List of shell ring sites explained

This List of shell ring sites includes archaeological sites with confirmed and possible shell rings. Shell rings have been reported from Colombia, Peru, Japan, and the southeastern United States. Some sites have two or more shell rings, including some with two more or less equal rings joined together, or a main ring with smaller rings attached to it. About half of the sites with shell rings in the United States are in the Sea Islands of South Carolina, Georgia, and northeastern Florida.

Colombia

• Puerto Hormiga - Late Archaic shell ring.^[1]

Japan

• Arayashiki Shell Mound - Jōmon period circular shell mound.^[2]
• Futatsumori Shell Mound - Late Early to Middle Jōmon period horseshoe-shaped shell mound.^[3]
• Horinouchi Shell Mound site - Late to Latest Jōmon period horseshoe-shaped shell mound.^{[2] [4]}
• Kasori Shell Mound - Two Middle to Late Jōmon period circular shell mounds.^{[5] [6]}
• Kidosaku shellmound site - Middle to Late Jōmon period circular shell mound.^[7]
• Kotehashi Shell Mound - Late to Latest Jōmon period horseshoe-shaped shell mound.^[8]
• Kowashimizu - Jōmon period circular shell mound.^[2]
• Nagane Shell Mound - horseshoe-shaped shell mound.
• Soya Shell Mound - Jōmon period horseshoe-shaped shell mound.^[2]
• Ubayama Shell Mound - Middle to Late Jōmon period horseshoe-shaped shell mound.^[9]

United States

South Carolina Sea Islands

• Auld Mound, or Yough Hall Plantation Shell Ring (38CH41) - Late Archaic shell ring, listed in National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).^[10]
• Barrows (38BU300) - Late Archaic shell ring.^{[11] [12]}
• Bull Island (38BU475) - Shell ring of undetermined date.^[13]
• Buzzard's Island Site (38CH23) - Late Archaic shell ring, listed in NRHP.^[14]
• Chester Field (38BU29) - Late Archaic shell ring, listed in NRHP.^[15]
• Coosaw Island (38BU1866) - Four shell rings, two conjoined, at least three are Late Archaic.^[16]
• Crow Island (38CH60) - C-shaped mound, possible shell ring.^[17]
• Site (38CH42) - Three Late Archaic shell rings, one with several attached rings, listed in NRHP, National Historic Landmark (NHL).
• Guerard Point (38BU21) Reported as a ring in 1897, now completely leveled.^[18]
• Hanckel Mound, or Leadenwah Creek Mount (38CH7) - Late Archaic shell ring, listed in NRHP.^[19]
• Horse Island (38CH14) - Late Archaic shell ring, listed in NRHP.^[20]
• Lighthouse Point Shell Ring, or Parrot's Point Shell Ring (38CH12) - Late Archaic shell ring, listed in NRHP.^[21]
• Patent (38BU301) - Late Archaic shell ring.^{[11] [22]}
• Sea Pines (38BU7) - Late Archaic shell ring, listed in NRHP.^[23]
• Sewee Mound (38CH45) - Late Archaic shell ring, listed in NRHP.^[24]
• Skull Creek (38BU8) - Two conjoined Late Archaic shell rings, listed in NRHP.^[25]
• Stratton Place (38CH24) - Late Archaic shell ring.^[26]

Georgia Sea Islands

• Barbour Island (9MC320) - Late Archaic possible shell ring.^[27]
• Bony Hammock (9GN53) - Late Archaic possible shell ring.^[28]
• Busch Krick (9MC87)- Late Archaic shell ring, damaged.^[29]
• Cane Patch (9CH35) - Late Archaic possible shell ring, has been mined.^[30]
• Cannon's Point (9GN57) Late Archaic shell ring.^[31]
• Long Field Crescent/St. Catherines Island Shell Ring (9LI231) - Late Archaic shell ring, listed in NRHP.^{[32] [33] [34]}
• McQueen Shell Ring - Late Archaic shell ring.^{[35] [36]}
• Odingsell (9CH111) - Late Archaic possible shell ring.^[37]
• Oemler (9CH14) - Late Archaic possible shell ring.^[38]
• Osabaw 77 (9CH203) - Late Archaic possible shell ring.^[39]
• Sapelo Island (9MC23) - Three Late Archaic shell rings, Sapelo 1 largely intact, Sapelo 2 heavily damaged, Sapelo 3 may represent either early stages in construction of a ring or a very heavily damaged ring.^[40]
• Skidaway Island
  • Large and Small Skidaway 9 (9CH63) Two shell rings, possibly pre-ceramic.^[41]
  • Skidaway 21 (9CH75) - Possible shell ring.^[42]
  • Skidaway (9CH77) - Late Archaic shell ring, highly modified.^[43]
• West (9GN76) - Late Archaic shell ring.^[44]

