Abstract

The growth of the hard clam, Meretrix petechialis (Lamarck), excavated from the shell middens in the Neolithic Daejuk-ri, Seosan-si, and Eurwang-dong, Incheon-si and the Bronze Age Konam-ri, Taean-gun, and modern populations were compared. The growth-line analysis of the hard clam excavated from shell middens Daejuk-ri and Eurwang-dong was done in previous studies, and that of the hard clam from the Konam-ri Shell Midden was done in this study. The hard clam excavated from the Konam-ri Shell Midden showed correspondence between shell length and ring radius which was clearly distinguishable by age group, so the validity of the age reading was confirmed. For the hard clam from the Konam-ri Shell Midden, growth curve for shell length fitted to the von Bertalanffy's growth curve was expressed as follows: SLt = 138.4244(1-e-0.1335(t+1.0261)). The relationship between shell length (SL) and shell height (SH) was expressed by the following equation: SH = 0.7907 SL + 3.1101 (R2= 0.954). There was no difference in the growth coefficient of the hard clam excavated from shell middens Daejuk-ri, Konam-ri, and Eurwang-dong (p > 0.05).