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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
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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

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References

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