“… the most delicious fish …”—toward a zooarchaeology of the green sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis, on the coastal Northeast of North America

Abstract

Recent studies have underlined the importance of shellfish in Ancestral Wabanaki diets. Green sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis) remains are a substantial component of shellfish assemblages from some Ancestral Wabanaki habitation sites and are present in smaller amounts in many other archaeological sites on the coastal Northeast. We summarize extant knowledge of archaeological sea urchin remains in the Quoddy Region of New Brunswick and Maine, part of the traditional homeland of the Peskotomuhkatiyik (the Passamaquoddy people). We position this information in regional historical, ecological, and archaeological contexts. Our results suggest that sea urchins were harvested at specific points in the annual tidal cycle. We also suggest that changes in sea urchin abundance through time could reflect changes in local environments, perhaps partially associated with changing climates.