November 13, 2025, 7PM EST: Michelle Calhoun

Roberts Recreation Center | 1246 50th Ave N, St Petersburg, FL 33703-3542, United States

The Anthropogenic Movement of Lightning Whelk Across the Eastern United States and Southern Canada

Michelle Calhoun, Archaeological Consultants Inc. (ACI)

Lightning whelk (Sinistrofulgur perversum) have been integral to the lives of some Native People throughout eastern North America since at least the Archaic, having been used as tools for woodworking, bowls and cups, ornamentation like beads and gorgets, and, most importantly, as a symbolic representation of the cosmos. Lightning whelk can be found in archaeological contexts in every eastern U.S. state and even into parts of southern Canada, even though the shell was most often obtained from the Gulf of Mexico, as chemical sourcing and spire angle studies have shown. This presentation will highlight the role that lightning whelk has played over the millennia and will provide hypothetical routes of travel for whelk and its travelling companions. Next time you admire the intricate perfection of a lightning whelk’s spire while walking the shoreline here in southwest Florida, just know that you are among a long line of people to do so, stretching back untold millennia.

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This monthly Archaeology Lecture series is co-sponsored by the Alliance for Central Gulf Coast Archaeological Society (CGCAS) and Weedon Island Archaeological Research and Education (AWIARE).