Quote:
Originally Posted by phatdaddy
great pics & story.. i need your professional opnion,i was talking to a lady the other day about shell mounds (we had a lot of them in bay county) and she said you never would find blue crab shells in them. the indians would not eat them. i found that hard to believe with crab meat being as good as it is. can you confirm or deny this info. i thought maybe the crabshells just decomposed faster.
|
Good question Daddy, got me really thinking....I have posed the question to 2 Phd's a masters grad and guy that has archaeological contracting company in Tampa....lets see what they say. It's been a long time and I cant say without certainty that there was no crab in the record that I worked with but it certainly did not stand out... being a crustacean it doesnt have the calcium that a mollusk shell has so its certainly not as durable but shell mounds are very non acidic (due to the shells) so I would think some would still be preserved under the right conditions. my guess is that much decayed and what did survive is generally crushed into pcs not recognizable from walking on the surface by the casual observer.....
I will guarantee you that there was no moratorium on blue crab harvesting and they ate those puppies.