http://tinyurl.com/c4oaxjz Shell from fresh- and saltwater mussels was used throughout prehistory in eastern North America. Religious or ceremonial iconography was depicted on shell gorgets and necklaces, crushed shell was used as an additive for ceramics, and beads were fashioned from drilled fragments of shell, to name but a few uses. Hypotheses regarding the provenance—or source—of these shell artifacts have often relied on assumptions based on the modern distribution of taxa and the nearest potential source. Activation analysis of shell to determine its chemical makeup has the potential to evaluate some of these hypotheses in a manner that is un-influenced by preconceived notions of cultural influence or recent changes in the geographic range of taxa. Samples of pre-Columbian shell from archaeological deposits across the eastern U.S. are analyzed. Statistical evaluations of their compositions results in the creation of compositional groups that reflect factors of habitat and geology. Results of this study suggest that activation analysis of shell for determining provenance may provide archaeologists with a novel and exciting tool for reconstructing cultural interaction.