Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T21:47:13.682Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Proposed Method for Deriving Seasonal Data from the Echinoid, Evechinus Chloroticus (Val.), in Archaeological Deposits

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Peter J. F. Coutts  and
K. L. Jones
Peter J. F. Coutts
Affiliation:
Hocken Library, Anthropology Department,University of Otago
K. L. Jones
Affiliation:
Hocken Library, Anthropology Department,University of Otago
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In recent years, the importance of seasonal dating in archaeology has been widely acknowledged. To this end, relatively sophisticated methods of determining the season of death of cockles (Chione stutchbury) from coastal midden sites in New Zealand, have been developed. These methods can only be applied when the midden deposits contain cockles and those middens are normally found in the vicinity of lagoons, sandy beaches, or estuaries. However, the Echinodermata are endemic to the rocky shore sub-tidal zone, and recent research in New Zealand on one species of echinoid (Evechinus chloroticus) has defined growth patterns which are seasonally dependant. This research has provided the basis for exploring a method of determining seasonal dates for midden deposits containing Echinoidea. This method, when fully developed, should prove useful for extracting seasonal data from middens which do not have any cockles, and will provide a further means of cross-checking seasonal dates.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 39 , Issue 1 , January 1974 , pp. 98 - 102
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1974

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Coutts, P. J. F., and Higham, C. F. W. 1971 The seasonal factor in prehistoric New Zealand. World Archaeology 2:266–277.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dix, T. G. 1969 The biology of the echinoid Evechinus chloroticus (Val.) in different habitats. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.Google Scholar
Dix, T. G. 1972 Biology of Evechinus chloroticus (Echinoidea: Echinometridae) from different local ities. Parts 1-4. New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 4:91–116,4:267-277, 4:385-405. In press.Google Scholar
Jones, K. L. 1970 Seasonal dating and archaeology: possibilities for the use of the remains of the sea urchin, Evechinus chloroticus (Val.). A thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Methodology paper of the Diploma of Arts in Anthropology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. Copy in Otago University Library, Dunedin, New Zealand.Google Scholar
Newman, S. 1970 Hawaiian fishing and farming on the island of Hawaii in A.D. 1778. Department of Lands and Natural Resources, Division of State Parks, Honolulu, Hawaii.Google Scholar
Parsons, M. H. 1970 Preceramic subsistence on the Peruvian coast. American Antiquity 35:292–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raup, D. M. 1960 Ontogenetic variation in the crystallography of echinoid calcite. Journal of Paleontology 34:1041–1050.Google Scholar