I. Data Set Descriptors A. Title: Victor D. Thompson. 2020. Oyster Paleobiology along the South Atlantic Coast of the United States. Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER Data Catalog (data set ANT-GCED-2005; http://gce-lter.marsci.uga.edu/public/app/dataset_details.asp?accession=ANT-GCED-2005) B. Accession Number: ANT-GCED-2005 C. Description 1. Originator(s): Name: Victor D. Thompson Address: Baldwin Hall, Rm 265B Department of Anthropology Athens, Georgia 30602 Country: USA Email: vdthom@uga.edu 2. 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 data 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. 3. Study Type: Directed Study 4. Study Themes: Anthropology 5. LTER Core Areas: Population Studies 6. Georeferences: geographic coordinates as data columns 7. Submission Date: May 12, 2020 D. Keywords: Animalia, archaeology, Bilateria, Bivalvia, Crassostrea virginica, ecosystems, GCE, Georgia, Georgia Coastal Ecosystems, holocene, Lophozoa, LTER, Mollusca, Ostreidae, Ostreoida, oyster paleobiology and ecosystem stability, Population Studies, Protostomia, Pteriomorphia, Sapelo Island, South Atlantic Bight, UGA, USA II. Research Origin Descriptors A. Overall Project Description 1. Project Title: Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER - IV 2. Principal Investigators: Name: Merryl Alber Address: Dept. of Marine Sciences University of Georgia Athens, Georgia 30602-3636 Country: USA Email: malber@uga.edu 3. Funding Period: Feb 01, 2019 to Jan 31, 2025 4. Objectives: The GCE-LTER project has four goals. 1) Track environmental and human drivers that can cause perturbations in our focal ecosystems. This will be accomplished this through continuing long-term measurements of climate, water chemistry, oceanic exchange, and human activities on the landscape. 2) Describe temporal and spatial variability in physical, chemical, geological and biological characteristics of the study system (coastal wetland complexes) and how they respond to external drivers. This will be accomplished through field monitoring in combination with remote sensing and modeling. 3) Characterize the ecological responses of intertidal marshes to disturbance. This will be accomplished by ongoing monitoring and experimental work to evaluate system responses to major perturbations in three key marsh habitats (changes in inundation and predator exclusion in Spartina-dominated salt marshes; increases in salinity in fresh marshes; changes in runoff in high marshes), by implementing standardized experimental disturbances along salinity and elevation gradients, and by tracking responses to natural disturbances. 4) Evaluate ecosystem properties at the landscape level (habitat distribution, net and gross primary production, C budgets) and assess the cumulative effects of disturbance on these properties. The project will also develop relationships between drivers and response variables, which can be used to predict the effects of future changes. This will be accomplished through a combination of data synthesis, remote sensing and modeling. 5. Abstract: The Georgia Coastal Ecosystems (GCE) Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) program, based at the University of Georgia Marine Institute on Sapelo Island, Georgia, was established in 2000 to study long-term change in coastal ecosystems. Estuaries (places where salt water from the ocean mixes with fresh water from the land) and their adjacent marshes provide food and refuge for fish, shellfish and birds; protect the shoreline from storms; help to keep the water clean; and store carbon. The GCE LTER researchers study marshes and estuaries to understand how these ecosystems function, to track how they change over time, and to predict how they might be affected by future changes in climate and human activities. They accomplish this by tracking the major factors that can cause long-term change in coastal areas (e.g. sea level, rainfall, upstream development), and measuring the effects of these factors on the study site. They also conduct focused studies to assess how key marsh habitats will respond to major changes expected in the future, including large-scale experiments to evaluate the effects of a) increases in the salinity of the water that floods freshwater marshes (mimicking drought and/or sea level rise), b) changes in water runoff from land into the upland marsh border (mimicking drought or upland development), and c) exclusion of larger organisms in the salt marsh (mimicking long-term declines in predators). During this award they will initiate additional studies to systematically evaluate how coastal wetlands respond to disturbances. Disturbances, or disruptions in the environment, are particularly important to understand in the context of long-term background changes such as increasing sea level, and GCE researchers are working to assess the cumulative effects of multiple disturbances on the landscape. The GCE education and outreach program works to share an understanding of coastal ecosystems with teachers and students, coastal managers, citizen scientist and the general public. 