From Tide to Table: The Archaeology of Oyster Shells

[@JQ121]

14:40 On secondary uses, I’ve also seen oyster shells used in construction, not just decoratively but also more practically. A layer of oyster shells set into mortar were found below a timber window sill, which I presumed had been put in to level the sill. This was when we were excavating at the Elizabethan Curtain Theatre in London.

[@keithdoms4224]

Glad to see that folks in the UK are studing oysters at last. I did simimilar studies with the American Oyster in the 1980s and 1990s. in the US. I also evamined oysters from a neolithic site in Italy.

[@murraycook3629]

very interesting but would you recommend anything on the study and analysis of prehistoric oyster reefs? I have a Neolithic one sealed under soil build-up relating to sea level change.

[@williamjohnson589]

Hi, I'm not aware of any archaeological studies of preserved reefs that have been carried out before. If the shells are reasonably well preserved there is certainly the potential that many of the analyses of size/shape and infestation will enable a degree of environmental reconstruction.

[@murraycook3629]

@@williamjohnson589 thanks very much, to push a little further do you know how we would confirm its a reef rather than a collection of shells washed into a hollow?