I dont know if its a what or a why is it???

[DANGLANGLEY]

I don't know if it's a what or a why is it

I was at the lake yesterday (Watts Bar) metal detecting and walked up on what I thought at first to be odd looking mussel shells. I picked one up and it reminded me of an oyster shell. I stood there looking out into the water and there were thousands of them. This has to be a head scratcher because it was quite a few miles to the nearest restaurant that might serve oysters. There is a house across the road from there but how long would it take for someone to eat that many oysters and why would they carry the shells down a big hill and throw them in the lake There's too many what ifs, it makes my head hurt. Anyway, here's a bunch of pics. The first two were taken with my cell phone and the aren't real good. Please let me know if you have any theories as to what and why these are there. Thank you in advance!!!

DANGLANGLEY

 

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[mrs.oroblanco]

Re: I don't know if it's a what or a why is it

They are oysters. Could be fresh water oysters that just washed up on the shore.

 

[Harry_Morant]

Re: I don't know if it's a what or a why is it

It could be the remains of a midden. A place where the native people gathered and discarded the shells after eating the oysters. These can build up into huge deposits after many years of use and there are some middens which have been dated back 60000 years.

 

[goldguru]

Re: I don't know if it's a what or a why is it

It would be a fresh water oyster.

http://mkohl1.net/Unionidae.html

but seems there is 300 diff species in the US..

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Re: I don't know if it's a what or a why is it

I found those same kinda shells in a small pond made by this old artesian well in Florida.. I dont know what they are or how they got there.

 

[mrs.oroblanco]

Re: I don't know if it's a what or a why is it

Years ago, my kids had their own oyster garden. They would collect every single shell they found! My daughter even put a fishing net hanging from her ceiling and tied the shells into the net.

We used to laugh that someday (after they all ended up outside for one reason or another) that someone would see them and try to figure out how oysters got in the middle of nowhere.

B

 

[Tnmountains]

Re: I don't know if it's a what or a why is it

Was there any flint or Broken pottery sherd mixed in? Around here we have shell mounds that were ancient indian dump and burial sites.Those do not look like fresh water kind we see in the south east on the rivers though. Many of the ancient shells are now extinct though. Will watch this tag and see what they are. Good luck !
Tnmountains

 

[Monty]

Re: I don't know if it's a what or a why is it

Mussels. Good to eat too! Monty

 

[bradyboy]

Re: I don't know if it's a what or a why is it

This may sound stupid, but are there otters in the area?
Another thought, how old is the lake?
Is it possible he lake was created by man made means?
Area flooded to create a reservoir.
Brady

 

[DANGLANGLEY]

Re: I don't know if it's a what or a why is it

This may sound stupid, but are there otters in the area?
Another thought, how old is the lake?
Is it possible he lake was created by man made means?
Area flooded to create a reservoir.
Brady

Yes, it is a man made lake. The dam was completed back in 1942 and it flooded lots of land. We do have otters around here but you seldom see them. We have plenty of beavers that dam up streams and cause all kinds of trouble but that's another story, lol...

DANGLANGLEY

 

[Tnmountains]

Re: I don't know if it's a what or a why is it

It was a band of lost cajuns having a oyster fest. Had to have been from a meal or load of dirt with the shells already in it. Making me hungry for oysters and hot sauce.
HH
TnMountains

 

[Cruisin]

Re: I don't know if it's a what or a why is it

Could they be fossils? They remind me of big outcroppings of clam shells & oyster shells that I have come across in areas of Central California where an inland sea used to be. I've also seen deposits of sand dollars there. There are deposits of giant oyster shells in Georgia (Shell Bluff on the Savannah River). Those deposits are 10' to 15' deep.

 

[Marty-Graw]

Re: I don't know if it's a what or a why is it

freshwater mussels, they are everywhere in the river sysytems. especially in tennessee river and the lakes made by TVA. I live just a few miles from Guntersville lake also on the Tenneessee River and the lake floor is covered with these shells alive and empty. big money in harvesting the mussels, just gotta have a permit and more important gotta knw which ones you can and cannot harvest, also gotta know which ones you are supposed to remove if you see them (like in another post) they are environmentally damaging

 

[jpitt1970]

Re: I don't know if it's a what or a why is it

Looks like somebody was visiting us down here in Florida & brought a sack Appalachicola Oysters home & then had a party in the woods

 

[Cornshiner]

Re: I don't know if it's a what or a why is it

I too live in E.T. and I have seen these in a lot of the lakes around here. Never thought much about it though.....

 

[Tnmountains]

Re: I don't know if it's a what or a why is it

In Tennessee the banks with the stacked shells in it are mussels. They are the indians trash pits. Those look like salt water to me?

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Re: I don't know if it's a what or a why is it

Here is one of the similar shells I found in this Florida artesian well near the Big Cypress Nat. Park. The bottom was full of them when I cleaned it out. This water runs natural 24 hours a day and I pumped it to my shower in background when I stayed and worked on the Everglades Indian reservation. Someone years ago must have cleaned these oysters here. They looked the same as yours.

 

[MarkDz]

Re: I don't know if it's a what or a why is it

I read that large concentrations of shells might indicate ancient activity (as someone already suggested). You might want to tell a local archeologist or archeology buff about it. Might be pretty important.
As a kid I found a bunch of shells near a river and told the leader of the local archeology club, who rushed right there. He said it looked like leftovers from a modern party... but then again, I'd only found a few dozen shells. If you have thousands there, who knows?