Florida

Sea Islands

• Grand Shell Ring (8DU1) - Early St. Johns II culture (900-1250) shell ring associated with a sand mound, listed in NRHP.^[45]
• Oxeye (8DU7478) - Late Archaic shell ring.^[46]
• Rollins (8DU7510) - Late Archaic large shell ring with many smaller rings attached.^[47]

East Coast and St. Johns River valley

• Guana (8SJ2554) - Late Archaic shell ring.^[48]
• Joseph Reed (8MT13) - Late Archaic shell ring.^[49]
• Silver Glen Run (8LA1) - Archaic U-shaped shell ring.^[50]

Southwest

• Bonita Bay (8LL716, 8LL717) - Shell ring with associated mound of uncertain date.^[51]
• Chokoloskee - Possible shell ring with associated shell works, destroyed by development.^[52]
• Dismal Key - Two Glades culture shell rings with associated shell works.^[53]
• Dismal Key Southeast Ring - Shell ring.^[54]
• Everglades City No. 7 - Two late Archaic/Glades culture shell rings.^[55]
• Everglades City No. 9 - Two late Archaic shell rings.^[56]
• Everglades City No. 10 - Two late Archaic shell rings.^[57]
• Everglades City South Ring - Glades culture shell ring.^[58]
• Fakahatchee Key - Two Glades culture shell rings with associated shell works.^[59]
• Fakahatchee Key 3 - Shell ring.^[60]
• Hill Cottage (8SO2) - Late Archaic shell ring.^[61]
• (8CR206, 8CR207, 8CR208, 8CR209, 8CR211) - Late Archaic shell ring with associated mounds.^[62]
• Key Marco - Possible Glades culture shell ring with associated shell works, destroyed by development.^[63]
• Russell Key - Glades culture shell ring with associated shell works.^[64]
• Sandfly Key - Two late Archaic/Glades culture shell rings with associated shell works.^[65]
• Santina Horseshoe - Possible shell ring.^[66]
• West Pass - Possible shell ring (crescent shaped midden) with associated shell works.^[67]

Big Bend Coast

• Deer Island (8LV75) - Deptford culture.^[68]
• Komar Island (8LV290) - U-shaped ring.^[69]
• Richards Island (8LV137) - U-shaped ring, possible Deptford, SwiftCreek or Weeden Island connections.^[70]
• Raleigh Island - Multiple small rings, dated 900–1200.^{[71] [72]}

Panhandle

• Bernath - Santa Rosa-Swift Creek culture shell ring.^[73]
• Buck Bayou (8WL90) - Late Archaic, possible shell ring, possible connections to Poverty Point.^[74]
• Fourmile Point - Santa Rosa-Swift Creek culture shell ring.^[75]
• Gulf Breeze - Santa Rosa-Swift Creek culture shell ring.^[75]
• Hammock Point - Santa Rosa-Swift Creek culture shell ring.^[75]
• Horseshoe Bayou - Santa Rosa-Swift Creek culture shell ring.^[76]
• Meig's Pasture (8OK102) Late Archaic ring, but little shell.^[77]
• Strange Bayou - Santa Rosa-Swift Creek culture shell ring.^[75]
• Third Gulf Breeze - Santa Rosa-Swift Creek culture shell ring.^[76]
• Strange's Ring Midden (8BY1355) - late Weeden Island period midden ring.^[78]

Alabama

• Mississippian period (1100 -1550) possible shell ring.^[79]

