USING SCLEROCHRONOLOGY TO EXAMINE THE INDIGENOUS HARVEST PRACTICES OF EASTERN OYSTER ON OSSABAW ISLAND, GEORGIA, USA

Ossabaw Island is a barrier island off of the Georgia coast located within the Georgia Bight region, and was first inhabited by Indigenous populations more than 5,000 years ago. This research project seeks to understand how Indigenous inhabitants of Ossabaw Island harvested resources from the surrounding estuarine and coastal environments during the Late Woodland (ca. AD 500–950) and Mississippian Periods (ca. AD 950–1580) by presenting the results of incremental oxygen isotope analysis on eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) from Bluff Field and Finley’s Pond, Ossabaw Island (Thompson and Andrus 2013). By measuring the ratio of stable oxygen isotopes in oyster shells from shell middens, it is possible to estimate temperature and salinity of the ambient water from which the oysters were collected. Therefore, this method provides a way to estimate both season of collection and environments oysters were harvested from by island inhabitants. Comparison of this study with others in the region show that oyster harvesting primarily in colder months and extensive oyster harvesting across estuarine environments is common throughout the Georgia Bight, from the Late Archaic into the Mississippian (ca. 2550 BC–AD 1580).