi-
cation of their more inexplicable aspects. Bloch
( 1986) emphasizes the extraordinary continuity
and stability of ritual symbolism over time. In
this light, Mosso’s (1910) blowing of a triton
shell trumpet during church services in Holy
OXFORDJOURNALOF ARCHAEOLOGY
 R. SKEATES
Week at Chieri can be seen indirectly to relate
back, through its use in a religious and ritual
context, to the use of conch shell trumpets by
Roman sea gods, which, ultimately, can be
traced, via a circuitous route around Classical
Greece and the Iron and Bronze Ages of the
central and eastern Mediterranean, to their
symbolic use in rituals in Neolithic Italy.
Despite this apparent continuity in use, it is
clear that the significance of the conch shell
trumpet as a symbol changed greatly over time,
and that its meaning should be understood in
relation to its changing historical context. The
introduction of the triton shell trumpet to Italian
ritual contexts during the later Neolithic can
be related to other changes in the nature of
ritual taking place at this time, and to broader
changes and stresses in society. In the later
Neolithic of the Abruzzo region, for example,
there was an increased distinction between
ritual taking place at this time, and to broader
changes and stresses in society. In the later
Neolithic of the Abruzzo region, for example,
there was an increased distinction between
ritual deposits in settlements and caves, and
between the treatment of children and adult
remains (Skeates forthcoming a), and more
generally an intensification and expansion in
the settlement pattern, and a shift in the
exchange relations of Abruzzo from southern
to northern Italy (Skeates forthcoming b).
Thousands of years later, Roman sea-gods
emerged blowing conch shell trumpets. This
use of the shell trumpet probably derives from
Greek mythology, represented, for example,
on an Athenian red figure cup from Culci,
REFERENCES
and CORTESI. C. 1966:
ALESSIO. M.. BELLA. F.. BACHECHI. F.
University of Rome Carbon-I4 Dates IV. Radiocarbon
8, 401-412.
BANNER. J. 1956: Die PPceler Kultur (Budapest, Verlag
der Ungarischen Akademie der Wissenschaften).
OXFORDJOURNALOF ARCHAEOLOGY
dated to about 520-510 BC, formerly in the
Castle Ashby collection of vases, which shows
a youth raising a conch to his mouth with his
right hand and holding a spear in his left hand
(Robertson 1979,22). Conch-blowing Roman
sea-gods were then reused as a theme by
painters and sculptors in Rome from the 16th
century onwards, particularly on secular muni-
cipal monuments, which can be seen in the
light of the revival of that city as an artistic
and political centre in Italy, and as a reference
by its artists and rulers to their inheritance of
the strengths and traditions of the Roman
Empire. Triton’s trumpet may have been
sounded throughout the Italian past, but its
meaning has been continually modified to suit
the present.
Acknowledgements
I should like to thank the following people for their advice
and encouragement in the preparation of this paper:
Dennis Britton, Sarah Milliken and Susan Keates
(Department of Ethnology and Prehistory, Oxford);
Andrew Sherratt (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford); HCltne
La Rue (Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford); Nicholas Argente
(Department of Social Anthropology, Oxford); Eddie
Peltenburg (Department of Archaeology, Edinburgh);
Lawrence Barfield (Department of Ancient History and
Archaeology, Birmingham); Robert Novella (Institute of
Archaeology, London); and Catherine Coouts and
Penelope Allison (British School at Rome). I am also
grateful to the British School at Rome for awarding me
a ‘Grant in Aid of Research’ which enabled me to
undertake research for this paper in Rome.
Department of Ethnology and Prehistory,
University of Oxford.
BARFIELD. L.H. 1981: Patterns Of north Italian trade
5000-2000 BC. In: Barker, G. and Hodges, R. (editors),
Papers in Italian Archaeology II. Archaeology and Italian
Society. Prehistoric, Roman and Medieval Studies
(Oxford, British Archaeological Reports International
Series 102) 215-223.
29
 TRITON'S TRUMPET
BERNABO BREA. L. 1946: Gli scavi nella caverna delle
Arene Candide. Part I - Gli strati con ceramiche
(Bordighera, lstituto di Studi Liguri).
BERNABO BREA. L. L. 1947: Le Caverne del Finale
(Bordighera, Instituto di Studi Liguri).
BERNABO BREA. L. 1956: Gli scavi nella Caverna delle
Arene Candide. Volume 2 (Bordighera, Instituto di Studi
Liguri).
