A colleague and I have been puzzling about the absence of crustacean
remains in Northwest Atlantic, Gulf of Maine shell middens. He points
out that lobster and crab chitin in particular is well calcified and
therefore should survive in this carbonate-rich environment. I
counter that in over forty sites I have examined I have recovered a
single small carbonized fragment of crab claw. Even accidental
inclusions should have produced many more recoveries if chitin is
preserved in shell middens.
So my basic question is where in the world and under what conditions
have archaeologists recovered crustacean shell? And secondarily, has
anyone examined the structure of chitin in this regard?
Bruce J. Bourque
Chief Archaeologist
Maine State Museum
Augusta, Maine 04333
and
Senior Lecturer in Anthropology
Bates College
Lewiston, Maine 04240
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