Archaeological shell bearing deposits, or shell middens, are ubiquitous along the Atlantic Seaboard, and have been the focus of archaeological interest for more than a century. This volume presents recent research on shell-bearing deposits from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Chesapeake Bay. The papers cover topics ranging from fundamental subsistence changes as reflected in archaeofaunas, to the role of select species in hunting practices and diets, to methodological issues of shell midden excavation and interpretation, to aspects of ideation and ontology as reflected in features and assemblages. A consistent theme among the papers is the issue of coastal erosion caused by sea-level rise and climate change. This looming crisis has made the comprehensive investigation of these deposits more important than ever before.

Dwellings are unique arenas in which hunter-gatherers meet socially on a daily basis. Increasingly, archaeologists recognize that the relationships between people, entities, places, and objects form the basis of hunter-gatherer ontology. The spatial patterning of dwellings and the activities within them are among the ways that relational ontologies are expressed and maintained. We consider the gendered patterning of Maritime Woodland period architecture and space at Port Joli Harbour as a way in which ancient Wabanaki, and in particular ancestral Mi'kmaq, may have expressed their cosmologies. Consistency and variability in such patterning offers insight into how people maintained a sacred ecology. Dwellings provide scales at which to consider these relationshi ps when tracking the role of history and tradition.

Five seasons of survey and excavation in Port Joli Harbour, NS, Canada, have resulted in a high-resolution archaeofaunal sample from 2 contrasting shell-bearing sites: AlDf-24, and AlDf-30 (Jack's Brook). In this paper, we discuss the evidence for differences in mollusk-, fish-, and mammal-harvesting strategies between contemporaneously occupied sites. Furthermore, we highlight shifts in Mi'kmaw exploitation of coastal resources around the Middle to Late Maritime Woodland transition (ca. 1300 cal B.P.). Finally, we present insights regarding shellfish-harvesting strategies and site seasonality from isotopic analysis of softshell clam (Mya arenaria) shells. In the process, we construct a history of human—animal relationships in Port Joli, and reveal crucial similarities and important differences with Wabanaki economic strategies in adjacent regions.

This paper reports results of test excavations conducted at BjCo-02, a shell midden on the Mi'kmaw island of Maligomish located off the southern coast of the Northumberland Strait in northeastern Nova Scotia. While the site yielded few artifacts, preliminary observations indicate changes in the proportions of the two dominant shellfish species (eastern oyster and soft-shell clam) between 1500 and 500 y.b.p. The appearance of eastern oyster at ca. 1500 y.b.p. and its virtual absence ca. 500 y.b.p. suggest that the Maligomish midden conforms and, at the same time, challenges previously observed patterns at other shell midden sites in the Maritime Provinces of Canada and along the east coast of the United States. Drawing on the preliminary archaeological data from BjCo-02, and previous palynological studies from the region, this paper argues for the recognition of Northumberland Strait as a unique environment within the broader northeastern North American region. The paper also makes recommendations for future research to confirm the apparent species shift, including the proper calibration of radiocarbon dates to account for marine reservoir effects.

The protohistoric period in North America is broadly characterized by transformations in indigenous lifeways. Excavations during the summer of 2015 at BgDs-25, a small shell-bearing site in the northern Quoddy Region of southwest New Brunswick, Canada, present a strong case for continuity as well as change. Some of the archaeological materials from BgDs-25, including faunal remains, lithic technology, and settlement structure, share commonalities with earlier Quoddy Region Maritime Woodland period assemblages. In conjunction with other work in this area, however, the BgDs-25 results also suggest important shifts took place in settlement, subsistence, and lithic technology during the late 16th and early 17th centuries. These shifts may have been a response to the arrival of Europeans, but may have also extended processes of change that had their initiation in the earlier Maritime Woodland period.

Faunal assemblages from Maritime Woodland period shell-bearing archaeological sites in the Maritime Provinces show that people living on marine shorelines practiced foraging/collecting adaptations focused on the resources of the littoral zone and inshore waters. The hunting of sea mammals, especially the harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) and the grey seal (Halichoerus grypus), was a significant aspect of this adaptation. Evidence suggests that people hunted seals when the animals were hauled out on intertidal ledges, during their breeding, pupping, and moulting seasons: spring/summer for harbour seals and mid-December—early spring for grey seals. Stratigraphic, culture-historical, zooarchaeological, and paleodietary information suggest that the hunting of sea mammals peaked during the Middle Maritime Woodland and earlier Late Maritime Woodland periods (2260−930 cal B.P.).

Coastal and maritime environments provide a whole series of environmental and geographical factors that are integrated into our understanding of past cultural landscapes. These include both advantageous factors such as enhanced bone preservation associated with shell, as well as more deleterious factors such as site loss from sea-level rise. Good preservation can provide opportunities to explore archaeologically the ritual aspects of human—animal relationships—distinguished from more utilitarian aspects of subsistence processing—for which substantial records of oral traditions and beliefs exist. Here we focus on examples from recent excavations on Machias Bay and Frenchman Bay in Maine, spanning 4000 years.

Relatively few shell midden sites around the Gulf of Maine have been excavated and analyzed for the quantity of shellfish incorporated into the site. Such data would help us understand the intensity of past shellfish-harvesting pressure on nearby shellfish beds, and the ef fects of shellfish collection on settlement patterns. Moreover , the relative amounts of protein contributed to diet by shellfish versus vertebrates, based on the remains discarded in the midden, indicate that shellfish may have provided the majority of dietary protein. In particular, the softshell clam (Mya arenaria) was of primary importance to regional coastal subsistence and not just a bad-w eather, last-resort food.

Chesapeake Bay is home to highly productive marine ecosystems that were a key part of Native American subsistence for millennia. Despite a number of archaeological projects focused on Chesapeake Bay prehistory, key questions remain about the nature of human use of the estuary through time and across space. Recent work at 7 shell middens on the Rhode River Estuary, MD, provides insight into human subsistence and estuarine res ource exploitation from ∼3200 years ago through the mid-19^th century. This is an important diachronic sequence of coastal land use and subsistence for the Chesapeake and helps fill a gap in our understanding of coastal adaptations along North America's Atlantic Coast. Despite climate change, fluctuating sea levels, and the likely appearance of maize agriculture in the area ∼1000 years ago, Native American exploitation of oysters and estuarine resources remained fairly consistent across the Early to Late Woodland. These data stand in contrast to the mid-1800s assemblage, which was likely deposited by 19^th-century Euro-Americans and contains overall larger oysters perhaps obtained from deeper waters that may not have been a focus of Native American harvest. When placed in the context of other regional data, our analysis illustrates the value of shell middens for helping understand human subsistence strategies and the historical ecol ogy of the North American Atlantic Coast.

Between the early 1970s and to the mid-1990s, David Sanger was largely responsible for a series of large-scale regional survey and excavation projects throughout Passamaquoddy Bay (New Brunswick) and the central/Downeast coasts of Maine. While resulting in an important understanding of the paleoenvironment and prehistoric/historic resource exploitation along the Gulf of Maine, these projects also allowed the development of a unified analytical strategy for the excavation of shell middens using column sampling, documentation, and excavation protocols, as well as sediment analysis and classification. This strategy is detailed below along with a summary of excavations from the Great Spruce Island site (61-17) in the Roque Island Archipelago, Downeast region, ME, USA. Pre-European occupation at this specific site ranges from before 3000 years B.P. to ca. 400 years B.P.