BIGAZZI. G and RADI. G . 1981: Datazione con le tracce
di fissione per I'identificazione della provenienza dei
manufatti di ossidiana. Rivista di Scienze Preistoriche 3 6 ,
223-250.
BLOCH. M 1986: From blessing to violence. History and
ideology in the circumcision ritual of the Merina of
Madagascar (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press).
BUSCH. R . 1983: Eine Schnecke (Charonia nodifera) mit
Feuersteindepot vom Osel bei Wolfenbuttel. In: Wegner,
G. (editor), Friihe Bauernkulturen in Niedersachsen
(Oldenburg: Staatliches Museum fur Naturkunde und
Vorgeschichte) 1 7 7 - 8 .
COHEN, A. 1974: Two-Dimensional Man. An Essay on the
Anthropology of Power and Symbolism in Complex
Society (London, Routledge and Kegan Paul).
1925: Zeus. A Study in Ancient Religion.
COOK, A . B .
Volume 2 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press).
CREMONESI.G. 1965: II villaggio di Ripoli alla luce dei
recenti scavi. Rivista di Scienze Preistoriche 2 0 , 85-155.
CREMONESI, G . 1976: La Grotta dei Piccioni di
Bolognano nel quadro delle culture dal neolitico all 'eta
del bronzo in Abruuo (Pisa, Giardini).
CUMONT. F. 1942: Recherches sur le Symbolisme
Funeraire des Romains (Paris, Service des Antiquites).
DELFINO. E. 198 1 : Liguria preistorica. sepolture dal
Paleolitico superiore all'eta del ferro in Liguria e
nell 'area ligure (Savona, Sabatelli).
D'ONOFRIO. c. 1957: L.e Fontane di Roma (Rorna,
Staderini).
DRESSLER. F.R. 1916-24: Triton, Tritonen. In Roscher,
W.H. (editor), Ausfihrliches k.rikon der Griechischen
und Rdmischen Mythologie (Leipzig, Teubner)
1150-1207.
EVANS. J.D. 1971: The Prehistoric Antiquities of the
Maltese Islands: a Survey (London, The University of
London, Athlone Press).
30
FAIRCLOUGH. H.R. 1927: Virgil. Aeneid. Book VI
(London, Heinemann).
FERRARA, G . , FORNACA-RINALDI. G. and TONGIORGI, E.
1961. Carbon-I4 Dating in Pisa-11. Radiocarbon 3,
99-104.
GASELEE.s. 19 15: Apuleius. The Golden Ass. Being the
Metamorphoses of Lucius Apuleius (London,
Heinemann).
1913: Les Formations Marines PliocPnes et
GIGNOUX. M .
Quaremaires de I'Italie d u Sud et de la Sicilie (Lyon,
Rey).
GUIRAND. F. (editor) 1959: Larousse Encyclopedia of
Mythology (London, Hamlyn).
HALLAM, B.R., WARREN, S.E. and RENFREW. C. 1976:
Obsidian in the western Mediterranean: characterization
by neutron activation analysis and optical emission
spectroscopy. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 42,
85-1 10.
HARRISON. F. and RIMMER. J . 1964: European Musical
Instruments (London, Studio Vista).
INNES. M.M. 1955: The Metamorphoses of Ovid
(Harmondsworth, Penguin Books).
ISSEL. A. 1886: Scavi recenti nella caverna delle Arene
Candide in Liguria. Bullettino di Paletnologia Italiana
1 2 , 1 1 2 - 1 3 3 , 217-228.
ISSEL. A. 1892: Liguira Geologica e Preistorica. Volume
2.
ISSEL. A . 1893: Note paletnologiche sulla collezione del
sig. G.B. Rossi. Bullettino di Paletnologia Italiana 19,
1-17, 5 7 - 9 2 .
JACKSON. J.W. 1917: Shells as Evidence of the Migrations
of Early Culture (Manchester: Manchester University
Press).
1973: Uber die chronologische Stellung der
KALICZ. N .
Balaton-Gruppe in Ungarn. In Chropovsky, B. (editor),
Symposium uber die Entstehung und Chronologie der
Badener Kultur (Bratislava, Verlag der Slowakischen
Akademie der Wissenschaften) 13 1 - 165.
KALICZ, N . 1988: The New Results of the Investigations
on the Hungarian Copper Age. Rassegna di Archeologia
7, 7 5 - 1 0 3 .
