Introduction

Since the Paleolithic age to the present, molluscs – which include squids, octopuses and a variety of shellfish - have featured in different facets of our history. Yet much of this detail is either unknown or underappreciated.

From the shapes and patterns in their shells, to their culinary, medicinal and scientific value and from their depictions in literature and religions, mulluscs in general, and shellfish in particular, have fascinated mankind for millennia.

Man and Shells is a treatise on molluscs in our natural history. Readers will traverse through the journey by demonstrating how these organisms have accompanied humans in arts and culture, in ancient religions, the myths that surround them , their role in commerce as in dyeing and as currency as well as in aquaculture and fishing, and much more. Man and Shells helps us to appreciate these creatures that continue to have an important yet little known place in the cultural evolution of man through the ages.