This article describes three freshwater mussel shell artefacts recently documented for the Murray River in South Australia. These finds more than double the known examples of such artefacts from this region. Two of the modified shells are perforated, with the other serrated. The finely serrated item is a rare artefact and we have not located any similar published examples in Australia, although international correlates exist. The function/s and cultural significance of the objects are also considered in this paper. Hypotheses for the perforated finds include ornamentation, tool stringing and fibre scraping. Ornamentation, idle tinkering and food utensil use are considered as possible intended functions for the serrated artefact. Given the age range of the objects reported here (c. 6181–517 cal BP), together with other finds in the Murray Darling Basin, we tentatively suggest that shells have been a material resource used continually in this region for a range of purposes. However, as argued by other researchers, we concur that there has probably been infrequent identification and reporting of such shell artefacts. This is considered particularly likely given that our finds were recovered from relatively small scale excavation/coring and surface sampling efforts. As such, this paper attempts to raise awareness of this form of material culture in archaeological sequences.

中文翻译：

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来自南澳大利亚墨累河的土著锯齿状和穿孔贝壳制品

本文介绍了最近记录在南澳大利亚墨累河的三件淡水贻贝壳文物。这些发现是该地区此类人工制品的已知例子的两倍多。两个修改后的外壳是穿孔的，另一个是锯齿状的。细锯齿物品是一种罕见的人工制品，尽管存在国际相关性，但我们尚未在澳大利亚找到任何类似的已发表示例。本文还考虑了这些物品的功能和文化意义。穿孔发现的假设包括装饰、工具串和纤维刮擦。装饰、闲置修补和食品器具使用被认为是锯齿状人工制品的可能预期功能。鉴于此处报告的物体的年龄范围（c. 6181-517 cal BP），与墨累达令盆地的其他发现一起，我们初步提出贝壳一直是该地区不断用于多种目的的材料资源。然而，正如其他研究人员所争论的那样，我们同意此类贝壳制品的识别和报告可能很少见。鉴于我们的发现是从相对较小规模的挖掘/取芯和地表采样工作中恢复的，这被认为特别有可能。因此，本文试图在考古序列中提高对这种物质文化形式的认识。鉴于我们的发现是从相对较小规模的挖掘/取芯和地表采样工作中恢复的，这被认为特别有可能。因此，本文试图在考古序列中提高对这种物质文化形式的认识。鉴于我们的发现是从相对较小规模的挖掘/取芯和地表采样工作中恢复的，这被认为特别有可能。因此，本文试图在考古序列中提高对这种物质文化形式的认识。