The seeds are edible, and were used in the past as a food crop, with remains found in Bronze Age middens.
Illawong was originally inhabited by the Tharawal and/or Eora tribes who left remnants of their lives in many middens, rock carvings and cave paintings.
Up to 99% of the volume of many Mount Taylor period middens consists of snail shells (including river snails and apple snails).
Examinations and comparisons of pack rat middens have largely supplanted pollen records as a method of study in the regions where they are available.
Numerous valves of this species have been found in the shell middens on Sidney Island in British Columbia, Canada.
Jerald Milanich and Jefferson Chapman conducted more extensive excavations on Collier Mound and adjacent middens in 1979 and 1980, using a backhoe to dig trenches in mound and middens.
Other shell middens are located on the estuary in both Damariscotta and Newcastle.
On his hikes, he found arrowheads, cogs, and two full skeletons in what is now known to be the Indian Middens of the Juaneño (Gabrielino-Tongva Band of Mission Indians).