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Shell rings are archaeological sites with curved shell middens completely or partially surrounding a clear space. The rings were sited next to estuaries that supported large populations of shellfish, usually oysters. Shell rings have been reported in several countries, including Colombia, Peru, Japan, and the southeastern United States. Archaeologists continue to debate the origins and use of shell rings. Across what is now the southeastern United States, starting around 4000 BCE, people exploited wetland resources, creating large shell middens. Middens developed along rivers, but there is limited evidence of Archaic peoples along coastlines prior to 3000 BCE. Archaic sites on the coast may have been inundated by rising sea levels (one site in 15 to 20 feet of water off St. Lucie County, Florida has been dated to 2800 BCE). Starting around 3000 BCE evidence of large-scale exploitation of oysters appears. During the period 3000 BCE to 1000 BCE shell rings, large shell middens more or less surrounding open centers, developed along the coast of the Southeastern United States. These shell rings are numerous in South Carolina and Georgia, but are also found scattered around the Florida peninsula. Some sites also have sand or sand-and-shell mounds associated with shell rings. Sites such as Horr's Island, in southwest Florida, supported sizable mound-building communities year-round. Four shell and/or sand mounds on Horr's Island have been dated to between 4870 and 4270 Before Present (BP).〔Milanich:84-85, 90, 95〕〔Russo 2006:10, 27〕 Groups living along the coast had become mostly sedentary by the Late Archaic period, living in permanent villages while making occasional foraging trips. Archaeologists have debated whether the shell rings resulted from the simple accumulation of middens in conjunction with circular villages, or if they were deliberately built as monuments. The start of mound building in the lower Mississippi River valley and in Florida by about 6000 years ago is cited as increasing the plausibility that the shell-rings were also monumental architecture. Excavations of the Fig Island rings revealed little evidence of habitation on the rings, and circumstantial evidence of rapid deposition of large quantities of shells in deliberate creation of the rings.〔Saunders:24, 85, 91, 101〕 ==Archaeological sites== Sites in Colombia, Peru, and Japan, as well as in the southeastern United States, have been identified as shell rings. Residents of and visitors to the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia had long noticed circular shell mounds on some of the islands. The first written accounts of shell rings in South Carolina and Georgia appeared early in the 19th century. Archaeologists surveyed some shell rings near the end of the 19th century, but the first reported scientific excavation of a shell ring in the United States did not occur until 1933. Scientific excavation of shell mounds in Japan began in the 1920s.〔 -Lawrence and Wrightson:1 -〕 About 60 shell rings had been identified in the southeastern United States by 2002. Most date from the Late Archaic period (c. 3000 BCE to 1000 BCE), but shell rings were also constructed during the Woodland (c. 1000 BCE to 1000 CE) and Mississippian (c. 800 - 1500) periods. Close to 100 circular and horseshoe-shaped shell mounds have been identified in the Kantō region of Japan (where a large majority of Japanese shell mounds are found). Shell rings in Japan have been dated from late in the Early Jōmon period until early in the Late Jōmon period (from before 3000 BCE until after 1000 BCE). While there are reports of a number of shell ring sites in Colombia, only the Puerto Hormiga shell ring (c. 3000 BCE to 2500 BCE) has been described in the archaeological literature.〔Some North American archaeologists have doubts about the ringed nature of the Puerto Hormiga ring.(Lawrence and Wrightson:3)〕 Archaeologists have continued to identify and investigate additional shell ring sites into the 21st century.〔Russo, Heide and Holland:32 - -Habu:73, 191, 193 -Oikawa and Koyama:190 -Hemmings:7-8 -Schwadron:3〕 Shell rings in the United States may form a complete ring, or be open, C-shaped, or U- or horseshoe-shaped. They may form a nearly perfect circle, or an oval. In almost all cases, the central area or "plaza" contains little or no shell or occupational debris. Most shell rings in the United States consist primarily of oyster shells, but may include periwinkles, razor clams, whelks, ribbed mussels, hard-shelled clams (quahogs), and blue and stone crab claws and shell bits. The Common orient clam is the most common component in shell mounds in Japan. Other shells found in Japanese mounds include those of sea snails, surf clams (''Mactra veneriformes''), and Japanese littleneck clams (''Tapes japonica'').〔Russo:17〕〔 -Habu:73, 191, 193, 255 -Lawrence and Wrightson:4-5〕 Some shell ring sites have multiple rings. Some more-or-less equal-sized rings may be joined together in a "figure-8", as with the Skull Creek 1 and 2 and Coosaw 1 and 2 rings in South Carolina, or be touching, as with the two circular mounds in the Kasori shellmound in Japan. Smaller rings may be attached to a main ring, as at Fig Island 1 in South Carolina and the Rollins shell ring in Florida. Shell rings in southwest Florida are often associated with large mounds and other shell works. Shell rings in Georgia average in diameter, and those in South Carolina in diameter. The U-shaped shell rings in Florida described as of 2006 averaged in length. Middle and Late Jomon shell middens in Japan are often circular or horseshoe-shaped, typically about in diameter and may be up to in diameter.〔Russo:17, 24 - -Habu:73, 191, 193, 255〕〔 The known shell rings are various states of preservation. Rings have been impacted by rising sea levels, erosion, plowing, and coastal development. Shell rings, along with other shell mounds, have been mined for shell to be used in road paving and other construction projects. Shell rings in Peru have been particularly impacted by mining.〔Russo 2006:17 (【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.stonepages.com/news/archives/001253.html ) Lawrence and Wrightson:1-2〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「shell ring」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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