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The Role of Shellfish in Prehistoric Economies: A Protein Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Jon M. Erlandson
Jon M. Erlandson*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106
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Abstract

In many prehistoric economies where plant foods supplied a majority of caloric requirements, shellfish may have served as a protein staple, at least on a seasonal basis. This hypothesis is supported with an archaeological example from coastal California, experimental data on shellfish protein yields in southeast Alaska, and review of two previous studies of the economics of shellfish exploitation (Osborn 1977; Parmalee and Klippel 1974). Evaluating the dietary role of shellfish from a protein perspective may have a profound effect on the reconstruction of settlement and subsistence strategies for coastal, riverine, or lacustrine economies, including both hunter-gatherers and agriculturalists.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 53 , Issue 1 , January 1988 , pp. 102 - 109
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1988

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References

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