THE SCLEROCHRONOLOGY OF HARD CLAMS, MERCENARIA SPP, FROM THE SOUTH-EASTERN USA - A METHOD OF ELUCIDATING THE ZOOARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORDS OF SEASONAL RESOURCE PROCUREMENT AND SEASONALITY IN PREHISTORIC SHELL MIDDENS

One of the most fundamental and complex issues facing coastal archaeol ogists is determining whether people were seasonal or year-round resid ents of the coastal realm. This question can be addressed through scle rochronological analysis of the skeletons of aquatic organisms. A meth od of characterizing the temporal pattern of annual growth increment f ormation in hard clam (Mercenaria spp.) shells is presented in this pa per. Year-long collections of four hard clam populations at monthly in tervals from Kings Bay, GA (N=451), Indian River, FL (N=1100), Cedar K ey (Suwannee Reef), FL (N=259), and Charlotte Harbor, FL (N=399) were used to characterize seasonal patterns of shell growth, which in turn were used to assess the season of procurement in 52 zooarchaeological samples (N=4591) from the south-eastern Atlantic and Gulf coasts of th e United States. The zooarchaeological analysis shows that year-round occupation of the coast was a traditional way of life for at least 400 0 years. (C) 1997 Academic Press Limited.