The Historical Ecology of South Florida Shark Diversity and Indigenous Harvest

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Past Human-Shark Interactions" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Sharks are among the world’s most endangered vertebrate taxa, including recent estimates of approximately 71% loss in abundance over the past 50 years due to human impacts. Zooarchaeological baselines of shark diversity, distribution, and exploitation hold great promise for contributing essential historical context in the assessment of contemporary patterns in shark species loss and vulnerability to human-caused extinction. Yet, shark historical ecology receives relatively less archaeological attention compared to ray-finned fishes or marine mammals. The marine and estuarine environments of south Florida are home to an array of shark species and conservation efforts. Here, we focus on shark assemblage data from three ancestral (ca. 2000–300 BP) Indigenous sites spanning south Florida. We review and compare shark taxonomic diversity, cultural contexts of deposition and significance, and local ecologies engaged by Indigenous peoples in the past. Drawing on new ZooMS data, we also consider methodological challenges and advances in the identification of zooarchaeological shark specimens. Ultimately, this review provides a foundation for considering the contribution of zooarchaeological baselines to regional shark historical ecology as well as global perspectives of human-shark interactions through time.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Past Human-Shark Interactions   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 41475.0