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Sourcing Busycon Artifacts of the Eastern United States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Cheryl Claassen  and
Samuella Sigmann
Cheryl Claassen
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC 28608
Samuella Sigmann
Affiliation:
Department of Chemistry, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC 28608
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Abstract

A review of the history of marine-shell chemical-sourcing efforts preceeds the introduction of this project. Atomic-absorption spectroscopy (AAS) was used to assay levels of Ca, Mg, Fe, and Sr, in 44 prehistoric Busycon carica and Busycon perversum specimens from the eastern United States. Control shells (35) were collected from food refuse in coastal archaeological sites from Long Island to the Mexico—United States border. Subject shells came from nine Archaic and Mississippian sites. Elemental ratios were clustered to derive a probable water-body origin for the nine artifacts. The influence of diagenesis, body part, and species was negligible, but geography heavily influenced the results. The three shells from Monks Mound indicated origin in tropical, eastern Gulf, and Atlantic water. The shells from the Indian Knoll, Mulberry, and Tatham sites appear to have originated in eastern Gulf waters. The shell from the Archaic-period Ward site seems to have come from tropical water.

Resumen

Resumen

Este artículo introduce un proyecto que utiliza AAS para determinar los niveles de Ca, Mg, Fe, y Sr en 44 especímenes prehistóricos de las conchas Busycon carica y Busycon perversum de la región este de los Estados Unidos. Las conchas (35) para los experimentos de control fueron recogidas en sitios en la costa desde Long Island hasta la frontera entre México y los Estados Unidos. Artefactos de concha (9) fueron recogidos en sitios Indian Knoll, Ward, Tatham, Mulberry, y Cahokia, de los períodos Arcaico y Misisipiano. Las proporciones de los elementos fueron analizadas para determinar el origen acuático de las conchas. La influencia de difusión, parte de la concha, especie, fue floja pew de geografía fue fuerte en un análisis "cluster" (BMDP 2m). La caracterización química de las conchas parece ser una herramienta muy fuerte para determinar su origen acuático

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 58 , Issue 2 , April 1993 , pp. 333 - 347
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1993

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