Mississippi

• Cedarland (22HC30) - Late Archaic shell ring with a number of differences compared to Atlantic coast rings.^[80]
• Claiborne (22HC35) - Late Archaic shell ring with a number of differences compared to Atlantic coast rings.^[81]
• Kinlock (22SU526) - Fresh water mussel shell C-shaped ring.^[82]

References

• Book: Bense, Judith A.. A world engraved: archaeology of the Swift Creek culture. 1998. The University of Alabama Press. Tuscaloosa, Alabama. 0-8173-0912-8. 247–273. https://books.google.com/books?id=Rmsg97ixVTgC&q=bernath+shell+ring&pg=PA270. Mark Williams and Daniel T. Elliott. Santa Rosa-Swift Creek in Northwest Florida.
• Crusoe. Donald L. and Chester B. Depratter. A New Look at the Georgia Coastal Shell Mound Archaic. The Florida Anthropologist. March 1976. 29. 1. 1–23. 7 December 2011.
• Book: Archaeology in America: Northeast and Southeast. 2009. Greenwood Publishing Group. 210–216. https://books.google.com/books?id=arfWRW5OFVgC&q=shell+ring+woodland&pg=PA211. Francis P. McManamon. 20 November 2011. Ancient Earthen and Shell Architecture. 9780313021893.
• Web site: Archaeological Investigations at Deer Island, Levy County, Florida. Monés. Micah P.. Wallis. Neill J.. September 2012. Laboratory of Southeastern Archaeology, University of Florida. Technical Report 15. 20 May 2018. Sassaman. Kenneth E..
• Web site: National Register of Historic Places in South Carolina. 6 December 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20101104212121/http://shpo.sc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/7B54CC8A-DA93-467C-B881-22F40378CC7A/0/hpnrhistoricplaces.pdf. 4 November 2010. dead.
• Web site: Russo. Michael. Archaic Shell Rings of the Southeast U. S.. https://web.archive.org/web/20120415124220/http://www.nps.gov/nhl/themes/Archaic%20Shell%20Rings.pdf. 15 April 2012. National Park Service. 10. 2006. 25 April 2019.
• Book: Russo, Michael. Archaeology in America: Northeast and Southeast. 2009. Greenwood Publishing Group. 217–222. https://books.google.com/books?id=arfWRW5OFVgC&q=shell+ring+woodland&pg=PA211. Francis P. McManamon. 20 November 2011. Ancient Sites and Architecture on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. 9780313021893.
• Web site: Lower Suwannee Archaeological Survey 2009-2010 Investigations at Cat Island (8DI29), Little Bradford Island (8DI32) and Richards Island (8LV137). Sassaman. Kenneth E.. McFadden. Paulette S.. April 2011. Laboratory of Southeastern Archaeology, University of Florida. Technical Report 10. 20 May 2018. Monés. Micah P.
• PhD. Schwadron. Margo. Landscapes of Maritime Complexity: Prehistoric Shell Works sites of the Ten Thousand Island, Florida. University of Leicester. 8 December 2011. 2010.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Hemmings. E. Thomas. Emergence of Formative Life on the Atlantic Coast of the Southeast. 7–8. Research Manuscript Series, Book 6. University of South Carolina. 19 November 2011. 1970.
2. Koike. Hiroko. 1980. Seasonal Dating by Growth-line Counting of the Clam, Meretrix lusoria Part II. Seasonality of Shell-collecting Activities in Prehistoric Japan I. Historical Review of Shell-Midden Studies in Japan. The University Museum Bulletin. University of Tokyo. 18. https://web.archive.org/web/20061125132623/http://www.um.u-tokyo.ac.jp/publish_db/Bulletin/no18/no18000.html. 25 November 2006. 10 December 2011.
3. Web site: Futatsumori Shell Mound. https://web.archive.org/web/20120426042403/https://wattention.com/trip-to-japan/northern-tohoku/shimokita/futatsumori-shell-mound. 26 April 2012. 11 December 2011.
4. Web site: Horinouchi Shell Mound. City of Ichikawa. 11 December 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20120602060800/http://www.city.ichikawa.lg.jp/english/culture/0026.html. 2 June 2012. dead.
