Assessing the Scale and Pace of Large Shell-Bearing Site Occupation in the Prince Rupert Harbour Area, British Columbia

Letham, Bryn; Martindale, Andrew; Supernant, Kisha; Brown, Thomas J.; Cybulski, Jerome S.; Ames, Kenneth M.

doi:10.1080/15564894.2017.1387621

Cited by 17 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Nevertheless, comparisons of rates of accumulation are subject to two potential biases. Both refer to taphonomic effects, i.e., the variable processes that determine the deposition, exposure, burial, preservation and visibility of material remains, and these may operate differently on shell deposits of different types in different contexts [32,33]. One is the impact of in situ decay processes on shell accumulations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying spatial variability in shell midden formation in the Farasan Islands, Saudi Arabia

et al. 2019

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During the past decade, over 3000 shell middens or shell matrix deposits have been discovered on the Farasan Islands in the southern Red Sea, dating to the period c. 7,360 to 4,700 years ago. Many of the sites are distributed along a palaeoshoreline which is now 2–3 m above present sea level. Others form clusters with some sites on the shoreline and others located inland over distances of c. 30 m to 1 km. We refer to these inland sites as ‘post-shore’ sites. Following Meehan, who observed a similar spatial separation in shell deposition in her ethnographic study of Anbarra shellgathering in the Northern Territory of Australia, we hypothesise that the shoreline sites are specialised sites for the processing or immediate consumption of shell food, and the post-shore sites are habitation sites used for a variety of activities. We test this proposition through a systematic analysis of 55 radiocarbon dates and measurement of shell quantities from the excavation of 15 shell matrix sites in a variety of locations including shoreline and post-shore sites. Our results demonstrate large differences in rates of shell accumulation between these two types of sites and selective removal of shoreline sites by changes in sea level. We also discuss the wider implications for understanding the differential preservation and visibility of shell-matrix deposits in coastal settings in other parts of the world extending back into the later Pleistocene in association with periods of lowersea level. Our results highlight the importance of taphonomic factors of post-depositional degradation and destruction, rates of shell accumulation, the influence on site location of factors other than shell food supply, and the relative distance of deposits from their nearest palaeoshorelines as key variables in the interpretation of shell quantities. Failure to take these variables into account when investigating shells and shell-matrix deposits in late Pleistocene and early Holocene contexts is likely to compromise interpretations of the role and significance of shell food in human evolutionary and socio-cultural development.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying spatial variability in shell midden formation in the Farasan Islands, Saudi Arabia

et al. 2019

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“…Shell-bearing sites are ubiquitous in the PRH area and reflect both the by-product of food consumption and engineering efforts to construct level, well-drained habitation terraces in a highly crenulated coastal landscape dominated by bedrock outcrops, gravel beaches, and estuaries (Letham et al 2017). While dedicated construction episodes are known, in which massive anthropogenic landforms were built in short periods of time, shell-bearing sites also captured recurring daily behaviors, such that their lower and upper surfaces approximate the initiation and termination of occupation, respectively.…”

Section: The Prince Rupert Harbour Examplementioning

confidence: 99%

Estimating Marine Reservoir Effects in Archaeological Chronologies: Comparing Δr Calculations in Prince Rupert Harbour, British Columbia, Canada

Martindale¹,

McKechnie²,

Edinborough³

et al. 2018

Am. Antiq.

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The best method for quantifying the marine reservoir effect (MRE) using the global IntCal Marine13 calibration curve remains unresolved. Archaeologists frequently quantify uncertainty on MRE values as errors computed from single pairs of marine-terrestrial radiocarbon ages, which we argue significantly overstates their accuracy and precision. Here, we review the assumptions, methods, and applications of estimating MRE via an estimate of the additional regional offset between the marine and terrestrial calibration curves (ΔR) for the Prince Rupert Harbour (PRH) region of British Columbia, Canada. We acknowledge the influence on ΔR of MRE variation as (1) a dynamic oceanographic process, (2) its variable expression in biochemical and geochemical pathways, and (3) compounding errors in sample selection, measurement, and calculation. We examine a large set of marine-terrestrial pairs (n= 63) from PRH to compare a common archaeological practice of estimating uncertainty from means that generate an uncertainty value of ±49 years with a revised, more appropriate estimate of error of ± 230 years. However, we argue that the use of multiple-pair samples estimates the PRH ΔR as 273 ± 38 years for the last 5,000 years. Calculations of error that do not consider these issues may generate inaccurate age estimates with unjustifiable precision.

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“…Finally, while our results demonstrate the usefulness of tapho-chronometric processes to construct the depositional history of a small site, the use of this approach for larger sites, such as the one illustrated in Figure 1, would require data from many parts of the site and probably more sophisticated techniques of investigation, such as percussion coring and 3D site mapping (Letham et al, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%

Exploring shell midden formation through tapho-chronometric tools: A case study from Beagle Channel, Argentina

Zangrando

Tivoli

Alunni

et al. 2021

Quaternary International

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Assessing the Scale and Pace of Large Shell-Bearing Site Occupation in the Prince Rupert Harbour Area, British Columbia

Cited by 17 publications

References 30 publications

Quantifying spatial variability in shell midden formation in the Farasan Islands, Saudi Arabia

Quantifying spatial variability in shell midden formation in the Farasan Islands, Saudi Arabia

Estimating Marine Reservoir Effects in Archaeological Chronologies: Comparing Δr Calculations in Prince Rupert Harbour, British Columbia, Canada

Exploring shell midden formation through tapho-chronometric tools: A case study from Beagle Channel, Argentina

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