Collaborating with the Nansemond Community to Explore Historical Oyster Populations and Sustainable Oyster Practices
Research Location:
Chesapeake Bay
Conservation Partner:
Nansemond Indian Nation
Student Researcher
Alayna Knapp, Major: Environmental Science, Major: GovernmentFaculty Mentors
Dr. Martin Gallivan, Dr. Mara Dicenta, and Dr. Jessi Jenkins (University of Florida, Laboratory of Southeastern Archaeology)
Project Description
Indigenous peoples worldwide are disproportionately affected by climate and environmental crises, and along the Nansemond River in Suffolk, Virginia, members of the Nansemond Indian Nation are actively working to restore the collapsed Chesapeake oyster fishery. Prior to European colonization, Indigenous communities flourished along the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries where they routinely harvested oysters.
The Nansemond River is the home of the Nansemond Tribe, who today are partnering with organizations such as VIMS and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation to restore oyster populations in the river as part of their cultural revitalization movement. In an effort of collaborative archaeology, members of the Nansemond Indian Nation and archaeologists are working together to understand the Nansemond landscape and past sustainable oyster harvesting practices. These past practices can be utilized today, thereby revitalizing both traditional ecological knowledge and the oyster fishery.
In 2020, the Nansemond Indian Nation joined the Chesapeake Oyster Alliance, which is “a coalition of nonprofits, community organizations, oyster growers, and others committed to adding 10 billion oysters to the Bay by 2025". The decision to join the Chesapeake Oyster Alliance was inspired by the idea that the environment is foundational to the Nansemond identity, which unites a diverse group of community members. River stewardship through oyster management has long been practiced by Native American groups in the Chesapeake, as demonstrated by archaeological analyses of oyster shells from sites on the York River.
As part of this collaborative project, a William & Mary undergraduate student worked as part of an interdisciplinary research team to explore past sustainable harvesting practices and help implement them in oyster restoration projects today. Modern oyster restoration efforts by the Nansemond Indian Nation are centered on the waters of Cedar Creek near Mattanock Town, an over 70-acre development project for the Tribe that is named for one of the historic Nansemond villages.
