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Intensified mollusk exploitation on Nevis (West Indies) reveals ~six centuries of sustainable exploitation

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Abstract

In this study, we conducted one of the most detailed and comprehensive analyses to date of a pre-Columbian mollusk assemblage in the Caribbean. The robust sample, from the island of Nevis in the northern Lesser Antilles, comprised more than 58,000 individuals recovered from a 25 m2 (40 cm deep) midden deposit at the Late Ceramic Age (ca. AD 890–1440) site of Coconut Walk. Using this sample, we examined mollusk exploitation over a ca. 600-year time period, which revealed heavy dependence on only a few species. Statistical analysis demonstrates that even though mollusk harvesting intensified through time, there was an increase of more than 10 % in the average individual weight of the three main species and a ten-fold increase in harvesting generally. These data, in conjunction with a previously observed size increase of one of the three taxa (Nerita tessellata)—which was increasingly preyed on through time—infer a level of sustainability contra to prey-choice models in which over-exploitation is an expected outcome. Overall, the foraging of mollusks at this site appears to have been sustainable for ~six centuries based on the absence of evidence for over-harvesting and increase in size during the time of occupation, regardless of its causation (anthropogenic, climatic, environmental, or otherwise).

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Nevis Historical and Conservation Society for their support and logistical help in the 2010 fieldwork at Coconut Walk. Thanks also go to the many students who assisted in field and lab processing activities on Nevis and at North Carolina State University and Michiel Kappers and Quetta Kaye who co-directed the project. The project described in this publication was supported in part by Grant/Cooperative Agreement Number G10AC00624 from the United States Geological Survey. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the USGS. Comments from William Keegan and an anonymous reviewer helped to improve the clarity and content of the arguments made.

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  1. Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, 97403, USA

    Aaron S. Poteate, Scott M. Fitzpatrick, Meagan Clark & Jessica H. Stone

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  1. Aaron S. Poteate
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Correspondence to Aaron S. Poteate.

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Poteate, A.S., Fitzpatrick, S.M., Clark, M. et al. Intensified mollusk exploitation on Nevis (West Indies) reveals ~six centuries of sustainable exploitation. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 7, 361–374 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-014-0196-1

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