Mollusk Shells in Troia, Yenibademli, and Ulucak

Description

This study investigates the archaeomalacological assemblages from three Bronze Age Aegean sites, Troia, Yenibademli and Ulucak, with the aim of revealing the environmental factors and cultural and economic stimuli affecting shellfishing as an economic activity and the role of shellfish in human nutrition. Archaeological mollusk shells are additionally treated as palaeoenvironmental archives, enhancing and complementing studies of past coastal environments in the Aegean. The author demonstrates the strong relationship between the coastal environment and human subsistence strategies within a greater framework by reviewing data from other Aegean archaeomalacological studies. The methods applied include chronological analyses of the proportion of mollusk remains within faunal assemblages, analyses of the relative abundance of mollusk taxa, taphonomic analyses, contextual analysis, statistical analyses of the morphometric properties of important species, periodic sampling and examination of modern mollusk populations, stable isotopic analysis, seasonality analysis of incremental shell growth, and ethnographic analogies.