5. Kawashima. Takamune. Mounds and rituals in the Jomon Period. Documenta Praehistorica. 2010. XXXVII. 185–192. 10.4312/dp.37.16. 9 December 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20120426041320/http://arheologija.ff.uni-lj.si/documenta/pdf37/37_16.pdf. 26 April 2012. dead.
6. Book: Naumann, Nelly. Nelly Naumann. Japanese Prehistory: The Material and Spiritual Culture of the Jōmon Period. 2000. Otto Harrassowitz. Wiesbaden. 3-447-04329-6. 32.
7. Web site: Koike. Hiroko. Prehistoric Hunting Pressure and Paleobiomass: An Environmental Reconstruction and Archaeozoological Analysis of a Jomon Shellmound Area. 9 December 2011.
8. Web site: Kotehashi Shell Mound. 11 December 2011.
9. Web site: Ubayama Kaizuka (Shell Mound) Park. City of Ichikawa. 11 December 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20120602060809/http://www.city.ichikawa.lg.jp/english/guide/0073.html. 2 June 2012. dead.
10. National Register:7
    • Russo 2006:130
11. Web site: Daws Island Heritage Preserve . South Carolina Department of Natural Resources . 6 December 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120406205446/https://www.dnr.sc.gov/mlands/managedland?p_id=31 . 6 April 2012 .
12. Russo 2006: 71
13. Russo:122
14. Web site: Buzzard's Island Shell Ring Heritage Preserve South Carolina. National Park Service. 6 December 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20100527173418/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/pad/buzzards.cfm. 27 May 2010. dead.
    • National Register:7
    • Russo 2006:127
15. National Register:3
    • Russo 2006:117-18
16. Web site: Heide. Gregory and Michael Russo. Investigation of the Coosaw Island Shell Ring Complex (38BU1866). National Park Service. 6 December 2011. 2003.
    • Russo 2006:74-77
17. Russo 2006:131
18. Russo:116
19. National Register:7
    • Russo 2006:123
20. National Register:7
    • Russo 2006:126
21. Trinkley. Michael. Preliminary Report of Archaeological Excavations at Lighthouse Point Shell Ring, South Carolina. Southern Indian Studies. October 1975. XXVII. 1–36. 6 December 2011.
    • National Register:10
    • Russo 2006:124-25
22. Russo 2006:72-73
23. Web site: The Indian Shell Ring in the Sea Pines Forest Preserve. Association of Sea Pines Plantation Property Owners. 7 December 2011.
    • National Register:3
    • Russo 2006:68
24. Web site: Russo. Michael and Gregory Heide. Mapping the Sewee Shell Ring. National Park Service. 6 December 2011. 2003.
    • National Register:7
    • Russo 2006:83-84
25. National Register:3
    • Russo 2006:69-70
26. Web site: Trinkley. Michael. The Archaeology of Sol Legare Island, Charleston County, South Carolina. Chicora Foundation. 6 December 2011. 1984.
    • Russo 2006:128-29
27. Russo 2006:148
28. Russo 2006:144
29. Crusoe and DePratter:7-8
    • Russo 2006:147
30. Crusoe and DePratter:8-9, 10, 11
    • Russo 2006:138
31. Web site: Marrinan. Rochelle A.. Ceramics, Molluscs, and Sedentism: the Late Archaic Period on the Georgia Coast. University of Florida. 1975.
    • Russo 2006:85-86
32. Russo 2006:146
33. Estimating the Season of Harvest of the Eastern Oyster (Crassostrea virginica) from the St. Catherines Island Shell Ring . Cannarozzi . Nicole R. . March 12, 2012 . American Museum of Natural History . Seasonality and Human Mobility Along the Georgia Bight . 171–186 .
34. Web site: Elliott. Daniel T.. Ground Penetrating Radar Reconnaissance on St. Catherine's Island, Georgia. The LAMAR Institute. 30 January 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20100612174716/http://shapiro.anthro.uga.edu/Lamar/images/PDFs/publication_91.pdf. 12 June 2010. dead.
