Shell Midden Zooarchaeology and Paleoecology of Guaimoreto Lagoon, Northeast Honduras

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Recent research documents resource use and ecological change at the Selin Farm site, a group of around 30 well-stratified house and shell mounds occupied AD 300 – 1000 near the Guaimoreto Lagoon on the northeast coast of Honduras. A 4.5 m high shell mound with excellent preservation of vertebrate and invertebrate remains provides a full view of landscape change throughout the occupation of the site, including nearby terrestrial, riverine, and estuarine ecosystems. Alongside incipient agricultural practices, people exploited a wide range of wild animals from the region, with a particular focus on deer, several fish species, oyster, and conch. High species richness throughout the occupation, however, indicates an exceptionally high diet breadth and a flexible subsistence system that served the inhabitants of Selin Farm well during the upheaval of economic, social, and political systems that occurred during the 8th-9th centuries A.D.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 26132