John assemblage in terms of both individuals and biomass. Molluscs dominate the Plash Island assemblage in terms of individuals though vertebrates contribute half of the biomass molluscs dominate the Bayou St. The multi-proxy study involved zooarchaeology of invertebrates and vertebrates, as well as stable isotope geochemistry, laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), and bulk ICP-MS analyses of oysters, rangias, coquinas, quahogs, hardhead catfishes, and gafftopsail catfishes. The project specifically looked at invertebrate and vertebrate remains from Middle and Late Woodland deposits at two Gulf coast sites: Plash Island (A.D. Mississippian settlement patterns and subsistence strategies were presumably very different from those in the Woodland period in terms of mobility, social organization, and the role of domesticated plants. Very little research has been conducted in this area for the Woodland period even though information about life during the Woodland period offers an important perspective on coastal life during the Mississippian period which followed it. The sites are located on the Alabama coast near Mobile Bay. The goal of this interdisciplinary project was to examine seasonal aspects of Woodland settlement patterns and resource use on the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico from the perspective of two Woodland-period archaeological sites. Here, we review such factors as they affect the utility of the method for sourcing and seasonality research with archaeological otoliths, using the results of a pilot study of specimens from two Woodland-period sites in coastal Alabama, southeastern USA, to illustrate the potential and the current limitations of the method for archaeological research. Adopting this method will require careful consideration of a number of complicating factors related to metabolic processes affecting otolith production, analytical procedures peculiar to LA-ICP-MS, and diagenesis, in addition to the usual complications of species identification and assessment of sample adequacy. For archaeological specimens, elements from the outer edges of archaeological otoliths have the potential to provide information on site seasonality complementary to oxygen isotope data they also may inform on place of capture of fish, thus elucidating exploited ranges and/or social and economic links between settlements. Analysis of the trace element chemistry of otoliths via Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) has become common in fisheries-related work, allowing biologists to trace connectivity between habitats over the life cycles of fish.
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