Marine mollusc exploitation in Mediterranean prehistory: An overview

Colonese, André Carlo; Mannino, Marcello A.; Mayer, Daniella E. Bar-Yosef; Fa, Darren A.; Finlayson, J. C.; Lubell, David; Stiner, Mary C.

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2010.09.001

Cited by 201 publications

(118 citation statements)

References 88 publications

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“…Furthermore, in several areas, including Andalusia, Gibraltar and perhaps Murcia, Neanderthals used marine resources. In general, faunal patterns define the existence of complex resource management strategies by Neanderthals (e.g., Montes Bernárdez, 1988;Villaverde et al, 1996;Aura et al, 2002;Barroso et al, 2006a,b;Blasco, 2008;Sanchis and Fernández Peris, 2008;Stringer et al, 2008;Martínez Valle, 2009;Colonese et al, 2011;Cortés-Sánchez et al, 2011;Sanchis, 2012;Walker et al, 2012;Blasco and Fernández Peris, 2012a,b).…”

Section: Zooarchaeological Dietary Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neanderthal diets in central and southeastern Mediterranean Iberia

Salazar‐García

Power

Serra³

et al. 2013

Quaternary International

116

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a b s t r a c tDuring recent decades, Neanderthal diet has been a major research topic in palaeoanthropology. This has been accelerated by the maturation of different techniques, which have produced a plethora of new information. However, this proliferation of data has led to confusing and contradictory results. Furthermore, most of the ecological dietary studies have been carried out on specimens drawn from different time periods and regions, almost exclusively those characterized by cold, open environmental conditions. Subsistence models based on these fragmentary data have been applied to Neanderthals living in a variety of different regions and environments, even though their dietary strategies may have been as variable as regions they inhabited. In this paper we integrate different dietary approaches (studies of the zooarchaeology, stable isotopes and plant remains) from the central and southeastern Mediterranean coast of Iberia in order to develop a broader and more complex picture of Neanderthal diet in different Mediterranean environmental conditions. Our results suggest that there may have been some minor dietary variation due to climatic or environmental differences, but that Neanderthal diet focussed on large terrestrial game, supplemented by plant foods when these were available.Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved. Neanderthal dietary ecologyThe dietary behaviours of Neanderthals and the relationship between their diet and their social organization, technological abilities, and even their eventual disappearance, have been hotly debated in the anthropological literature. Examining the diets of Neanderthals requires the synthesis of data that have been collected by numerous researchers over the last 150 years. In many cases, the differences between Neanderthal and early modern human diets have been emphasized, at the expense of cogent discussion of the variation within each group. Early modern humans lived in a wide variety of environmental contexts and likely pursued a variety of behaviours throughout this range of environments. The exclusively Eurasian distribution of Neanderthals did not include as many environments, but neither was it the exclusively cold Arctic climate that many have supposed it to be. A more detailed examination of the Neanderthal range and the effects of shifting global climates reveals that this group would have been exposed to a diverse range of environments (Hoffecker, 2009;MacDonald et al., 2009). Just as modern human dietary behaviour likely varied with environments, so, too, can we predict that Neanderthals had different diets in different environments.Our understanding of the diets of Neanderthals comes from three main lines of evidence. The first is the study of the human remains themselves, including the isotope signal recorded in their bones, the microwear on their teeth, and how factors of their lifehistory are related to diet. The second line of evidence includes the study of the remains of their food, in the form of animal and plant remains preserved ...

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Section: Zooarchaeological Dietary Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neanderthal diets in central and southeastern Mediterranean Iberia

Salazar‐García

Power

Serra³

et al. 2013

Quaternary International

116

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“…Cohen, 1977;Osborn, 1977), this situation may in part explain the general lack of detailed archaeomalacological analyses in eastern Africa (see Colonese et al, 2011 for a broadly similar argument for the Mediterranean). Therefore, to understand the degree of similarity and difference in human foraging behaviour between the past and the present, and particularly within highly dynamic coastal and marine environments, the appropriate scale and resolution in archaeological analyses are required.…”

