The role of molluscs in coastal economies: The results of midden analysis in Australia

Complementary techniques of midden analysis have been applied to large oyster mounds on the Richmond River, New South Wales, in order to quantify the dietary contribution of the molluscs. The results are compared with modern data on oyster yields and ethnohistorical data on diet and population size and suggest that, if oysters were the primary food supply while the shell mounds were in use, the sites would have been occupied, on the average, for as little as one week/year. The implications of this for the interpretation of molluscs as a food resource and for the use of shell middens as sources of information about economy, settlement pattern and material culture are discussed.