Christopher Putnam
Pronouns: He/Him
Research Mentor(s): Hannah Hoover
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Anthropology, Museum of Anthropological Archaeology / LSA
Program:
Authors: Christopher Putnam, Megan Savoy, Hannah Hoover
Session: Session 3: 11:00 am – 11: 50 am
Poster: 11
Abstract
This research analyzes two shell middens from an archaeological site near Beaufort, South Carolina to explore how people from different time periods used local wetland resources. A shell midden is a collection of waste, bones, shells, and botanical objects. The first midden dates to the early 18th century, and was created by the Yamasee, a local Native American community. The second midden likely dates to the mid-19th century and was created by enslaved African Americans. We theorized that shells in the first midden could be different than those in the second midden, and reflect different preferences for wetland foods. To investigate this, shells recovered in excavation of the middens were hand-sorted by species (e.g., oyster, snail, scallop). Oysters dominate both middens. We additionally sorted oysters by left and right valves. The left valves are used to determine the minimum number of oysters in that particular midden. Additionally, various attributes of the oysters were measured from both groups such as length, width, and thickness. In studying the observed frequencies and the morphometrics of our shells, we attempt to uncover differences and similarities in how the two populations may have behaved in regards to their diets and tool usage in their respective time periods.
