Beyond the ring: a multimethod analysis of the Creighton Island Shell Ring site periphery

Shell rings along the Georgia Bight are the result of the deliberate deposition of marine shell by Indigenous peoples during the Late Archaic period (3000–1000 cal BC). Shell rings were constructed and inhabited prior to the shifting environmental conditions that precipitated the abandonment of these sites before the end of the Late Archaic. This research utilizes shovel testing, pedestrian survey, oyster measurement, radiocarbon dating, and oxygen isotope analysis to explore cultural activity and shellfishing practices on the landscape surrounding the Creighton Island Shell Ring (9MC87), including the impact of harvesting on oyster populations and habitats and the seasonality of oyster harvesting. Radiocarbon dates and diagnostic pottery from a large secondary shell deposit along the coast range from the St. Catherines to the Refuge phase and indicate long-term depositional activities that expanded the Late Archaic shell ring construction. This area surrounding the Creighton Island Shell Ring exhibits evidence of shellfishing and discard practices much earlier in the Woodland period (beginning 1000 cal BC) than is expected for a shell-bearing site based on present understanding of oyster availability and shellfishing activity during the terminal Late Archaic/Early Woodland transition on the Georgia coast.