The use of foraminifera in the identification and analysis of marine shell middens: A view from Australia
Other Publication ResearchOnline@JCUAbstract
Three test pits were excavated at Roods Peninsula on the central Queensland coast in an area which exhibits both cultural and natural shell deposits. In addition to the conventional criteria for distinguishing cultural shell middens from non-cultural shell deposits (especially cheniers), we analysed sediment samples from each pit to determine whether they contained the remains of foraminifera. Foraminifera are microscopic marine organisms whose calcium carbonate exoskeletons ought to occur in any deposit laid down or reworked by seawater. As an experimental element of our analysis of the deposits, this technique was successful in distinguishing samples from a chenier and from a midden each of which met the general criteria for non-cultural and cultural origins respectively. The method was then applied to a sample from a more ambiguous depositional context. This paper details our preliminary study in foraminiferal analysis, setting it in the context of previous work by Gill (1954). Gill et al. (1991) and by McNien (1996).
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Publication Name
Taphonomy: The Analysis of Processes from Phytoliths to Megafauna
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30
ISBN/ISSN
978-0-7315-3313-8
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8
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ANH Publications
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Canberra, ACT, Australia
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