Thank YOU Smoke! That is a great site, awesome and easy to download. Later I will look and see if they have any recipes for whale. I have seen some mussel shell in historic sites that I am pretty sure got there from animal predation. Not exactly a midden mind you; but I have seen birds fly some distance from the river to consume them as well.

-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Smoke
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2013 11:41 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Freshwater mussels on 18th century sites

As an early 1800s reenactor, for food history, I can highly recommend the Historic American Cookbook Project - Feeding America. Lots of great early cookbooks in .pdf and other formats ranging from 1798 to 1922.  Enjoy!  :-) http://digital.lib.msu.edu/projects/cookbooks/html/browse_date.html


On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 8:05 AM, Bill <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Recent excavations on an early 18th century site in central Delaware 
> recovered some freshwater mussel shells amongst the faunal remains.
> Normally freshwater mussels are associated with Native American sites 
> in the Middle Atlantic region.  This presents the possibility of a 
> Native American presence or interaction with the European inhabitants 
> of the site (circa
> 1720 to 1735).  Several glass seed beads recovered from floatation 
> further support this theory.  My question is: Has anyone found 
> freshwater mussel shells on non-Native American 18th century sites in the region?
>
> Thanks for your input in advance!
>
> Bill Liebeknecht, MA, RPA
> Principal Investigator
> Hunter Research, Inc.
> Trenton, New Jersey

--
Smoke Pfeiffer
In other news, the wolves and coyotes have finished investigating a break-in at the henhouse.  The fox has been cleared.