Oyster sources and their prehistoric use on the Georgia Coast

American oysters ( Crassostrea virginica Gmelin) on the Atlantic coast of south-eastern North America occupy distinctive habitats which are associated with communities that share common variation in the shape of their shells. Oysters from archaeological contexts are analysed and their variation comp...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of archaeological science 1992-09, Vol.19 (5), p.483-496
Main Author: Crook, Morgan R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Division of Labour
Environmental studies
Fauna
Methodology and general studies
Oysters
Prehistory and protohistory
Simple Analysis of Variance
Spatial Variation
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Summary:American oysters ( Crassostrea virginica Gmelin) on the Atlantic coast of south-eastern North America occupy distinctive habitats which are associated with communities that share common variation in the shape of their shells. Oysters from archaeological contexts are analysed and their variation compared to that represented in each modern community type. Source types for archaeological oysters are successfully identified (0·05 level of significance) for 12 of the 14 archaeological contexts by applying a simple analysis of variance procedure. The results indicate that much of the prehistoric oyster gathering may have been carried out by women and children, and that the recurrent harvesting of oysters from one of the community types had positive effects on subsequent yields.
ISSN:0305-4403
1095-9238
DOI:10.1016/0305-4403(92)90024-W