A Regional Perspective on Shell Fishing, Shifting Environments, and the Communities of the Georgia Coast

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Culture, Climate, and Connections: Eventful Histories of Human-Environment Relations" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Mollusk geochemistry and paleobiology data from shell rings support an interpretation that villagers on the Georgia Coast during the Late Archaic developed complex institutions centered on sustainable shellfish harvesting practices. These institutions appear to have been long-term, lasting for hundreds of years. However, during the terminal Late Archaic period (ca 3800 years BP), environmental fluctuations led to changes in how people engaged with their landscapes and the eventual abandonment of shell ring villages. We discuss the environmental conditions under which shell ring villages on the Georgia Coast persisted and eventually waned ca. 3800 BP. We argue that cultural institutions and the environment are dialectally linked. The environment does not force a predetermined reaction, but rather a set of choices for people to either alter practices so that core institutions can continue or to shift practices to meet changes in the environment so that institutions take a dramatic departure from prior patterns. Within the context of environmental change during the terminal Late Archaic, communities of the Georgia coast decided to shift to other kinds of social-ecological relationships. These communities were invested in specific geographic locations, and they adapted to changing environmental circumstances and continued to occupy these coastal regions for millennia.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• Culture, Climate, and Connections: Eventful Histories of Human-Environment Relations

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 51143