The Diet of the Calusa People of Estero Bay

This week one of our activities was a survey of the shellfish species consumed by the pre-Columbian Calusa people of the Estero Bay region, Lee County, Florida. The Calusa were unusual in that they were able to support a complex, stratified society dependent only upon seafood gathering, with the only agriculture being small household gardens. Because of this subsistence strategy, molluscs were a very important dietary supplement to their fish catches.

To learn more about the Calusa's use of molluscs we sampled 100 shells from a two-square-meter quadrat thrown at the highest point of Mound Key and used our findings to determine the likely shellfish contribution to the diet of the Calusa.

From Left to Right, Sammi Blonder, Jade Hemberger and I Sampling Shells

We found that the shellfish eaten by the Calusa were mostly oysters at around 60%, with quahogs making up the bulk of the remainder. There were also shells of much smaller shellfish such as conchs, tulips, moon snails, and periwinkles, but with our methods we were not able to determine whether these were intentionally collected by the Calusa or whether they were simply bycatch.