Section: Issues Of Scale and Resolution: Analogy Analyses And Interpmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In fact, there are archaeological examples from around the world that would suggest a multitude of economic roles for molluscs, from fallback, supplementary and or buffering resources (e.g. Colonese et al, 2011) to integral economic components (e.g. Erlandson, 2001:331;Jerardino, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterising marine mollusc exploitation in the eastern African Iron Age: Archaeomalacological evidence from Unguja Ukuu and Fukuchani, Zanzibar

Faulkner

Harris

Ali

et al. 2018

Quaternary International

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“…Ramos-Muñoz et al (2014) interpret this observation as results from direct cultural contacts between human groups from both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar. Furthermore, analogue subsistence systems, especially the use of marine resources, are highlighted by different authors without necessarily indicating cultural context (Stringer et al, 2008;Zilhão et al, 2010;Colonese et al, 2011;Cortés Sánchez et al, 2011;Ramos-Muñoz et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultural contact over the Strait of Gibraltar during the Middle Palaeolithic? Evaluating the visibility of cultural exchange

Tafelmaier¹,

Pastoors²,

Weniger³

2018

Munibe, Antropol.-Arkeol.

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Possible contacts between hunter-gatherers of Northern Africa and Europe via the Strait of Gibraltar during the Pleistocene are still object to discussions. In the absence of significant fossil remains, debates are mainly based on similarities and differences of singular aspects of material culture. However, a theoretical framework for these discussions was lacking. The first aim of this study thus has been the development of a theoretical base. We therein included Maslow´s pyramid of basic needs. The idea of our approach is that the presence or absence of so-called cultural tracers identify either contact or disparity. A large database on archaeological sites of Morocco and Southern Iberia dating between 160 ka and 40 ka years ago has been compiled, containing information about lithic technology and typology, lithic raw material acquisition, subsistence patterns and symbolic behaviour. We formulated three potential contact scenarios between the two regions. The presence and/ or absence of so-called cultural tracers within the data set, that covered all levels of Maslow´s pyramid, led us to conclude that -based on the present archaeological and anthropological data -no contact took place between Iberian and North African populations across the Strait of Gibraltar in the given time frame. RESUMENContactos entre grupos humanos del Pleistoceno superior entre África del Norte y la Península Ibérica cruzando el Estrecho de Gibraltar están siendo objeto de debates. Por la falta de fósiles humanos significativos el debate se centra básicamente en similitudes y diferencias en la cultura material. Pero todavía falta un marco metodológico para la discusión. Este trabajo intenta la presentación de una base teórica preliminar. La pirámide de Maslow con necesidades básicas forma parte de estas reflexiones. La ausencia o presencia de marcadores culturales indica según nuestro enfoque contactos o disparidades. En un banco de datos de yacimientos arqueológicos entre 160 ka y 40 ka de Marruecos y del sur de España hemos compilado información sobre tecnología de inventarios líticos, aprovisionamiento de materias primas, patrones de asentamiento y comportamiento simbólico. Se pueden formular tres escenarios de contacto entre ambas regiones. La aplicación de marcadores culturales in relación con la pirámide entera de Maslow indica que según la información actual no se pueden demostrar contactos entre ambos continentes. LABURPENAIparraldeko Afrikaren eta Iberiar penintsularen artean, Gibraltargo itsasartea zeharkatuta, Goi-pleistozenoan giza taldeen artean izan ziren harremanak eztabaidagai bihurtu dira. Gizakiaren fosil esanguratsurik ez dagoenez, eztabaidaren gai nagusia, batez ere, kultura materialean dauden antzekotasunak eta aldeak dira. Baina oraindik eztabaidarako testuinguru metodologikoa falta da. Lan honen helburua da aurretiazko oinarri teorikoa aurkeztea. Oinarrizko beharrak dituen Maslow piramidea gogoeta horien baitan dago. Gure ustez, markatzaile kulturalik ez izateak edo halakoak izateak harremanak edo desber...

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Marine mollusc exploitation in Mediterranean prehistory: An overview

Cited by 201 publications

References 88 publications

Neanderthal diets in central and southeastern Mediterranean Iberia

Neanderthal diets in central and southeastern Mediterranean Iberia

Characterising marine mollusc exploitation in the eastern African Iron Age: Archaeomalacological evidence from Unguja Ukuu and Fukuchani, Zanzibar

Cultural contact over the Strait of Gibraltar during the Middle Palaeolithic? Evaluating the visibility of cultural exchange

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