6. Funding Source: NSF OCE 1832178 B. Sub-project Description 1. Site Description a. Geographic Location: SE_Coast -- Southeastern USA Coast, USA Coordinates: SE_Coast -- NW: 098 32 39.96 W, 43 48 01.22 N NE: 069 06 45.02 W, 43 48 01.22 N SE: 069 06 45.02 W, 24 10 02.96 N SW: 098 32 39.96 W, 24 10 02.96 N b. Physiographic Region: SE_Coast -- unspecified c. Landform Components: SE_Coast -- unspecified d. Hydrographic Characteristics: SE_Coast -- unspecified e. Topographic Attributes: SE_Coast -- unspecified f. Geology, Lithology and Soils: SE_Coast -- unspecified g. Vegetation Communities: SE_Coast -- unspecified h. History of Land Use and Disturbance: none recorded i. Climate: Climate summary for Sapelo Island, Georgia, based on NWS data from 1980-2010: Daily-aggregated Values: Mean (sample standard deviation) mean air temperature: 20.09°C (7.28°C) minimum air temperature: 15.02°C (7.96°C) maximum air temperature: 24.82°C (6.98°C) total precipitation: 3.26mm (10.3mm) Yearly-aggregated Daily Values: Mean (sample standard deviation) total precipitation (1980-2010): 1124mm (266mm) 2. Experimental or Sampling Design a. Design Characteristics: Oyster morphometric data was collected from archaeological sites situated along the South Atlantic coast of the United States to explore human harvesting practices and the stability of oyster ecosystems over the last 5,000 years. b. Permanent Plots: not applicable c. Data Collection Duration and Frequency: Left oyster valves were randomly selected from 15 shell midden and shell ring archaeological sites. Care was taken to sample shells from different contexts (e.g., unit, level, etc.) from each site. Only oysters with the best taphonomic grade were selected for analysis. Broken shells were selected as long as one measurement (see method details) could be obtained. Beginning of Observations: Aug 01, 2018 End of Observations: Aug 01, 2019 3. Research Methods a. Field and Laboratory Methods: Method Step 1 -- Left oyster valves were selected for analysis. Two standardized measurements (Claassen 1998) were take from each shell: (1) left valve length and (2) left valve height. In some cases, only one measurement was taken as archaeological shells are often broken. Measurements (mm) were taken with digital, hand-held calipers and the data, along with site names, location, time period, and provenience information (level, unit number, etc.) for each sample, were entered into an Excel spreadsheet. b. Protocols: none c. Instrumentation: Hand-held, digital calipers d. Taxonomy and Systematics: not applicable e. Speclies List: f. Permit History: not applicable 4. Project Personnel a. Personnel: 1: Victor D. Thompson 2: Carey J. Garland b. Affiliations: 1: University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 2: University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia III. Data Set Status and Accessibility A. Status 1. Latest Update: 28-May-2020 2. Latest Archive Date: 28-May-2020 3. Latest Metadata Update: 28-May-2020 4. Data Verification Status: New Submission B. Accessibility 1. Storage Location and Medium: Stored at GCE-LTER Data Management Office Dept. of Marine Sciences Univ. of Georgia Athens, GA 30602-3636 USA on media: electronic data download (WWW) or compact disk 2. Contact Person: Name: Adam Sapp Address: Department of Marine Sciences University of Georgia Athens, Georgia 30602 Country: USA Email: asapp@uga.edu 3. Copyright Restrictions: not copyrighted 4. Restrictions: This information is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (see: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The consumer of these data ("Data User" herein) has an ethical obligation to cite it appropriately in any publication that results from its use. The Data User should realize that these data may be actively used by others for ongoing research and that coordination may be necessary to prevent duplicate publication. The Data User is urged to contact the authors of these data if any questions about methodology or results occur. Where appropriate, the Data User is encouraged to consider collaboration or co-authorship with the authors. The Data User should realize that misinterpretation of data may occur if used out of context of