Our new study tests whether Mg/Ca ratios measured with laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) can reveal when Indigenous communities in ancient Tampa Bay, Florida, harvested their oysters. Working with 20 archaeological eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) from shell mounds and middens in Bishop Harbor, we compared rapid LIBS elemental maps with traditional oxygen isotope (δ18O) analysis of the same shells.
We are delighted to announce the publication of SEAFRONT project member Danai Theodoraki’s doctoral thesis, High-Resolution Climatic Changes at Early Neolithic Franchthi, now available in the LEIZA Publications series and Propylaeum Open Access.
Our new paper provides high-resolution data into the seasonality of prehistoric shellfish exploitation at the Haua Fteah (northern Cyrenaica, Libya). The research applies laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) to analyse Mg/Ca ratios in Patella caerulea Linnaeus 1758 shells recovered from the Haua Fteah by past human populations.