Implications of accumulative stress burdens during critical periods of early postnatal life for mortality risk among Guale interred in a colonial era cemetery in Spanish Florida (ca. AD 1605-1680).

OBJECTIVE: Research situated within the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease demonstrates that stressors are correlated with future mortality risk, especially if experienced frequently and during early periods of postnatal life. This study examines if the developmental timing and frequency of early life stressors influenced mortality risk for Indigenous Guale in Spanish Florida during the 17th century. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The present study examines internal enamel microgrowth disruptions (accentuated lines-AL) from Guale individuals (n = 52) interred at Mission Santa Catalina de Guale on St. Catherines Island, Georgia (AD 1605-1680). Teeth were thin-sectioned and microscopically analyzed to document AL variables as predictors of age-at-death. RESULTS: Individuals with AL died earlier than those without AL. This difference, however, was not significant. Individuals who exhibit AL formed during their first year of life died on average three times earlier than those who did not. The frequency of AL and age-at-first-AL are significantly correlated with age-at-death, and Cox hazard analyses indicates that individuals with early forming and frequent AL had increased risks of early death. DISCUSSION: This study emphasizes how the lived experiences of Guale children shaped demographic patterns during the 17th century. The survival of early life stressors resulted in life history trade-offs and increased risks for early death. Mortality risks were exacerbated for individuals who experienced frequent stressors during the earliest periods of life. This underscores a role for bioarchaeology in understanding of how accumulative stress burdens during the earliest years of postnatal life may influence mortality risk.

Shellfishing, sea levels, and the earliest Native American villages (5000-3800 yrs. BP) of the South Atlantic Coast of the U.S.

Shell ring archaeological sites are one of the most visible site types along the lower South Atlantic Coast of the United States. These cultural sites are large, circular to arcuate piles of mollusk shells with some reaching over three meters in elevation and over 100 m in diameter. They are comprised largely of mollusk shells (e.g., Eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica), but also contain early pottery, nonhuman faunal remains, and other artifacts. Our work establishes that they represent the earliest widespread Native American villages occupied year-round in the Eastern Woodlands of North America. Significantly, our results from sea-level modelling and isotope geochemistry on mollusks establish that the inhabitants of these earliest villages (ca. 5000-3800 yrs. BP) lived within a fluctuating coastal environment, harvested certain resources year-round, and targeted diverse habitats across the estuaries. Both the growth and decline of these earliest villages are associated with a concomitant rise and lowering of sea level that impacted the productivity of the oyster reef fishery along the South Atlantic Coast. Despite these large-scale environmental changes, this research indicates that Native American fishing villages persisted along the coast for over 1000 years.

The dynamics of fishing villages along the South Atlantic Coast of North America (ca. 5000-3000 years BP).

We present new chronologies that inform the timing and tempo of shell ring and shell mound construction on the South Atlantic Bight. Our project combines recently acquired dates with legacy radiocarbon dates from over 25 rings and mounds to provide a higher-resolution chronology regarding the occupation and formation of this larger landscape of the earliest fishing villages along the East Coast of the United States. We resolve the ordering and timing of occupation of these rings and mounds through Bayesian statistical modeling. These new models historicize and contextualize these shell rings in ways previously impossible. Specifically, our new chronologies of these villages indicate that the earliest villages were established prior to the invention of pottery. The early period of village establishment evidences isolated village rings, whereas later periods seem to have more villages, but these appear to have been relocated to other areas and/or islands over time. Shell mounds are fewer in number, are spread throughout the time period, and may represent special purpose sites compared to shell-rings. Once villages spread, they quickly adopted new technologies (i.e., pottery) and created new institutions and practiced village relocation, which allowed this way of life to persist for more than a thousand years.

Correction: A multi-proxy assessment of the impact of environmental instability on Late Holocene (4500-3800 BP) Native American villages of the Georgia coast.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0258979.].

A multi-proxy assessment of the impact of environmental instability on Late Holocene (4500-3800 BP) Native American villages of the Georgia coast.

Circular shell rings along the South Atlantic Coast of North America are the remnants of some of the earliest villages that emerged during the Late Archaic (5000-3000 BP). Many of these villages, however, were abandoned during the Terminal Late Archaic (ca 3800-3000 BP). We combine Bayesian chronological modeling with mollusk shell geochemistry and oyster paleobiology to understand the nature and timing of environmental change associated with the emergence and abandonment of circular shell ring villages on Sapelo Island, Georgia. Our Bayesian models indicate that Native Americans occupied the three Sapelo shell rings at varying times with some generational overlap. By the end of the complex's occupation, only Ring III was occupied before abandonment ca. 3845 BP. Ring III also consists of statistically smaller oysters harvested from less saline estuaries compared to earlier occupations. Integrating shell biochemical and paleobiological data with recent tree ring analyses shows a clear pattern of environmental fluctuations throughout the period in which the rings were occupied. We argue that as the environment became unstable around 4300 BP, aggregation at villages provided a way to effectively manage fisheries that are highly sensitive to environmental change. However, with the eventual collapse of oyster fisheries and subsequent rebound in environmental conditions ca. post-3800 BP, people dispersed from shell rings, and shifted to non-marine subsistence economies and other types of settlements. This study provides the most comprehensive evidence for correlations between large-scale environmental change and societal transformations on the Georgia coast during the Late Archaic period.

Indigenous oyster fisheries persisted for millennia and should inform future management.

Historical ecology has revolutionized our understanding of fisheries and cultural landscapes, demonstrating the value of historical data for evaluating the past, present, and future of Earth's ecosystems. Despite several important studies, Indigenous fisheries generally receive less attention from scholars and managers than the 17th-20th century capitalist commercial fisheries that decimated many keystone species, including oysters. We investigate Indigenous oyster harvest through time in North America and Australia, placing these data in the context of sea level histories and historical catch records. Indigenous oyster fisheries were pervasive across space and through time, persisting for 5000-10,000 years or more. Oysters were likely managed and sometimes "farmed," and are woven into broader cultural, ritual, and social traditions. Effective stewardship of oyster reefs and other marine fisheries around the world must center Indigenous histories and include Indigenous community members to co-develop more inclusive, just, and successful strategies for restoration, harvest, and management.

Ecosystem stability and Native American oyster harvesting along the Atlantic Coast of the United States.

The eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) is an important proxy for examining historical trajectories of coastal ecosystems. Measurement of ~40,000 oyster shells from archaeological sites along the Atlantic Coast of the United States provides a long-term record of oyster abundance and size. The data demonstrate increases in oyster size across time and a nonrandom pattern in their distributions across sites. We attribute this variation to processes related to Native American fishing rights and environmental variability. Mean oyster length is correlated with total oyster bed length within foraging radii (5 and 10 km) as mapped in 1889 and 1890. These data demonstrate the stability of oyster reefs despite different population densities and environmental shifts and have implications for oyster reef restoration in an age of global climate change.