We went and found these incredible clam beds sitting on the barren rock.

It certainly puts finding seashells by the seashore in perspective.

That is brisket of blowfish with sea squid dressing, basted in barnacles.

And you've got the shells which would have come from the gulf just to the south of what is now Iraq.

We went and found these incredible clam beds sitting on the barren rock. Large clams, and when we opened them, they didn't look like a clam.

These include complex tools (which require several stages of manufacture), symbolism (for example, red hematite pigments for notation and beads for display, made from sea shells and ostrich eggshells), and long distance networks of contact and exchange.