Intensified mollusk exploitation on Nevis (West Indies) reveals ~six centuries of sustainable exploitation

Abstract

In this study, we conducted one of the most detailed and comprehensive analyses to date of a pre-Columbian mollusk assemblage in the Caribbean. The robust sample, from the island of Nevis in the northern Lesser Antilles, comprised more than 58,000 individuals recovered from a 25 m2 (40 cm deep) midden deposit at the Late Ceramic Age (ca. AD 890–1440) site of Coconut Walk. Using this sample, we examined mollusk exploitation over a ca. 600-year time period, which revealed heavy dependence on only a few species. Statistical analysis demonstrates that even though mollusk harvesting intensified through time, there was an increase of more than 10 % in the average individual weight of the three main species and a ten-fold increase in harvesting generally. These data, in conjunction with a previously observed size increase of one of the three taxa (Nerita tessellata)—which was increasingly preyed on through time—infer a level of sustainability contra to prey-choice models in which over-exploitation is an expected outcome. Overall, the foraging of mollusks at this site appears to have been sustainable for ~six centuries based on the absence of evidence for over-harvesting and increase in size during the time of occupation, regardless of its causation (anthropogenic, climatic, environmental, or otherwise).