Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER Data Set Details

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GCE-LTER Data Set Summary

Accession:

ANT-GCED-2005

Research Theme:

Anthropology (Directed Study)

Contributors:

Carey J. Garland, Victor Thompson, Rick Torben, David Thomas, Karen Smith, Sarah Bergh, Matt Sanger, Bryan Tucker, Isabelle Lulewicz, Anna Semon, John Schalles, Christine Hladik, Clark Alexander, Brandon Ritchison

Title:

Oyster Paleobiology along the South Atlantic Coast of the United States

Abstract:

This dataset includes morphometric data collected from 37,805 oyster shells (Crassostrea virginica) from 15 Late Archaic (ca. 4500-3500 cal. BP) through Mississippian (ca. 1150 - 370 cal. BP) period archaeological sites situated along the South Atlantic Coast of the United States. Variations in oyster size is an important proxy for paleoenvironment and human population pressures. These data are part of a larger project examining oyster ecosystem stability and Native American oyster harvesting practices over the last 5,000 years. Oyster measurements were collected by many undergraduate and graduate students from multiple universities. Carey Garland added to and cleaned the data sheet between August 2018 and May 2019. The dataset was structured to include the Island, site name, time period, and provenience (e.g., unit, level, etc.) associated with each oyster measured. The original oyster database contains sensitive information, such as the specific location of archaeological sites. If a professional archaeologist needs site location information, they can contact the Georgia Archaeological Site File.

DOI:

10.6073/pasta/581d10fe0cd0d1d87b1d0742d1f84ad0

Key Words:

archaeology, ecosystems, GCE, Georgia, holocene, oyster paleobiology and ecosystem stability, South Atlantic Bight, UGA

LTER Core Area:

Population Studies

Research Themes:

GCE2 Q4 - Lateral Gradients, Anthropology

Study Period:

01-Aug-2018 to 01-Aug-2019

Study Sites:

SE_Coast -- Southeastern USA Coast, USA

» Download Geographic Coverage: Google Earth

Species References:

Crassostrea virginica

Project References:

Archeological studies

Publications:

Thompson, V.D., Rick, T., Garland, C.J., Thomas, D.H., Smith, K.Y., Bergh, S., Sanger, M., Tucker, B., Lulewicz, I.H., Semon, A.M., Schalles, J.F., Hladik, C.M., Alexander, C.R. Jr. and Ritchison, B.T. 2020. Ecosystem stability and Native American oyster harvesting along the Atlantic Coast of the United States. Science Advances. 6. (DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aba9652)

Downloads:

Data Table: ANT-GCED-2005 (Main data table for data set ANT-GCED-2005, 37805 records)

Access: Public (released 01-Jun-2020)

Metadata: Text (ESA FLED), XML (Ecological Metadata Language)

Data Formats: Spreadsheet (CSV) [3038.34kb], Text File [2828.52kb], MATLAB (GCE Toolbox) [403.68kb], MATLAB (Variables) [402.96kb], Text Report [3050.08kb]

Column List:(hide)

Column	Name	Units	Type	Description
1	Site	none	string	Site name
2	Location	none	string	Name of island were site is located
3	Period	none	string	Time Period
4	Provenience_1	none	string	Provenience information such as unit, feature, level (lvl), depth (cmbs, cmbd), northing and easting
5	Valve_Length	mm	floating-point	Oyster left valve length measurement
6	Hinge_Length	mm	floating-point	Oyster left hinge length measurement
7	Valve_Height	mm	floating-point	Oyster left valve height measurement

Statistics:

Generate script code to retrieve data tables for analysis in: MATLAB, R, SAS, SPSS

Citation:

Garland, Carey J. 2020. Oyster Paleobiology along the South Atlantic Coast of the United States. Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER Project, University of Georgia, Long Term Ecological Research Network. http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/581d10fe0cd0d1d87b1d0742d1f84ad0

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