3500 years of shellfish mariculture on the Northwest Coast of North America.

ABSTRACT: Ancient systems of mariculture were foundations of social-ecological systems of many coastal Indigenous Peoples. However, since such systems either do not leave tangible remains in the archaeological record, and/or are hard to date, we know little about their development and use. Clam gardens, traditional mariculture features located within the intertidal zone along the Northwest Coast of North America, are composed of a rock wall positioned at the low tide mark and a flattened terrace on the landward side of the wall. Because these features are largely composed of rock and sediment, and have complex formation histories, they can be difficult to age. On northern Quadra Island, British Columbia, we identify three variations in clam garden form, constructed in different geomorphological sett

SUBMITTER: Smith NF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6392220 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature