Establishing an Ecological Database for the Analysis of Archaeological Land Snail Remains from the Black Belt Physiographic Province

Mississippi State University, Mississippi State MS

Investigators

Abstract

With National Science Foundation support Dr. Evan Peacock and student assistants will collect a series of land snails in the Black Belt zone of Northeastern Alabama and determine their value as ecological indicators. While much research has been conducted on the taxonomy of North American species, relatively little is known about their habitat preferences and it is highly likely that individual species thrive best in, and are closely associated with specific micro habitats. If, as Dr. Peacock hopes, such relationships can be established it is then possible to use ancient land snails recovered in archaeological and other prehistoric contexts to reconstruct temperature, moisture and ground cover. To accomplish this Dr. Peacock will collect modern control samples of land snails from 50 leaf/grass/soil samples distributed through all niche types in the region. Twenty more samples will be taken from a wide variety of humanly disturbed land surfaces in the same vicinity. Forest Service histories for each niche will be collated with soil chemistry details and all data will be incorporated into a geographic information system. Dr. Peacock will collect associated leaf and grass litter and record the physical features at each collection site. This information will include landform type, slope, aspect, elevation, vegetation type, soil moisture and organic content and soil chemical parameters such as pH and available phosphate. Species identifications will be verified at the Chicago Field Museum and results will be compared with large snail assemblages from several Black Belt sites in the 1250-1650 AD time range. This research is important for several reasons. It will allow archaeologists to address anthropologically significant questions such as the timing of the introduction of maize agriculture to the region and the extent to which prehistoric peoples modified their environment. The resulting data base will be of use to researchers in other disciplines and highlight the potential value of land snails as paleoenvironmental indicators.