Located about 30 kilometres south of Cairo near the Step Pyramid of Netjerikhet, the site was the oldest and most prestigious part of the Memphite necropolis, where rulers, priests, and high officials were buried.

Mission member Sara Zdunek, a University of Warsaw doctoral candidate who specialises in archaeomalacology, said: “Shells can be a valuable source information because they had many uses.

“They were often used as jewellery and ornaments; they were sewn into clothing. They also served as everyday objects. Large shells could have been used as containers for oils, perfumes, bowls for writing ink.

“They must also have had considerable religious or sentimental value, as they were placed in graves with the deceased.”

The practice of burying grave goods reflected the Egyptian belief in the afterlife, where objects used in daily life would be needed again. Some shells, Zdunek noted, were clearly symbolic. “In the case of scribes’ burials, clam shells were often placed in the tombs because scribes used them as ink containers. And as we know, Egyptians were often buried with items they used during life, which were supposed to be useful after death,” she explained.

“Cowrie shells resemble female reproductive organs, so they served as protective amulets for pregnant women and women after childbirth. We also know that they were placed in children’s graves. They were mainly found around the shoulders, collarbones, or spine, so we assume they were tied either on the shoulder or somewhere around the chest,” Zdunek added.

Beyond their ritual and personal use, shells were also part of Egypt’s built environment. Large quantities collected from the Nile were ground into mud and mixed with straw to make bricks, a construction technique still visible in rural parts of the country.

Archaeologists see this as an important link between everyday life and the natural environment, as molluscs also provide proxy data for climate change. Because they are sensitive to even small shifts in water temperature and quality, the species preserved in ancient mud bricks or tomb fills can help reconstruct environmental conditions in antiquity.

The shells found at Saqqara West show no signs of decoration or royal inscriptions, though their natural qualities may have been prized. “Some shells, freshly pulled from the water, naturally have different colours and patterns, so we can assume that the Egyptians also collected beautiful, colourful shells and kept them. Unfortunately, many shells lose their colour and lustre over time. On the other hand, some are naturally white and may have been collected precisely for this reason,” Zdunek said.

Polish excavations at Saqqara have so far yielded only 30 shells dating from 1999 to 2025. Most are intact, though some mussel shells survive only as fragments. The scarcity itself is telling.

“There are excavations where pounds of shells are found. This is not the case here. This is partly because the site has been partially looted since antiquity. This also carries a certain risk that some of our shells may have ended up in the tombs by accident,” Zdunek said. (PAP)

Science in Poland, Ewelina Krajczyńska-Wujec

ekr/ zan/ bar/ lm/ kap/

tr. RL