American malacological bulletin (1988) (18152885282)

Title: American malacological bulletin

Identifier: americanmal6719881990amer (find matches)

Year: 1983 (1980s)

Authors: American Malacological Union

Subjects: Mollusks; Mollusks

Publisher: (Hattiesburg, Miss. ?) : (American Malacological Union)

Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries

Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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166 AMER. MALAC. BULL. 6(2) (1988) in the early 1980s. By the end of 1983, the soil on the north side of the mound had been removed and stockpiled. It was not possible to undertake salvage operations at that time, so only a small sample of bone and shell was recovered periodically from the stockpiles as they were removed over a period of months. In order to determine the perimeter of the mound along its south-facing edge so as not to destroy that portion of it during soil removal, Mr. Richard R. Polhemus, Research Associate, Frank H. McClung Museum, University of Tennessee, at the owner's request excavated a north - south trench (0.5 m wide, 21 m long, and 1.2 - 2.0 m deep from about mid-point to the south edge) to determine stages of construc- tion and location of its outermost edge. Preservation of bone and shell from the mound fill was generally good to excellent; since the mound was built by Late Mississippian (Dallas) peoples and was part of the adjoining village complex from which the majority of faunal materials were recovered, shell from the trenching excavation was combined with the village material for this analysis. Removal of the remaining village area south of the mound began in May 1985 and was completed by December of that year. Funds could not be made available for an organ- ized archaeological salvage operation, so the only alternative, if any data were to be obtained from the wealth of both cultural and faunal materials present, was to recover as much as possible in the allotted time by the author's personal effort. I visited the site on 34 days during the period of soil removal, averaging ca. five hours each visit. On six occasions volunteers provided assistance with the excavation of material which was accomplished for the most part by shovelling and trowel sorting. The area was surface collected on each visit and the growing stockpiles of topsoil were also searched for cultural and faunal remains. Days in which soil removal was in progress, each newly exposed feature resulting from cuts (profiles) made by the heavy equipment was carefully exam- ined for its content. Shell recovered from two five-foot test squares excavated at the south edge of the mound in October 1985 by Richard Polhemus was incorporated with those from the village excavations, surface collections, and mound. All recovered cultural and faunal specimens were washed and cleaned with a soft brush; after drying each collection lot was labelled and eventually a large series of the identifiable shells was also given the site designation number and date recovered. All specimens have been incorporated into the Frank H. McClung Museum collections, The University of Ten- nessee, Knoxville. Recognizing the species diversity present in the ar- chaeological molluscan samples from the McMahan site, a study of gastropod and freshwater mussel populations presently inhabiting the Little Pigeon River system was under- taken to determine possible changes in extant assemblages compared with those that existed in late prehistoric times. The Little Pigeon River is fed by two major tributaries, the East Fork, a small second order stream, and the West Prong Lit- tle Pigeon River, a fifth order stream only slightly less in size than the Little Pigeon itself (Fig. 1). Although the East Fork and the Little Pigeon were collected periodically, survey and collecting emphasis was placed on a ca. 0.7 km stretch of v

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Fig. 1. Map showing the Little Pigeon River system and location of the McMahan site. the West Prong Little Pigeon River that flowed above, adja- cent to and below the McMahan site. Collecting trips were made in this section of the river at least twice each month for a 24-month period beginning in June 1985 and ending in May 1987. A total of 54 collecting and survey trips were made in this section of river during this period. Muskrats (Ondatra zibethica Linnaeus, 1766) inhabit the banks of the river and are the major predator of bivalves; utilization of this food resource is greatest during the winter months, ca. November through March. Shells obtained from muskrat feeding stations and those scattered along the river bottom, also probably discarded after the animal had been eaten by muskrats, formed the basis on which an evaluation of species occur- rence and population density was made. Notations were made of live individuals and their number when encountered, but with the exception of less than a dozen specimens no living naiads were collected. Voucher specimens of most species represented have been placed in the Department of Malacology, Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the Museum of Zoology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio; most of the remain- ing specimens obtained during this study are housed in the Malacology Collection, Frank H. McClung Museum. RESULTS SPECIES ACCOUNTS: GASTROPODA Shells of six species of aquatic gastropods were recovered at the McMahan site (Table 1); 93% of the 7,411

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american malacological bulletin 1988 maps zoology natural history zoological illustration mollusks river system

1988

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