Molluscs in a world of islands:
the use of shellfish as a food resource in the tropical island Asia-Pacific region
Katherine Szabó & Judith R Amesbury 2011
Quaternary International 239:8-18
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2011.02.033

The vast Asia-Pacific region (from the islands of Indonesia & Borneo in the W, through Melanesia, Micronesia & W.Polynesia in the E) is a panorama of water & islands. Encompassing the "coral triangle", this region is the most speciose of the global
marine bio-geographic provinces, with a mosaic of high-biomass habitats such as mangrove swamps & coral reefs as well as rocky shores, sea-grass meadows & beaches.
The importance of molluscs across this region (a consistent source of food & providing raw materials for artefacts) can hardly be overestimated.

The western parts of this region have Pleistocene human occupation records: some zones of Indonesia yield non-sapiens hominin remains: H.erectus & H.floresiensis.
For most of the tropical Pacific Islands, the archaeological record commences at c 3.5-1 ka.
Rather than conducting an exhaustive survey of knowledge of the human use of molluscs over this vast span of space & time, the focus here is on central issues regarding the use of molluscan resources for food.

4 major issues are discussed:
1) the evidence for shellfish collection by non-sapiens hominins,
2) the character of early H.sapiens shellfish-gathering relative to discussions of coastal adaptations,
3) what was the effect on shell-gathering practices as seas rose in the Holocene,
4) where do shellfish fit into the notions of earlys ubsistence in Oceanic Micronesia & Melanesia-W.Polynesia?

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