the original study. While substantial efforts are made to ensure the accuracy of data and associated documentation, complete accuracy of data sets cannot be guaranteed. All data are made available "as is." The Data User should be aware, however, that data are updated periodically and it is the responsibility of the Data User to check for new versions of the data. The data authors and the repository where these data were obtained shall not be liable for damages resulting from any use or misinterpretation of the data. a. Release Date: Affiliates: May 12, 2020, Public: May 12, 2022 b. Citation: Data provided by the Georgia Coastal Ecosystems Long Term Ecological Research Project, supported by funds from NSF OCE 1832178 (data set ANT-GCED-2005) c. Disclaimer: The user assumes all responsibility for errors in judgement based on interpretation of data and analyses presented in this data set. 5. Costs: free electronic data download via WWW, distribution on CD may be subject to nominal processing and handling fee IV. Data Structural Descriptors A. Data Set File 1. File Name: ANT-GCED-2005_1_0.CSV 2. Size: 37805 records 3. File Format: ASCII text (comma-separated value format) 3a. Delimiters: single comma 4. Header Information: 5 lines of ASCII text 5. Alphanumeric Attributes: 6. Quality Control Flag Codes: Q = questionable value, I = invalid value, E = estimated value 7. Authentication Procedures: 8. Calculations: 9. Processing History: Software version: GCE Data Toolbox Version 3.9.9b (06-Mar-2019) Data structure version: GCE Data Structure 1.1 (29-Mar-2001) Original data file processed: ANT-GCED-2005.txt (37805 records) Data processing history: 28-May-2020: new GCE Data Structure 1.1 created ('newstruct') 28-May-2020: 37805 rows imported from ASCII data file 'ANT-GCED-2005.txt' ('imp_ascii') 28-May-2020: 13 metadata fields in file header parsed ('parse_header') 28-May-2020: data structure validated ('gce_valid') 28-May-2020: updated 1 metadata fields in the Dataset sections ('addmeta') 28-May-2020: imported Dataset, Project, Site, Study, Status, Supplement metadata descriptors from the GCE Metabase ('imp_gcemetadata') 28-May-2020: updated 57 metadata fields in the Dataset, Project, Site, Status, Study, Supplement sections ('addmeta') 28-May-2020: manually edited data set metadata ('ui_editmetadata') 28-May-2020: updated 6 metadata fields in the Data sections ('addmeta') 28-May-2020: updated 15 metadata fields in the Status, Data sections to reflect attribute metadata ('updatecols') 28-May-2020: parsed and formatted metadata ('listmeta') B. Variable Information 1. Variable Name: column 1. Site column 2. Location column 3. Period column 4. Provenience_1 column 5. Valve_Length column 6. Hinge_Length column 7. Valve_Height 2. Variable Definition: column 1. Site name column 2. Name of island were site is located column 3. Time Period column 4. Provenience information such as unit, feature, level (lvl), depth (cmbs, cmbd), northing and easting column 5. Oyster left valve length measurement column 6. Oyster left hinge length measurement column 7. Oyster left valve height measurement 3. Units of Measurement: column 1. none column 2. none column 3. none column 4. none column 5. mm column 6. mm column 7. mm 4. Data Type a. Storage Type: column 1. string column 2. string column 3. string column 4. string column 5. floating-point column 6. floating-point column 7. floating-point b. Variable Codes: c. Numeric Range: column 1. (none) column 2. (none) column 3. (none) column 4. (none) column 5. 0.36 to 440.41 column 6. 0.1 to 60.06 column 7. 6.37 to 212 d. Missing Value Code: 5. Data Format a. Column Type: column 1. text column 2. text column 3. text column 4. text column 5. numerical column 6. numerical column 7. numerical b. Number of Columns: 7 c. Decimal Places: column 1. 0 column 2. 0 column 3. 0 column 4. 0 column 5. 2 column 6. 2 column 7. 2 6. Logical Variable Type: column 1. free text (none) column 2. free text (none) column 3. free text (none) column 4. free text (none) column 5. data (continuous) column 6. data (continuous) column 7. data (continuous) 7. Flagging Criteria: column 1. none column 2. none column 3. none column 4. none column 5. none column 6. none column 7. none C. Data Anomalies: V. Supplemental Descriptors A. Data Acquisition 1. Data Forms: 2. Form Location: 3. Data Entry Validation: B. Quality Assurance/Quality Control Procedures: C. Supplemental Materials: D. Computer Programs: E. Archival Practices: F. Publications: not specified G. History of Data Set Usage 1. Data Request History: not specified 2. Data Set Update History: none 3. Review History: none 4. Questions and Comments from Users: none