File:American malacological bulletin (1988) (17968713330).jpg

Title: American malacological bulletin
Identifier: americanmal6719881990amer (find matches)
Year: 1983 (1980s)
Authors: American Malacological Union
Subjects: Mollusks; Mollusks
Publisher: (Hattiesburg, Miss. ?) : (American Malacological Union)
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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PARMALEE: LITTLE PIGEON RIVER MOLLUSCAN FAUNAS 173 dition, of the nearly 1,000 indeterminate fragmented valves, close to 200 of these could also have been referable to this species judging by incomplete tooth/hinge line and fluted posterior slope sections. P. subtentum is an inhabitant of small- to medium-sized streams of the upper Cumberland and Ten- nessee River systems, becoming most abundant toward the headwaters. It is, for example, a very common shell locally in the unimpounded stretches of the Powell and Clinch rivers in northeastern Tennessee and southwestern Virginia. At the time the McMahan site was occupied, the Fluted Kidneyshell was an abundant mussel in the naiad assemblage and, in addition to its value as a food resource, the Indian utilized (almost exclusively) shells of this species as some type of tool (Fig. 3). Approximately 175 valves exhibited modification to the posterior ventral margin; the shells appeared to have been used as some form of scraper, the ventral edge of each hav- ing been ground or worn down at an angle toward the posterior end. Riggs (1987) illustrates two valves of Actinonaias ligamen- tina, recovered at an early 19th century Cherokee farmstead (Bell Rattle Cabin site, Monroe County, TN), that were modified in a like fashion as those from the McMahan site. He attributed the modified edges to the shells use as a potter's tool; i.e. the valves were used to scrape and smooth clay vessels before they were fired. Harrington (1922) mentions that "...the Cherokee formerly used mussel-shells and a marine shell, pro- bably some species of Cardium, for this purpose" (pottery smoothing tool). Shells of P. subtentum from the McMahan site were obviously preferred for this function as only three
Text Appearing After Image:
Fig. 3. Modified shells from the McMahan site. Valve section (length, 27.0 mm) with two perforations (A); thin shell disc (diameter, 19.5 mm) with center drilled and partially serrated edge (B); marine shell gorget (diameter, 34.0 mm), rattlesnake design (C); shell scrapers, Ptycho- branchus subtentum (D, Dt) and Ptychobranchus fasciolaris (E).

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