2026-09-21T15:05:00Zhttps://api.repository.cam.ac.uk/server/oai/requestoai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/3316192025-04-08T15:15:04Zcom_1810_274com_1810_256063col_1810_221739
The Role of Shell Middens in Prehistoric Economies
10.17863/CAM.79072
Bailey, Geoffrey
This investigation takes its inspiration from a view of the human
economy which has been developed in recent years by the British Academy
Major Research Project on the Early History of Agriculture, that the
problem of the origins of agriculture in the narrow sense can admit of no satisfactory solution
unless examined in relation to unifying framework of theory and concepts which
applies to the whole range of man-resource
relationships, irrespective of their placement within the traditional
categories of hunting and gathering and irrespective of their chronological
or geographical context. It is to the continuing development of this
approach that this thesis is offered as a contribution.
The thesis falls into two major sections. The first comprises
Chapters I to IV, which set the study of shell-midden economies in a
global context and provide a general analysis of the theoretical background
to their study, using archaeological, ecological and ethnographic data.
Chapter I is an introduction to the problem and to the theoretical framework used in its solution, together with a
justification of the wide-ranging comparative approach adopted; Chapter II is a general survey of the
archaeological and ecological background to the study of prehistoric shell food
exploitation; Chapter III is a detailed study of the economic potential
of shell food, combined with an analysis of theoretical concepts; and
Chapter IV is a survey of the ethnographic literature on shell-midden economies.
The second section, comprising Chapters V to X, is concerned with
analysis and interpretation of the archaeological field data. Chapter V discusses the techniques employed;
Chapters VI to IX are the central which refer respectively to northern New South Wales and
the Cape York Peninsula in Australia and to Denmark and northern Spain in Europe; and Chapter X is a general
conclusion viewing the whole field of enquiry.
The detailed archaeological case studies are based on my own
excavations and on my own observations in the field and the laboratory.
Specialist identification of specimens or analysis undertaken by others
is acknowledged below. References are cited in the text according to the
name of author and date of publication, and details are supplied in a list
of references in Volume II. Maps and aerial photographs consulted in the the
course of detailed archaeological work are listed after the references.
For ease of consultation, appendices, figures and plates have been grouped
with the references in Volume II. Abbreviations used in the text follow, as far as possible
British Standards 1991:Part 1:1954
To the best of my knowledge, the ideas and interpretations proposed and the syntheses
of existing data, unless otherwise specified, are original.
University of Cambridge
1975-07
Thesis
doctoral
PhD
en
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agriculture
shell-midden