Gooseneck Barnacles and the Archaeology of Nuu-chah-nulth Shellfish Management
By Meaghan Efford
Tuesday April 23rd at 7:30pm
Where: COR B111, UVic Campus, Victoria
This project unpacks the “other shellfish” section of zooarchaeological shellfish data that receive comparably little attention. These other shellfish often weigh less or are proportionately less abundant compared to the comparatively more robust and numerous bivalves such as clams and mussels. Ubiquity is a simple but underutilized quantification method that measures the frequency of occurrence of target species, rather than quantifying the relative abundance by weight or number of remains. This approach provides a new framework with which to analyse shellfish remains in archaeological and historical ecological contexts. Through this I build a profile of the wide range of shellfish species harvested, managed, and consumed on the West Coast of Vancouver Island in Barkley Sound, BC over the past five thousand years. The profile can inform resource management decisions and policy, with the potential to support Indigenous claims to rights to access and manage traditional resources.
Check out the link to the poster below!