Sessions > Session 4

26 March 2026

09:30 - 10:45 - Auditorium de la Grande Galerie de l'Évolution

Marine invertabrate species and cultural practices: art, rituals, and magic

Session chair: Tamatoa Bambridge, National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), France

Marine invertebrates in funerary contexts: food, ritual and symbolic practices in the Three Gauls 

Caroline Mougne¹, Nicolas Morand²

¹ UMR 7209 BioArch, BioArchéologie, Interactions Sociétés Environnements, National Museum of Natural History, France.
² Eveha international, France.

Keywords: Marine invertebrates; funerary practices; human–marine interactions; ritual consumption; Roman period

Marine invertebrates are most often studied as food resources, ecological indicators or economic commodities. This paper explores another dimension of human–marine invertebrate relationships by focusing on their symbolic, ritual and alimentary roles in funerary practices during the Roman period in the Three Gauls (Gallia Aquitania, Gallia Lugdunensis and Gallia Belgica). Based on archaeological data ranging from the Late Iron Age to the Early Middle Ages (2nd century BC – 7th century AD), this study examines the presence of marine invertebrates, mainly molluscs and echinoderms, in funerary contexts. Some species are deposited intact in inhumations, such as whelks, , or among offerings in cremations notably flat oysters, while others, including sea urchins, are occasionally placed on cremation pyres and intentionally burned. Other assemblages correspond to consumption remains, interpreted as evidence of funerary meals or practices of ritual commensality associated with burial ceremonies and commemorative rites. This study combines fieldwork data, a literature review, zooarchaeological identification, taphonomic analyses, and contextual comparisons with Mediterranean funerary assemblages, particularly from southern Gaul and Italy. This paper aims to rehabilitate the place of invertebrates in funerary practices by addressing a significant gap in current archaeozoological studies. While animal offerings in the Roman world frequently consist of pork and poultry, the regular presence of marine invertebrates in the funeral rites of the Three Gauls suggests a level of importance that deserves closer attention. The results highlight both the persistence of local traditions inherited from Gaulish societies and the incorporation of Mediterranean ritual practices during the Roman period, followed by their gradual disappearance with the transformation of funerary norms in the Early Middle Ages, within a context of Christianization.

Picture: Celtic and Roman funerary deposits along the French Channel/Atlantic seaboard. A. Grave containing chariot elements associated with a deposit of cockles, found at Mondeville (Normandy), dated to the Late La Tène period (1st century BC) (photo: C.-C. Besnard Vauterin). B. Whelks (Buccinum undatum) discovered in a necropolis dated to the 2nd–3rd centuries AD in Saintes (Aquitaine). 

© C.C. Besnard Vauterin & C. Mougne

Between wonder and extinction: the artistic and scientific construction of marine invertebrate perception 

Chloé Pretesacque¹

¹ Sorbonne-Nouvelle, LIRA, Paris, France

Keywords: naturalists, observation, jellyfishes, arts, scientific illustration

Scientific observation of invertebrates has always been largely dependent on artistic representations. Scientific illustrators, often naturalists themselves, have developed particularly precise techniques to depict life in aquatic environments. The link between arts and sciences was particularly evident during the first major expeditions devoted to marine invertebrates, notably the Baudin expedition (1800-1804) to Australia and the southern lands, where artist-naturalist Alexandre Lesueur documented numerous marine species. This presentation aims to show how the observational approach shared by naturalists and artists is particularly demanding when it comes to marine invertebrates. To observe these species, we must crawl, lie flat on the ground, swim, and squint our eyes. These species force us to alter the perceptual regime of vertebrates that we are and thus to work on our sensitivity. It was not until the 19th century that jellyfish gained significant artistic visibility in Europe. The decisive role of scientific illustrators such as Alexandre Lesueur, and particularly Ernst Haeckel, whose work The Art Forms in Nature (1899-1904) transformed the aesthetic perception of jellyfish. Haeckel did not merely document these organisms; he revealed their formal beauty and symmetry, pushing the boundaries of reality to the point of speculation. A speculation both inspired by occidental mythology, arts and scientific aspirations. We will see how jellyfish today represent both the threat of a sixth extinction and the strange and fragile beauty of a form of biological life that has only recently become of scientific interest.

