Mid-Holocene Foraging and Settlement: Malacological insights into the Environment and Socioeconomic Structure of the Con Dat Shell Mound

Marie Grace Pamela G. Faylona1,5,6*, Philip Piper2, Nguyễn Thị Mai Hương3, Lâm Thị Mỹ Dung4, and Nguyễn Hữu Mạnh4

This study investigates the Con Dat shell mound in Central Vietnam, a significant prehistoric site located in Quynh Luu, Nghe An Province. Dating back approximately 5,000 years, the site is characteristic of the Quynh Van, a culture that existed on the cusp of the northern Vietnamese Neolithic. Utilizing a malacological profiling method, this research project reconstructed the paleoenvironment and socioeconomic structure of these coastal mounds. The methodology involved systematic column sampling from two trenches, Trench 1 and Trench 2, and taxonomic identification and quantification of specimens using the Number of Identified Specimens (NISP) and the Minimum Number of Individuals (MNI). The assemblage, dominated by taxa such as Placuna placenta and Tegillarca granosa, indicates a prehistoric environment rich in mangroves, intertidal mudflats, and rocky reefs. Socioeconomically, the pervasive use of Placuna placenta reveals a distinct cultural choice of using these large and relatively flat shells in mound building, while the dense, stratified deposits suggest a structural linkage between subsistence foraging strategies and complex social settlement patterns during the mid-Holocene.