MALONE. c. 1985: Pots, prestige and ritual in Neolithic
southern Italy. In Malone, C. and Stoddart, S. (editors),
Papers in Italian Archaeology IV. The Cambridge
Conference. Part ii. Prehistory (Oxford, British
OXFORDJOURNALOF ARCHAEOLOGY
 R. SKEATES
Archaeological Reports International Series 244)
I 18- I5 1.
MONTAGU. J . 1981: The conch in prehistory: pottery,
stone and natural. World Archaeology 12, 273-279.
1910: The Dawn of Mediterranean Civilisation
MOSSO. A.
(London Fisher Unwin).
1975: The Hamlyn Guide to Shells of the
OLIVER. A . P . H .
World (Feltham, Hamlyn).
PALOMBI. A . and SANTARELLI, M. 1969: Gli Animali
Conimestibili dei Mari d 'Italia (Milano, Hoepli).
and ELLIOTT. C .
PELTENBURG. E.J.. BOLGER, D . , GORING, E.
1988: Kissonerga-Mosphilia 1987: Ritual Deposit, Unit
1015. Report of the Department of Antiquities Cyprus
1988, 3-52.
PELTENBURG. E. and PROJECT MEMBERS 1989: Excavations
at Kissonerga-Mosphilia, 1988. Repon of the Department
of Antiquities Cyprus 1989, 29-40.
PICKEN. L . E . R . 1975: Folk Musical Instruments of Turkey
(London, Oxford University Press).
POOLE. R . S . (editor) 1876: A Catalogue of the Greek
Coins in the British Museum. Sicily (London, The
Trustees of the British Museum).
1947: Pliny. Natural History. Volume I l l
R A C K H A M .H .
(London: Heinemann).
REECE. D.S. 1985: Shells, ostrich eggshells and other
exotic faunal remains from Kition. In Karageorghis, V.
(editor), Excavations at Kition V. The Pre-Phoenician
Levels. Part I1 (Nicosia, The Department of Antiquities,
Cyprus) 340-415.
RELLINI. u. 1923: La Grotta delle Felci a Capri.
Munumenti Antichi 29, 305-408.
RELLINI.u.
1934: La piu anrica ceramica dipinta in Italia
(Roma, Meridionale).
ROBERTSON. M .1979: J. Boardman and M. Robertson,
Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum Castle Ashby (Oxford,
British Academy).
OXFORDJOURNALOF ARCHAEOLOGY
ROSSITER. S . (editor) 1971: The Blue Guides, Rome and
Environs (London, Benn).
SAKELLARIDIS, M . 1979: The Economic Exploitation of
the Swiss Area in the Mesolithic and Neolithic Periods
(Oxford, British Archaeological Reports Internatonal
Series 67).
SAUTER. M . R and GALLAY. A . 1969: Les premieres
cultures d'origine miditerraneenne. Ur- und
friigeschichtlichiche Archaologie der Sch weiz 2, 47-66.
SKEATES. R.G. forthcoming a: Caves, Cult and Children
in Neolithic Abruzzo, Central Italy. In Garwood, P.,
Jennings, D., Skeates, R. and Toms, J. (editors), Sacred
and Profane. A Conference on Archaeology, Ritual and
Religion. Oxford, 28th-20th October, 1989 (Oxford,
Oxford Monograph Series, Committee for Archaeology).
SKEATES. R . G . forthcoming b: The Neolithic and Copper
Age in Abruuo and Marche, Central Italy (D. Phil. thesis,
University of Oxford).
1986: A Computer program
STUIVER. M . and RIEMER, P.J.
for radiocarbon age calibration. Radiocarbon 28,
1022 - 1030.
TINE, s. 1968: Scoperte e scavi preistorici in Italia
durante il 1968. Rivisra di Scienze Preistoriche 23,
393-5.
VERMEULE, c. 1964: European A n and the Classical Past
(Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press).
VIRCHOW. R . 1902: Sur un depot des temps nkolithiques,
forme d'une coquille de Tritonium remplie d'eclats de
silex taillis. Congrks International d 'Anthropologie et
d 'ArchPologie prPhistoriques. Compte Rendu de la
douzieme session. Paris 1900 (Paris, Masson) 295-7.
WILLIAMS THORPE. 0.. WARREN. S.E. and BARFIELD. L.H.
1979: The sources and distribution of archaeological
obsidian in Northern Italy. Preistoria AIpina 15, 73-92.
WITTKOWER. R. 1955: Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The
Sculptor of the Roman Baroque (London, The Phaidon
Press).
31