Beyond means to meaning: using distributions of shell shapes to reconstruct past collecting strategies

Abstract

Archaeological shell assemblages are often compared by the average size of a given shell species, with smaller average sizes taken as indicating greater human exploitation. This is simplistic, since the average size of a species of shellfish naturally varies considerably across a shore and over time. This distribution of shell size, shape and density varies systematically, according to a predictable pattern. Ancient shellfish collecting strategies can be reconstructed by comparing distributions of size, shape and age of archaeological shells to this systematic pattern. Methods for recovering these distributions from archaeological shell assemblages are outlined, and some recent applications to archaeological shell assemblages are highlighted.