Picture: Charles Alexandre Lesueur, Méduse Rhizostoma octopus (Linné, 1788). 

© Public domain, Museums France Collection (Joconde), photograph: Alain Havard.

Marine invertebrates and cultural practices: answers from the zoological phonebook 

Mark Carnall¹

¹ Oxford University Museum of Natural History, United Kingdom

Keywords: Zoological Record, Marine Invertebrates, Art, Literature, Taxonomic Chauvinism

Invertebrates, generally, remain critically underrepresented in science research programmes, conservation assessments and scientific degree courses, biases referred to as taxonomic chauvinism. These biases are even stronger when it comes to marine invertebrates due to obscurity, difficulty of study and rarity of encounter for the vast majority of people on Earth.  This disparity is further compounded in applied fields of human-animal interactions, a niche within a niche, and the role marine invertebrate species play in cultural practice: art, ritual, literature, magic and popular culture. Carnall aims to document the extent of these biases by examining all published literature on these topics as recorded in the Zoological Record, humanity’s longest standing and best attempt at cataloguing published literature relating to animals. This record, although not perfect, remains unparalleled in its comprehensitivity and as a reading list alone is an excellent primer for scholars of marine invertebrate species and cultural practice. The review examines publication histories by year, taxonomic group and fields of practice. When it comes to the structure of information and finding aids, the hard copy arrangement of the Zoological Record is arguably of more use for locating literature on marine invertebrates than the modern database equivalent and AI tools.

Picture: Image of Mythology, Folklore & Religion section of the Subject Index from the 1987 Zoological Record Comprehensive Zoology Volume. 

© Image taken by Mark Carnall of volume held in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.

Divinatory and talismanic cowries from Senegal: between fieldwork and museum collections 

Alain Epelboin¹, Manuel Valentin²

¹ Physician and anthropologist, active retiree, French National Museum of Natural History, Paris, France.
² Scientific coordinator of the Cultural Anthropology Collections of the Musée de l’Homme, Paris, France.

Keywords: cowries, amulets, divination, Islamization, ALEP collection, Senegal, West Africa

Cowrie shells occupy a central place in Senegal in divinatory practices and in the making of amulets, at the intersection of African traditions and Islamic talismanic practices. The ALEP collection of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle brings together several thousand amulets and magical objects collected between 1983 and 2015 at Mbebess, the landfill of the Dakar metropolitan area, where objects considered ineffective, dangerous, or socially disqualified are discarded. A selection of this corpus is currently being integrated into the cultural anthropology collections of the Musée de l’Homme. The combined analysis of ethnographic fieldwork and the ALEP collection reveals that the efficacy of cowries in divination depends primarily on their number, position, and whiteness. Cast, counted, and examined, they produce configurations interpreted through binary oppositions (back/belly, up/down). Their purpose is not to predict the future but to qualify a present situation: relational imbalance, the causes of misfortune, or a breakdown in protection. These configurations are translated into moral diagnoses leading to prescriptions: prayers, alms, ablutions, and amulets. In amulets, cowries rarely appear alone; they are incorporated into composite devices combining vegetal, animal, mineral, artisanal, and industrial materials. The colors of the supports—textiles and leathers—make their number and arrangement immediately legible. Although predictive divination is proscribed by the Qur’an, the Islamization of these practices in Senegal has not eliminated cowries but redefined their role. Islamic numerology —including abjad calculations, symbolic numbers, and magic squares— frames their interpretation and regulates their efficacy: cowries produce the reading, while Islam sets its operative limits. The ALEP corpus makes particularly visible the articulation between Islamic talismanic magic and African bodies of knowledge.
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Picture: Fodé Camara, a Nyokholonke hunter from Batranke (Senegal), has just shot a bushbuck with a single-shot rifle whose stock was adorned with numerous cowries. He sealed the animal’s orifices with appropriate plants and blew a whistle to thank the protective spirit. Then he performed a sacrificial offering by smearing his talismanic cowrie belt with the animal’s blood. 

© Alain Epelboin (1978)