Draft:Shell middens in Louisiana

Shell middens in Louisiana are historical deposits containing mollusk shells and evidence of Indigenous human activity in what is now the state of U.S. state of Louisiana. Recorded examples occur around Lake Pontchartrain, the Mississippi River Delta, and along inland rivers. The shells include the brackish-water clam (Rangia cuneata), freshwater mussels, and most predominantly, oysters. Shell deposits often appear as mounds, smaller accumulations, and layers within sites that also contain earthen construction.

The deposits document the use of aquatic resources and in some cases, they also preserve artifacts, animal remains, and human burials. Their composition and location have also been used to study former shorelines in the delta region's environment.

Distribution and environment

In a study of the Pontchartrain Basin, Sherwood Gagliano and Roger Saucier reported that some Late Archaic middens associated with former shorelines contained mostly oyster shells. They contrast these with later deposits dominated by the brackish-water clam, Rangia cuneata, interpreting the difference in relation to changing salinity as Mississippi River distributaries changed the basin.

In the Lafourche subdelta, Elizabeth Chamberlain and her peers found that recorded shell middens tended to occur near brackish lakes in the low lying areas between previous river distributaries, while earthen mounds, were often located on natural levees. The researchers interpreted the shell middens as evidence of use of mollusks, and other aquatic resources near these lakes by Indigenous peoples, noting that site preservation may of affected the observed pattern, also commenting that these low lying sites are the most difficult to document and the most vulnerable to submergence due to rising coastlines. They write that the absence of shell middens in other environments may indicate that shells were either not transported long distances, or for cultural reasons, they remained close to their source. They note that the high density band of sites in the Lafourche subdelta may of indicated resource richness or implied a cultural importance.

Archaeological sites

Pontchartrain Basin

The Bayou Jasmine and Linsley sites are small earth and shell middens associated with buried natural levees in the Pontchartrain Basin. Galiano and Saucier reported that construction work exposed the sites between 1957 and 1960. At Linsey, they recorded Rangia shell, charcoal, ash, animal bone, and Poverty Point objects. They reported a radiocarbon estimate of about 1740 BCE for the site.

Tchefuncte site

Lake Pontchartrain From Southbound Causeway Entrance

See also: Tchefuncte site

At Lake Pontchartrain, excavations were conducted in 1941 by James Ford, and George Quimby, who published their findings in 1945. Quimby and Ford describe fivemiddens they investigated near Little Woods in Orleans Parish on the south shore of Lake Pontchatrain. These midden sites are majority composed of Rangia shells. Their research discusses additional shell middens nearby and a large midden at Big Oak Island. On the Lake's north side, the Tchefuncte site near Mandeville was reported as being composed of Rangia. Excavations at multiple Tchefuncte era middens revealed pottery, burned areas, and human burials. Ford and Quimby reported 43 burials at Midden A at the Tchefuncte site.

Site 16OR14

At site 16OR14 on the shore of Lake St. Catherine in Orleans Parish, archeologists, Chip McGimsey and Tara Skipton documented a shell midden that was eroding into the lake. It is notable as it contained a large amount of European gunflints. It was noted on a coastal survey in 1953 and recorded in 1957. At that time in the 1950s, original archaeologists described a 100 meter-long beach of eroded shell, with McGimsey and Skipton commenting that it was unknown how much of the midden was left. Examining the collection that was gathered from earlier excavations, McGimsey and Skipton identify water worn pottery, and other artifacts that show evidence of Tchefuncte, Marksville, Coles Creek, potentially Plaquemine, and late Mississippi period activity. They interpret the site as being used intermittently from about 2,500 years ago, up until contact with Europeans. They note the presence of Euroamerican Pearlware ceramics which dates activity in the late 18th and 19th centuries, and write that primary occupation likley ended by 1830 or 1840.

McGimsey and Skipton raise a possible connection to a Maroon community, Chef Menteau, which historical accounts and maps place in the general area.

Inland Louisiana

Watson Brake

Artists conception of Watson Brake

See also: Watson Brake

Freshwater mussel middens show that sites containing shells were not restricted to coastal areas. At Watson Brake, a mussel shell midden (B-tr?) is located under Mound B, an earthen mound. Researchers identified 18 mussel species among 512 shell fragments from the deposit. The midden also preserved animal remains and mineralized or burned seeds that were used to investigate food gathering practices and seasonal indicators that provided context for when people occupied the site. They also write that the same midden produced human hand phalanges, and a radius or ulna fragment, potentially all coming from the same individual. There was also a cranium fragment found at the top of the midden.

Site 16OU97

At site 16OU97, on the Ouachita River, Evan Peacock and Shawn Chapman studied a freshwater mussel midden associated with Plaquemine culture. They compared shells in intact deposits to those in plowed soil, and found that a surface collection alone would not represent original construction of this sites confidently. Peacock and Chapman also used the shells to investigate previous distribution of mussel species.

Preservation

Many Louisiana middens have been damaged or destroyed. Ford and Quimby wrote that shells had been removed from the Little Woods and Tchefuncte sites for road resurfacing before or during early archeological investigations. They wrote that "the center of each had been gutted" In the Mississippi Delta, Chamberlain and her colleagues identified shell extraction, construction, the building of canals, the sea level rise, and coastal erosion amongst the causes of damage or impending risk to archaeological sites. She and the other authors described surviving sites as "further endangered by human exacerbated processes," also writing that "new chronologic constraints for Mississippi Delta archaeological sites are needed to better understand these records, yet are difficult to obtain because of the loss of the physical records themselves.