El Collado shell midden and the exploitation patterns of littoral resources during the Mesolithic in the Eastern Iberian Peninsula

Pablo, Javier Fernández‐López de; Gabriel, Sónia

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.11.100

Cited by 20 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…It is tempting to interpret this sub-phase as a period of dynamic equilibrium, in which human population growth was continuously inhibited by carrying capacity. Aligned with this interpretation, independent evidence suggests a degree of resource depletion through increasing hunting pressure on key medium-sized ungulates throughout the Mesolithic period 63 , as well as reduction on size and age distributions of marine gastropods 51 and bivalves 61 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

Palaeodemographic modelling supports a population bottleneck during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition in Iberia

et al. 2019

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Demographic change lies at the core of debates on genetic inheritance and resilience to climate change of prehistoric hunter-gatherers. Here we analyze the radiocarbon record of Iberia to reconstruct long-term changes in population levels and test different models of demographic growth during the Last Glacial-Interglacial transition. Our best fitting demographic model is composed of three phases. First, we document a regime of exponential population increase during the Late Glacial warming period (c.16.6-12.9 kya). Second, we identify a phase of sustained population contraction and stagnation, beginning with the cold episode of the Younger Dryas and continuing through the first half of the Early Holocene (12.9-10.2 kya). Finally, we report a third phase of density-dependent logistic growth (10.2-8 kya), with rapid population increase followed by stabilization. Our results support a population bottleneck hypothesis during the Last Glacial-Interglacial transition, providing a demographic context to interpret major shifts of prehistoric genetic groups in south-west Europe.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

Palaeodemographic modelling supports a population bottleneck during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition in Iberia

et al. 2019

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“…In the Western Mediterranean, recent studies have investigated human-environmental interactions during the prehistoric period (e.g. Dolez et al, 2015;Currás et al, 2017;Fontana et al, 2017;Vacchi et al, 2017;Melis et al, 2018). However, the low preservation of Early Holocene coastal sites as well as the paucity of integrated research programs correlating archaeological and palaeoenvironmental records, have prevented the answering of this question.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Socio-ecological adaptation to Early-Holocene sea-level rise in the western Mediterranean

Brisset

Burjachs

Ballesteros

et al. 2018

Global and Planetary Change

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Consecutively to the global sea-level rise, coastal landscapes significantly changed during the Early Holocene. We explored how coastal mutations have affected ancient human systems in the western Mediterranean. The Pego-Oliva basin (Spain) provides a thick sediment sequence located in proximity to two well-studied Mesolithic and Neolithic archaeological sites. Based on 16 sediment cores, sedimentological analyses, 14 C dates, and integration of previous works, we reconstructed the architecture of the sedimentary facies and the chronology of deposition for the last 9500 years. From 9500 to 8200 cal. BP, the stepwise inland migration of the coastline is characterised by the deposition of peat layers at distinct depths indicating four phases of barrier-lagoon systems development. The marine transgression caused the disappearance of the lagoon at 8200 cal. BP, and reached a maximum inland position at 7300 cal. BP. Since 5800 cal. BP, sea-level stabilisation induced coastal progradation and barrier-lagoon system construction. Five marine flooding phases dated at 9500, 9100-9000, 8750-8650, 8450-8200, and 8100-7300 cal. BP match Atlantic meltwater pulses. Comparison to archaeology shows that the long-lasting Mesolithic occupation corresponds to the presence of coastal offering easily exploitable local intertidal resources. In contrast, during the Late Mesolithic, we observe a lagoon contraction and the reduction of lagoon bivalves size arguing for a decrease in resource productivity. This changes in the lagoon ecosystems negatively impacted to Late Mesolithic populations leading to a less intense occupation of this area. Therefore, the 700 years' temporal hiatus between the last hunter-gatherers and the first farmers occupying this area is explained by the disappearance of the formerly exploited biotopes because of sea-level rise, a situation that may have been aggravated by coincidence of the 8200 cal. BP climate event. The maximal sea transgression corresponded to a shift from intertidal to infralittoral species between the Impressa/Precardial and the Postcardial Neolithic, indicating a good adaptation to changing environments at that time. However, comparison between Late Mesolithic to Early Neolithic suggests that communities with different cultural baggage have had a different perception of the same environment. By the past perspective, it emphasises that perception of the ecosystem value as a benefit or constraint, and of the risks associated with sea-level rise, relies first on the local and regional scales adaptive capacity of society to global changes.

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“…Over the last decades human adaptation to coastal environments has gained increasing consideration in debates around cultural variability and subsistence strategies among Late Pleistocene and Holocene foraging societies in the Mediterranean. The nature of these interactions varied from food provision to raw materials for symbolic/communication systems (shell ornaments), and likely responded to interplaying cultural and natural factors such as regional variability in marine productivity, environmental and climate changes and a variety of cultural interactions across the basin over time (Tagliacozzo, 1994;Tortosa et al, 2002;Stringer et al, 2008;d'Errico et al, 2009;Colonese et al, 2011;Cortés-Sánchez et al, 2011;Lightfoot et al, 2011;Mannino et al, 2011b;Mylona, 2014;López de Pablo et al, 2016;Perlès, 2016;Prendergast et al, 2016;Ramos-Muñoz et al, 2016;Hoffmann et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Late Pleistocene-Holocene coastal adaptation in central Mediterranean: Snapshots from Grotta d’Oriente (NW Sicily)

Colonese

Vetro

Landini

et al. 2018

Quaternary International

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Marine faunal remains from Grotta d'Oriente (Favignana Island, NW Sicily) offer invaluable snapshots of human-coastal environment interaction in the central Mediterranean from the Late Pleistocene to the Middle Holocene. The long-term shellfish and fish records reflect human exploitation of coastal environments undergoing considerable reorganizations during the postglacial sea level rise and the progressive isolation of Favignana from mainland Sicily. We detected an intensification of marine resource exploitation between ~9.6 ka and ~7.8 ka BP, which corresponds with the isolation of Favignana Island and, later on, with the introduction of early agro-pastoral economy in this region. We suggest that a higher investment in marine resource exploitation by late foragers and early farmers in NW Sicily was also supported by an increase in marine productivity in the south Tyrrhenian Sea in the Middle Holocene.

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El Collado shell midden and the exploitation patterns of littoral resources during the Mesolithic in the Eastern Iberian Peninsula

Cited by 20 publications

References 31 publications

Palaeodemographic modelling supports a population bottleneck during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition in Iberia

Palaeodemographic modelling supports a population bottleneck during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition in Iberia

Socio-ecological adaptation to Early-Holocene sea-level rise in the western Mediterranean

Late Pleistocene-Holocene coastal adaptation in central Mediterranean: Snapshots from Grotta d’Oriente (NW Sicily)

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