Clamour from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf. Revised Dating and Distribution Patterns of Engraved Tridacna squamosa

Engraved Tridacna were used as decorated containers from the Mediterranean region to the Persian Gulf in the first millennium BCE. R. Stucky’s work of 1974 is to date the most comprehensive catalogue of engraved Tridacna. In the 50 years since then, new finds have been published in various articles and are compiled in this chapter, along with a never adequately published and almost complete specimen housed in Leiden, and an example from a Nimrud tomb which shifts the former dating of engraved Tridacna. Furthermore, the chapter analyses the circulation of engraved Tridacna between their probable provenience(s) and the locations of their find spots, based on the published pieces and the new evidence for dating. This includes mapping the finds of over 140 specimens via revised dating and stylistic groups to draw conclusions on their provenience and distribution patterns.