The Cultural Dynamics of Shell-Matrix Sites

Introduction: Cultural Dynamics of Shell-Matrix Sites: Diverse Perspectives on Biological Remains from Shell Mounds and Shell Middens

xiii Shellfish fill a particular niche in subsistence economies; however, the reasons why people gather and consume shellfish are contingent on environmental and historical circumstances and are sanctioned by cultural practices. Cheryl Claassen (1991) challenged “normative thinking at shell bearing sites,” and economic models such as the “optimal foraging theory” and “central place models” of shell- fish collection. Claassen’s voice (1991, 1998), while certainly not the only one, was prominent in shifting the focus of research from food refuse to symbolic, deliberate, and ritual usage of shells in the archaeological context. Shell-matrix sites are complex structures that challenge our ability to excavate, record, and, eventually, interpret past human behavior, unless they are excavated with the utmost, or even obsessive, attention to detail (chapters 2, 7, and 9). Even in their most basic form—as evidence of food refuse (chapter 6)—they often involve a lot of “dirt moving ” that needs careful deciphering. However, the attention to detail comes with high revenue. Shell-matrix sites are sensitive to environmental fluctuations and provide a wealth of information about the past use of natural resources. In addition to information about subsistence practices, they represent conspicuous markers on the landscape , are bearers of human burials in environments that are otherwise not conducive to skeletal preservation, and provide focal points covering large areas of past landscapes (chapters 1, 3, 7, 8, 11, 12, 21, 22). They were often both used and deliberately built for burial purposes, connecting us with the very notion of the ritual, social memory, and identity (Burchell 2006, 262). Individual shells and accumulations of shells often carry symbolic meanings we can only extrapolate from more modern usages: the shell as a symbol of birth, female sexuality, and rebirth; shells to remember distant sounds of the sea; or shells as symbols of life, fertility, and peace (Hamell 1992; Saunders 1999, 248; Stiner 1999). Whether shell mounds are remains of subsistence activities , platform structures for safer and more adequate living/settlement, sacred mounds, or territorial markers, the sheer variety of shapes and sizes, chronologies, functions , different types of material culture, and/or activities that take place in them calls for a truly multidisciplinary approach as the only way to grapple with the complexity inherent in these sites. An arsenal of different disciplines— from micromorphology, geochemistry, biological anthropology , paleobotany, ethnoarchaeology, zooarchaeology, geoarchaeology, and biogeochemistry to symbolic analysis and semantics—has been applied in recent years to excavations and analyses of these sites. The result of this vigorous research comes in thousands of specialized reports and papers, focusing on a particular method, material, or aspect of a site or a region. Many new initiatives and innovative approaches remain isolated as a consequence of increased field compartmentalization and lack of awareness between different disciplines and different research traditions. This isolation is further aggravated in the case of non-Anglophone academia, often published in less accessible or less well-known journals, and neglected even when it is at the vanguard of research. Our book attempts to redress these two issues by compiling very different approaches to shell-matrix-site research in a single volume, and by emphasizing research INTRODUCTION Cultural Dynamics of Shell-Matrix Sites: Diverse Perspectives on Biological Remains from Shell Mounds and Shell Middens Mirjana Roksandic, Sheila Mendonça de Souza, Daniela Klokler, Sabine Eggers, and Meghan Burchell xiv Roksandic, Mendonça de Souza, Klokler, Eggers, and Burchell from areas underrepresented until now in the Anglophone literature, notably Brazil, Argentina, and Portugal. By examining various aspects of this most abundantly present material in shell-matrix sites, the authors had to demonstrate anthropogenic activities and aim to understand cultural phenomena. Although by no means comprehensive, the chapters deal with several key areas of active research: the Northwest Coast of Canada (chapters 15, 17, and 18), California (chapter 1), Florida and the southeastern United States (chapters 3, 4, and 5), Brazil (chapters 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 16, 21, and 22), Patagonia (chapters 14 and 20), Portugal (chapters 6, 9, 10), and Scotland (chapter 19), and discusses more than 220 sites in ten countries on four continents. Each of these geographic areas has recognizable “signature questions” that arose through a combination of research history and site- or region-specific problems and manifestations of shell-matrix sites. Combining these diverse perspectives in one volume can help inform the practice of archeology and invigorate research, not only in the regions represented here, but also in other areas of the world...