Faunal Exploitation Practices at Three Malabar Period Sites in the Fox Lake Sanctuary in Brevard County, Florida

Summary

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

Three Malabar Period Sites, Hunter’s Camp (8BR2508), Palm Hammock (8BR2509), and Xavier’s Knoll (8BR2510), were excavated in the Fox Lake Sanctuary in Brevard County, Florida. Faunal assemblages recovered from general excavation units and features were examined to learn more about Malabar faunal exploitation strategies and subsistence patterns. Sampling methods utilized at the site allowed for a more complete perspective on subsistence strategies. The main objectives of this study were to determine the seasonality of the sites and to compare the subsistence strategies between the three sites by determining species diversity, and the relative abundance of marine vs. freshwater species and aquatic vs. terrestrial species. In addition, this poster aims to determine if these sites were habitation sites or satellite-processing sites, and this is accomplished by comparing the faunal assemblages of these sites to contemporaneous sites located to the north and south. The data collected suggests that the people of these sites incorporated turtle and both marine and freshwater species of fish and shellfish, almost to the exclusion of all other species, into the subsistence economy.

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): 26216