Shellfish Gathering and Shell Midden Archaeology Revisited: Chronology and Taphonomy at White Oak Point, Potomac River Estuary, Virginia

ABSTRACT

Thirty years ago, archaeologists were engaged in a spirited debate about the importance of maritime adaptations in human prehistory. Waselkov's (1987) synthesis of shell midden archaeology was a key component of this debate, including his (1982) work at White Oak Point (44WM119), Virginia. 44WM119 is a massive shell midden with the earliest definitive human use of coastal resources on the Chesapeake Bay (∼4,900 years ago) and nearly continuous occupation through the Historic period. Given its significance and advances in radiocarbon dating (Accelerator Mass Spectrometry [AMS], reservoir corrections, calibration, etc.) since 44WM119 was excavated, we obtained 22 AMS ¹⁴C dates from charcoal and Crassostrea virginica shells from components with age estimates based on artifact associations. These and 14 previous ¹⁴C dates document human occupation from 2890 cal BC to the early twentieth century; they also deviate widely from ages based on direct artifact associations, with only 45% of the new dates (64% overall) agreeing with the expected age. Site disturbances, especially human modification of the deposits (digging pits, etc.), appear to be responsible for these discrepancies. These findings demonstrate the value of large, open-air, stratigraphic excavations, extensive radiocarbon dating, and the long-term curation of shell midden collections to help understand site formation processes and human behavior.

Keywords:

• Chesapeake Bay
• coastal archaeology
• Middle Atlantic
• radiocarbon dating
• site formation processes