The Cultural Dynamics of Shell-Matrix Sites

Front Cover
Mirjana Roksandic, Sheila Mendonça de Souza, Sabine Eggers, Meghan Burchell, Daniela Klokler
University of New Mexico Press, 2014 - Social Science - 368 pages

The excavation of shell middens and mounds is an important source of information regarding past human diet, settlement, technology, and paleoenvironments. The contributors to this book introduce new ways to study shell-matrix sites, ranging from the geochemical analysis of shellfish to the interpretation of human remains buried within. Drawing upon examples from around the world, this is one of the only books to offer a global perspective on the archaeology of shell-matrix sites.

"A substantial contribution to the literature on the subject and . . . essential reading for archaeologists and others who work on this type of site."--Barbara Voorhies, University of California, Santa Barbara, author of Coastal Collectors in the Holocene: The Chantuto People of Southwest Mexico

 

Contents

Factors Influencing the Formation of Large Shell Mounds in Californias Santa Barbara
1
The Key Marco Site A Planned Shell Mound Community on the Southwest Florida Coast
11
Architecture and Midden
21
Defining Function by Contrasting Details
41
Late Holocene Coastal Economies and the Anadara granosaDominated Shell Mounds of Northern
57
Archaeology Physical Anthropology and the Evolution
91
Cultural Formation Processes of the Bioarchaeological Record of a Brazilian Shell Mound
103
New Photographic Evidence on the 1954 Excavations at Moita do Sebastião Muge Portugal
131
Intensification and Generalization
199
Zooarchaeological Studies of Inland Brazilian Shell Mounds
213
Shellfish and Resource Sustainability on the Central Northwest Coast of North America
223
Implications for Interpreting Seasonality
241
A Comparative Analysis of Shellfish
251
A Pilot Study
267
MicroRemains Trapped in Dental Calculus Reveal Plants Consumed by Brazilian
279
Landscape and Use of Plants by Southern and Southeastern Brazilian Shell Mound Builders
289

Feasting at the Jabuticabeira II Site
151
A Challenge for Paleodemographers
163
A Test Using Prehistoric Ceramist and NonCeramist
173
General Considerations about the Bioarchaeological Contexts in Patagonian Coast
189
References
301
Contributors
355
Copyright

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About the author (2014)

Mirjana Roksandic is an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Winnipeg. Sheila Mendonça de Souza is a professor of public health at Fundacão Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro. Meghan Burchell is an assistant professor of archaeology at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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