Quantifying the Importance of Saltmarsh Grazing in Coastal Settlements: an Isotopic Approach

Summary

This is a poster submission presented at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

We outline a new isotopic approach for exploring the importance of saltmarsh grazing in the past. Saltmarshes and other wetland habitats are important cultural and ecological resources because they can provide abundant, lower-input fodder for livestock and perform vital ecological services. For this reason, historical archaeological and ecological communities share a common interest in developing approaches for generating long-term retrospectives on how societies have shaped, and been shaped by, saltmarsh ecosystems. Our approach relies on variation and patterned relationships between particular isotopic compositions of livestock bone collagen to detect the presence and intensity of saltmarsh grazing in animals from early historical settlements in North America, which were renowned for their agricultural use of saltmarsh ecosystems. Results show that, while this approach works particularly well in saltmarsh areas, it may also hold promise for other wetland ecosystems.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023   •
• 2023 SHA Poster Submissions

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow