EXAMINING 5,000 YEARS OF HARVEST PATTERNS OF THE EASTERN OYSTER VIA SCLEROCHRONOLOGY ON OSSABAW ISLAND, GEORGIA

In this thesis, I assess how oyster harvesting practices changed on Ossabaw Island over ca. 5,000 years from the Late Archaic (ca. 3000 BC) to the Plantation Period (AD 1861). I present the results of incremental oxygen isotope (δ18O) analysis on oyster shell samples from four sites, determining how harvesting patterns changed through time via season of collection and range of habitat extraction. I found that Indigenous communities harvested oysters primarily in the winter and secondarily throughout the year, and extensively throughout estuaries for ca. 5,000 years. Conversely, enslaved individuals harvested oysters during the winter/spring transition and likely at one open ocean location close to the plantation core. This demonstrates that oyster harvesting practices changed Post-Contact from extensive to intensive, owing to the different social circumstances that governed oyster harvest and collection. This data can be used to inform contemporary oyster reef management on the Georgia coast.