35. Web site: Mahar. Ginessa. The Bigger Picture: Using Landscape Archaeology to Better Understand Two Late Archaic Shell Rings on St. Catherines Island. The Society for Georgia Archaeology. 10 December 2011.
36. Web site: Thomas. David Hurst and Matthew C. Sanger. Trend, Tradition, and Turmoil: What Happened in the Southeastern Archaic?. 9 December 2011.
37. Russo 2006:142
38. Russo 2006:135
39. Russo 2006:143
40. Russo 2006:88-93
41. Russo 2006:139
42. Russo 2006:140
43. Russo 2006:141
44. Russo 2006:87
45. Web site: Parsons. Alexandra. The Grand Shell Ring: A Study of Site Seasonality, Hard Clam Exploitation, and Resource Scheduling. 18. Florida State University. 8 December 2011. 2008. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120414230959/http://etd.lib.fsu.edu/theses/available/etd-04142008-122142/unrestricted/ap_thesis.pdf. 14 April 2012.
    • Web site: Lee. Harry G.. Archaeology Team Really Digs Shells. 8 December 2011.
46. Russo 2006:96-97
47. Russo 2006:98-99
48. Web site: Russo. Michael, Gregory Heide, and Vicki Rolland. The Guana Shell Ring. National Park Service. 7 December 2011.
    • Russo 2006:102-03
49. Russo. Michael and Gregory Heide. The Joseph Reed Shell Ring. The Florida Anthropologist. June 2002. 55. 2. 7 December 2011.
    • Russo 2006:100-01
50. Web site: St, Johns Archaeological Field School 2007-2010: Silver Glen Run (8LA1). Sassaman. Kenneth E.. Gilmore. Zackary I.. December 2011. University of Florida Laboratory of Southeastern Archaeology. 4 June 2018. Randall. Asa R..
51. Russo 2006:145-50
52. Schwadron:154-56
53. Schwadron:134, 280
54. Schwadron:165-68
55. Schwadron:168-70, 280
56. Schwadron:170-72, 280
57. Schwadron:172-74, 280
58. Schwadron:280
59. Schwadron:130-31
60. Schwadron:162-64
61. Russo 2006:104-05
    • Web site: Historic Spanish Point. 10 December 2011. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120107165824/http://www.historicspanishpoint.org/Prehistory_.htm. 7 January 2012.
62. Russo 2006: 94-95
63. Book: Widmer, Randolph J. The Evolution of the Calusa: a Nonagricultuiral Chiefdom of the Southwest Florida Coast. 1988. The University of Alabama Press. Tuscaloosa, Alabama. 0-8173-0358-8. 93.
    • Schwadron:149-52
64. Schwadron:140-41, 280
65. Schwadron:146-48, 280
66. Schwadron:122, 124
67. Schwadron:159-62
68. Monés, et al.iii.
69. Sassaman, et al.:45
70. Sassaman, et al.:17.
71. Web site: A drone helped archaeologists discover a lost Florida island settlement. Smith. Kiona N.. 2019-11-05. Ars Technica. en-us. 2019-11-16.
72. Barbour. Terry E.. Sassaman. Kenneth E.. Zambrano. Angelica Maria Almeyda. Broadbent. Eben North. Wilkinson. Ben. Kanaski. Richard. 2019-11-19. Rare pre-Columbian settlement on the Florida Gulf Coast revealed through high-resolution drone LiDAR. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. en. 116. 47. 23493–23498. 10.1073/pnas.1911285116. 0027-8424. 31685629. 6876196. 207893081. free.
73. Bense:262 ff.
74. Russo 2006:153-54
75. Bense:260
76. Bense:258
77. Russo 2006:151-52
78. Web site: Coastal Weeden Island Subsistence Economy and Occupation: a Zooarchaeological Analysis of Strange's Ring Midden (8BY1355), Bay County, Florida. Little. Maran Elaine. 2015. University of Georgia. 28 May 2018.
79. Web site: Dauphin Island Shell Mounds . 2011-12-07 . University of South Alabama - Center for Archaeological Studies . https://web.archive.org/web/20070510081047/http://www.southalabama.edu/archaeology/shell_mound.htm . 2007-05-10.
80. Russo 2006:155-56
81. Russo 2006:157-58
82. Mitchell. Joseph. Peacock. Evan. Myatt. Shon. 2015. Sampling to redundancy in an applied zooarchaeology: A case study from a fresh water shell ring in the Mississippi Delta, southeastern USA. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 5. 500. 10.1016/j.jasrep.2015.12.020. Researchgate.