November 13, 2025: Michelle Calhoun

7 PM EST In Person at Roberts Recreation Center
1246 50th Ave N, St Petersburg, FL 33703-3542

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.

Michelle Calhoun graduated from New College of Florida in 2021 with a BA in Anthropology. She works for Archaeological Consultants Inc. (ACI), is the President of the Warm Mineral Springs/ Little Salt Spring Archaeological Society (WMS/LSSAS) and was a long-term volunteer for Sarasota County Historical Resources. Calhoun volunteers at a local archaeological site/eco-preserve on the weekends, helping to manage invasive vegetation and monitor the property’s orchid populations. She is currently involved with many projects, including creating an archaeo-bibliography of the eastern U.S. and southern Canada, illustrating artifacts, and curating the collections from two local archaeological sites which were recently discovered.