A Comparative Study of Oyster Harvesting Practices from Domestic and Non-domestic Shell Middens on Ossabaw Island, Georgia, USA

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Since arriving on Ossabaw Island ca. 5,000 years ago, Guale communities have intricately engaged with their natural environment, creating a diverse array of subsistence practices reflected in the archaeological record, most visibly the consumption and disposal of large quantities of eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica). Guale people living at the town at Middle Place (9CH158) on Ossabaw Island, Georgia ca. 500 – 1000 years ago consumed and deposited oyster refuse en masse, forming hundreds of middens that represent different types of occupation within the site itself, including but not limited to mounds, household middens, and long sheet middens. This research utilizes data collected from 20 domestic shell middens and 5 non-domestic midden contexts to facilitate a comparative dataset on varying shellfishing practices through time and space within a single site. Using the presence and abundance of epibiont activity, i.e. boring sponge and polychaeta worm damage to shells, we evaluate trends in the habitat conditions from which oysters were harvested. Then this data is combined with and compared to data on trends in oyster size and shape from the same contexts to evaluate how these two kinds of datasets can be used to more holistically interpret past oyster harvesting practices.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 53817