University RelationsAga Haupt (662) 325-3442[email protected]www.ur.msstate.edu/news
Slow but sure: snails may yield environmental clues
STARKVILLE, Miss.--A Mississippi State University archaeologist believes the ancient remains of a tiny, plodding creature may hold clues about the distant past and offer lessons for the future.
Through a $41,000 project sponsored by the National Science Foundation, Evan Peacock is researching land snails to determine how Mississippi's landscape has evolved and to evaluate the implications for the present-day ecosystem.
Thousands of snails recently were dug up during highway bypass construction around Starkville, said Peacock, an environmental archaeologist at MSU's Cobb Institute of Archaeology. Because snails vary from habitat to habitat, they can serve as clues in reconstructing environmental history.
His investigation is among the first in the South to focus on the tiny, ancient mollusks. More commonly studied in Europe, land snails have not attracted the attention of the region's archaeological scholars, who "most often research artifacts and the remains of animals that were killed and eaten," he explained.
When complete, the study should explain how the area looked in the past, how people lived and how their presence changed the environment, Peacock said. Because many of the mollusks are endangered, the archaeological data also will help biologists, land managers and conservationists better preserve and restore the Black Prairie ecosystem in East Central Mississippi.
Peacock termed "a myth" the commonly held view of Native American inhabitants as natural conservationists. "They were just people doing what people do," he said. "Farmers cleared the land and tilled the soil, leading to erosion."
Because snails "love calcium-rich soil," the chalk that surfaced following soil erosion led to an increase in the snail population, Peacock said. That premise forms the foundation of his current effort.
In addition to analyzing fossilized land snail remains, Peacock is collecting contemporary soil and leaf-litter samples and studying the modern gastropods.
"There is a magnitude of difference between archaeological deposits and modern samples," he said. "The land looked nothing like it looks today."
Dubbing the Starkville area "Archaeology Central," Peacock said that he's never seen samples as rich in amount, variety and degree of preservation. "Virtually every hill has the remains of a prehistoric house on it," he added.
Peacock also is analyzing the difference in collections from around Starkville and those from an excavated village located in northeastern Oktibbeha County. A study of 200-700-year-old samples may show how a larger population impacted the landscape.
Because of limited available information on the habitats of different snail species, Peacock said it might be some time before hard scientific conclusions can be made.
Nevertheless, he expressed a belief that the research can, in some way, help revolutionize Southeastern archaeology.
"Hopefully, people will realize that the more you look at unconventional remains like land snails, insects and pollen, the better view you get of the people of the past," he said.
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NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For more information, contact Peacock at (662) 325-1663.
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