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      Shellfish Feeders, Carrion Eaters, and the Archaeology of Aquatic Adaptations

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      American Antiquity
      JSTOR

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          Abstract

          Numerous taphonomic studies show that archaeologists should carefully evaluate the origins of faunal remains found in archaeological sites. Although extensive research has been done on natural sources of terrestrial faunal remains in archaeological sites, much less has been devoted to potential sources of aquatic fauna. Hundreds of animal species feed on shellfish, fish, and other aquatic fauna, and many transport food to terrestrial landforms where they may be mixed or confused with faunal remains left by humans. In this paper, we illustrate the problem by summarizing the habits of a number of animals known to feed on and transport shellfish and other aquatic animals. We also discuss examples where the remains of aquatic animals of non-human origin may have been confused with archaeological materials. Such biological imprints may be most pronounced on early sites, where questions about the antiquity of aquatic adaptations are paramount.

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          Pleistocene human occupation of the Solomon Islands, Melanesia

          Pleistocene dates from a rockshelter on Buka Island at the northern end of the Solomons Chain demonstrate human settlement by 28,000 b.p., some 25,000 years earlier than previously reported for this island group.
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            An Archaeological and Paleontological Chronology for Daisy Cave (CA-SMI-261), San Miguel Island, California

            We provide detailed contextual information on 2514C dates for unusually well-preserved archaeological and paleontological remains from Daisy Cave. Paleontological materials, including faunal and floral remains, have been recovered from deposits spanning roughly the past 16,000 yr, while archaeological materials date back toca.10,500 BP. Multidisciplinary investigations at the site provide a detailed record of environmental and cultural changes on San Miguel Island during this time period. This record includes evidence for the local or regional extinction of a number of animal species, as well as some of the earliest evidence for the human use of boats and other maritime activities in the Americas. Data from Daisy Cave contribute to a growing body of evidence that Paleoindians had adapted to a wide variety of New World environments prior to 10,000 PB. Analysis of shell-charcoal pairs, along with isotopic analysis of associated marine shells, supports the general validity of marine shell dating, but also provides evidence for temporal fluctuations in the reservoir effect within the Santa Barbara Channel region.
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              Human Pleistocene adaptations in the tropical island Pacific: recent evidence from New Ireland, a Greater Australian outlier

              The late Pleistocene colonization of Greater Australia by humans by c. 40,0130 b.p. is now generally accepted. This landmass, which comprised at periods of lower sea levels Tasmania, Australia and Papua New Guinea, has now produced sites with rich and diverse sequences extending towards or now mainly beyond 30,000 b.p., in the present arid country of western New South Wales (Barbetti & Allen 1972), in southwest Western Australia (Pearce & Barbetti 1981), in the Papua New Guinea Highlands (Gillieson & Mountain 1983), and recently even in Tasmania (Cosgrove 1989).
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                applab
                American Antiquity
                American Antiquity
                JSTOR
                0002-7316
                July 2001
                January 2017
                : 66
                : 03
                : 413-432
                Article
                10.2307/2694242
                107018aa-6291-470b-93f7-959258304790
                © 2001
                History

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