Shell on Earth: Oyster Harvesting, Consumption, and Deposition Practices in the Powhatan Chesapeake

Abstract

Archaeological studies of North American shell middens have recently highlighted Native societies’ impacts on marine and estuarine waterscapes. Middens containing deposits of oyster shell (Crassostrea virginica) reveal histories of subsistence, settlement mobility, resource decline, and the long-term sustainability of fisheries. In this case study, we bring to the fore another important aspect of precolonial oyster exploitation: the habitat from which oysters were harvested. Five morphological attributes are measured to indicate whether Native fishers harvested oysters from nearshore or offshore habitats. Once combined with the archaeological context in which oyster shell was deposited, knowledge of harvesting location offers an avenue for considering social practice, the array of activities and pathways through which Native societies made and transformed the worlds in which they lived. In order to demonstrate the interpretive potential of this line of inquiry, we offer a comparative analysis of oyster shells from two contexts at Kiskiak, a Powhatan town in Tidewater Virginia. We hypothesize that Kiskiak fishers harvested large quantities of oysters from nearshore habitats and limited numbers of oysters from offshore reefs, casting light on social practices contributing to the oyster fishery’s sustainability on a millennial timescale.