Santander, February 19th-22nd 2008 - Aranzadi

MUNIBE(Suplemento/Gehigarria) - nº nº 3100 302-309 000-000 DONOSTIA-SAN SEBASTIÁN 2010 2003 D.L. ISSN SS-1055-2010
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The U.S. Freshwater Shell Button Industry
La industria de botones de conchas fluviales en los Estados Unidos
KEY WORDS: Naiads, harvesting, buttons, industry, United States.
PALABRAS CLAVE: Náyade, recolección, industria, Estados Unidos, botones
GAKO-HITZAK: Naiadea, bilketa, industria, Ameriketako Estatu Batuak, botoiak.
Cheryl CLAASSEN (1)
ABSTRACT
Two industries have relied on freshwater bivalves fished from the rivers of the United States—the shell button industry of 1891-1950, and the
Japanese cultured pearl industry since 1950. In this paper I document the key species and criteria for selection, the size of the beds, the yields,
their sustainability, the yields from different harvesting techniques per person, and the industrialized process of making buttons. Industries based
on molluscs are well known but poorly quantified which denies us knowledge of the food and industrial potential of these resources today and in
the past.
RESUMEN
Dos industrias de concha del agua dulce se utilizaban en los Estados Unidos, la industria de botones de los años 1891-1950 y la industria de
perlas cultivadas japonesas desde 1950. En este artículo describo las especies clave y los criterios dominantes para su selección, sus tamaños,
la producción, su sostenibilidad, las diversas técnicas de extracción de moluscos y el proceso industrial de la fabricación de los botones. Las industrias
basadas en los moluscos son bien conocidas, pero están mal cuantificadas, lo que nos niega el conocimiento de su potencial alimenticio e
industrial hoy y en el pasado.
LABURPENA
Ameriketako Estatu Batuetan, ur gezatako maskorren bi industria zeuden: 1891-1950 urteetako botoi-industria eta Japoniako perla landuen
industria, 1950etik aurrera. Artikulu honetan, espezie gakoak deskribatzen ditut, bai eta aukeraketarako irizpide nagusiak ere, eta neurriak, ekoizpena,
iraunkortasuna, moluskuak ateratzeko teknikak eta botoiak fabrikatzeko prozesu industriala. Moluskuetan oinarritutako industriak ezagunak
dira, baina ez dira behar bezala kuantifikatu, eta, beraz, ez dakigu zer elikadura- eta industria-potentzial zuten iraganean eta duten gaur egun.
1. INTRODUCTION
Industries based on molluscs are well known
but poorly quantified. The molluscan resources of
the intertidal zone and rivers are under-utilized
today, particularly their food potential for local
coastal populations and a better understanding of
which species have been useful in the past and
their yield potential are essential to reintroducing
them now. Furthermore, archaeologists are handicapped
by the lack of similar knowledge—specifically
the size of molluscan populations, the yields
by different harvesting methods, and the daily
yields by commercially motivated human collectors.
In this paper I present such quantification
from the historic U.S. freshwater shell button
industry. Similar quantification efforts are needed
for all historic industries which will benefit not only
historians but prehistorians as well.
The progenitors of the U.S. freshwater shell
button industry were the European freshwater button
guilds and U.S. and European producers of
saltwater shell buttons made from cowries, volutes,
queen conch, helmets, Pinctadas, pink snail,
green snail, chambered nautilus, pen shell and
abalones. Button cutters formed guilds as early as
the Middle Ages. Birmingham, England was a centre
of shell button production by 1689 (Longstreth
1906:1). The founder of the U.S. freshwater button
industry had been a button maker in Ottesen,
Germany where he used European freshwater
shells.
The ideal freshwater shell for buttons needed a
completely white nacre, to be iridescent and of
firm texture, have a smooth exterior, uniform thickness,
subtle umbones, and have a large oval
(1)
Anthropology Department. Appalachian State University. Boone, NC, USA (claassencp@appstate.edu).