User:Mmmccorm/Unionidae

Anthropologic and cultural applications
The unionidae pearly mussels have been integral parts of long-lasting cultural practices and anthropological routines dating as far back as 11,000 BCE. At Tell Abu Hureyra (modern day Syria), a Natufian civilization in the northern Levant, shells were excavated and showed evidence of human manipulation for ornamental uses such as drilled out holes for pendants and necklaces. Other practical uses include, containers, fish scalers, scrapers, and once ground into finer particles an element of cement or building material. It is also suggested from archaeological evidence that the freshwater mussels were used as food supplements in the late summer and fall seasons when gazelle populations, the primary food source, were low and the nutrient value of the mussel was highest (after the release of inedible glochidia). Neolithic cities such as 7100 BCE Çatalhöyük which provide evidence for the use of unionid mussel shells as pendants and beads in the context of a child burial and as grave offerings, denoting symbolic values of the pearly mussels in this neolithic culture. There are also shell artifacts that have been polished, suggesting that they were used as a tool for burnishing either pottery or plaster.

Between 4260 and 3820 BCE Europe, unionid mussels shells became the material of choice for double buttons, a clothing ornament, evident from shell excavations in Hornstaad and Pestera Ungureasca (cave located in Transylvania). The pearl button industry migrated from Europe to the Americas in 1855 and became popularized in the 1900’s. Factories on the west side of the Mississippi cooked, sorted, and cut blanks out of the cheap freshwater mussels which were then sent to factories on the east side of the Mississippi where the buttons were cut out, polished, sorted, and sent to the market.

Freshwater mussels have historically been utilized in the pearl industry. Before pearls were made artificially, the only pearls that were found were naturally and rarely occurring novelties with origins said to be from God’s tears or morning dew. One of the first cataloged use of freshwater mussel nacre pearls was in 13th century China, where Buddha figurines were placed underneath the mantle of the shells and were subsequently covered in the pearly nacre to create a man-made pearl blister. These blisters became amulets, temple offerings, and dwelling decorations. After industrialization, the cultured pearl industry took off in the 1960’s with farmers beginning the cultivation process in southern farms to promote initial rapid mussel growth, and then moving the mussels to a northern farm in order to improve the luster of the pearls.

Ornamentation and utilization of freshwater mussels in neolithic civilizations
The Unionidae pearly mussels have been integral parts of long-lasting cultural practices and anthropological routines dating as far back as 11,000 BCE. At Tell Abu Hureyra (modern day Syria), a Natufian civilization in the northern Levant, shells were excavated and showed evidence of human manipulation for ornamental uses such as drilled out holes for pendants and necklaces. Other practical uses include, containers, fish scalers, scrapers, and once ground into finer particles an element of cement or building material. It is also suggested from archaeological evidence that the freshwater mussels were used as food supplements in the late summer and fall seasons when gazelle populations, the primary food source, were low and the nutrient value of the mussel was highest (after the release of inedible glochidia). Neolithic cities such as 7100 BCE Çatalhöyük which provide evidence for the use of unionid mussel shells as pendants and beads in the context of a child burial and as grave offerings, denoting symbolic values of the pearly mussels in this neolithic culture. There are also shell artifacts that have been polished, suggesting that they were used as a tool for burnishing either pottery or plaster.

Pearly mussels as buttons
Between 4260 and 3820 BCE Europe, unionid mussels shells became the material of choice for double buttons, a clothing ornament, evident from shell excavations in Hornstaad-Hörnle and Peştera Ungureascǎ (cave located in Transylvania). The pearl button industry migrated from Europe to the Americas in 1855 and became popularized in the 1900’s. Factories on the west side of the Mississippi cooked, sorted, and cut blanks out of the cheap freshwater mussels which were then sent to factories on the east side of the Mississippi where the buttons were cut out, polished, sorted, and sent to the market. During this period there were growing interests in the negative effects of over-harvesting by mycologists and conservationists, which was affirmed with the decrease in mussels large enough to cut viable blanks, eventually leading to a decline in the industry as early as 1920. With the disappearance of integral mussel beds, the loss of cultural connection to the freshwater pearly mussels was lost, along with their ecosystem services. Historically, Native Americans utilized the freshwater mussels for First Foods (important sources of food but also sources of cultural richness in harvesting, cleaning, and tribal rituals) and under the Walla Walla treaty of 1855 were allowed to manage and harvest mussel populations, however, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation are no longer able to participate in this piece of their culture due to the detriment of the pearl button industry.

Pearl industry
Freshwater mussels have historically been utilized in the pearl industry. Before pearls were made artificially, the only pearls that were found were naturally and rarely occurring novelties with origins said to be from God’s tears, morning dew, or disease causation. One of the first cataloged uses of freshwater mussel nacre pearls was in 13th century China, where Buddha figurines were placed underneath the mantle of the shells and were subsequently covered in the pearly nacre to create a man-made pearl blister. These blisters became amulets, temple offerings, and dwelling decorations. After industrialization, the cultured pearl industry took off in the 1960’s with farmers beginning the cultivation process in southern farms to promote initial rapid mussel growth, and then moving the mussels to a northern farm in order to improve the luster of the pearls. There has been involvement of the U.S in the Japanese cultured pearl industry in the 1950's following the establishment and decline of the button industry, in that the source of nuclei material was imported U.S pearly mussels, providing another reason for the North American decline in mussel populations. Currently, propagation techniques, extension of the nucleation process with juveniles, improvement of spherical mantle tissue nucleus, and the use of cheap paraffin beads rather than imported mussel nuclei have modernized the industry and improved commercialization.