BREVIORA Mmsemim of Contiparative Zoology Cambridge, Mass. 31 March, 1971 Number 372 THE PALEONTOLOGY AND EVOLUTION OF CERION II: AGE AND FAUNA OF INDIAN SHELL MIDDENS ON CURACAO AND ARUBA Stephen Jay Gould Abstract. Cerion iiva has been found in great abundance in three Meso-Indian (preceramic) shell middens on Curasao. Shells from all three sites yield radiocarbon ages of about 4000 years B.P. Different groups of Meso-Indians from Venezuela reached Curasao and the nearby island of Cubagua at about the same time. A Neo-Indian (ceramic) midden on Aruba is ap-proximately 1500 radiocarbon years old. Lists of the molluscan fauna from all sites contain only intertidal and shallow water species. Collecting areas can be specified by noting differences among sites in the presence of species from various environments (rocky intertidal, mangrove, shallow grassy and shallow rocky). In the shell middens, Cerion presents two outstanding features: 1) almost all shells have had the apical whorls removed artificially and, 2) shells are larger than any living today. The apical whorls were removed by striking; flint tools found at the sites accomplish this task easily. This was done to release the internal vacuum and allow the animal to be sucked out through the normal aperture. Larger shells might indicate, since modern Cerion is so phenotypically variable, that the climate of Curasao 4000 years ago was more moist (and therefore more hospitable) than today. But there is no independent evidence for more rainfall at that time. If the effect is mainly genetic, these shells might come from relict populations, adapted to the pluvials of the previous glaciation. Cerion iiva has been found in a shell midden in Venezuela; this establishes the reciprocity of trade between main-land and offshore islands. INTRODUCTION Only a few mollusks have won entry into the Papiamento lan-guage of the Dutch Leeward Islands. These are mostly edible species — kiwci (Cittarium pica), karko (Strombus gigas), and tcipa koncha ("cover shell" — a general name for chitons). Yet
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