Persistent places reference locations that are continuously or repeatedly used during long-term regional occupation. Persistent places are defined by access to concentrations of natural resources and the construction of features that help focus reoccupation such as dwelling structures, processing facilities, or ceremonial centres. Recent studies reveal diversity in the temporal cycles governing the occupation of persistent places but emphasize the value of social memory. This study extends these findings to patterns of mobility in hunter-gatherer communities from aquatic environments, centring coastal communities of the Late/Final Jomon period and the lacustrine community at the Zvejnieki site in Latvia using long bone diaphyseal robusticity. Hunter-gatherers from the Late/Final Jomon period express a pattern of femoral diaphyseal morphology that indicates travel over greater distances and interaction with complex terrain. Hunter-gatherers from the Zvejnieki site express a femoral diaphyseal morphology that is consistent with reduced mobility and interaction with flatter terrain. However, cemeteries at both locales reveal spatial affiliation with the ancestral dead, persistent usage of animal remains as burial ornaments, and emerging inequality in relation to diet and grave good usage. These results illustrate diverse patterns of mobility, while emphasizing the importance of social memory and ancestral affiliation in relation to persistent place.