Seasonal Shellfishing across the East Adriatic Mesolithic-Neolithic Transition: Oxygen Isotope Analysis of Phorcus turbinatus from Vela Spila (Croatia)

Abstract

The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition is a classic topic of archaeological discussion, and the East Adriatic is of particular interest as a gateway region for agriculture entering Europe from the Near East. Neolithisation along the East Adriatic coast has been characterised as a two-wave process of leap-frog demographic replacement along the Dalmatian coast, followed by a longer process of acculturation further inland. Research on this transition primarily addresses the arrival of Neolithic technology and domesticates, but the view from 'traditionally Mesolithic' activities can provide an alternative perspective.This pilot study highlights one such practice, identifying changes in the seasonality of shellfish gathering over the Neolithic transition using material from Vela Spila, Korčula (Croatia). Specimens of the gastropod Phorcus turbinatus from across this transition were assessed using oxygen isotope analysis. Results showed a focus on summer and autumn collection during the Mesolithic, which then shifted to autumn and winter in the Neolithic. These results indicate differences in shellfish gathering and exploitation across the Neolithic transition, and implications for the demographic transition and humanenvironment interactions are discussed. Shellfishing in the East Adriatic is identified as an area of Neolithisation rather than Mesolithic continuity.

Human adaptation to changing coastal landscapes in the Eastern Adriatic: Evidence from Vela Spila cave, Croatia

“…1) Novel archaeological evidence provided in this study compliments previous work on Vela Spila (Branscombe et al, 2020;Cristiani et al, 2014;Farbstein et al, 2012;Radić, 2018;Rainsford et al, 2014). Vela Spila ( 2) Data used in the current study to reconstruct bathymetry around Vela Spila represent a synthesis of available bathymetric datasets for the area, and thus an improvement on the datasets used by previous authors such as Sikora et al (2014), which used satellite bathymetric data combined with GIS analysis to reconstruct river drainage during the lowstand of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM).…”

What we talk about when we talk about seasonality – A transdisciplinary review

“…Similarly, 18 O values for mollusk shell carbonate have frequently been used to estimate seasonal patterns of archaeological site occupation in coastal environments (e.g., [518,284,336,63]). These measurements can be used to infer season of death of individual mollusks, which in aggregate provide a way to determine during which seasons individuals targeted those species (see chapter 4.2).…”

“…The curvature of these shells prevents them from easy sectioning in one straight line covering the entire record, requiring sampling along the outside or only in specific areas. In turn, species with curved shells often, but not always, produce shorter geochemical records of the latest growth period [63,201,234,451]. With the proper sampling strategy, archaeological material can offer climatic data over long periods and of high quality [227,84,224,604], although many mollusk species (e.g., Arctica islandica) that would produce the best climatic datasets may not be abundant in archaeological sites [87,477,539].…”

Micromilling vs hand drilling in stable isotope analyses of incremental carbonates: The potential for δ13C contamination by embedding resin

“…Carbon and oxygen stable isotope (δ 13 C/δ 18 O) analysis of marine bivalves can be used to provide (palaeo)environmental information on marine conditions, including water temperature, 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 salinity 5 and productivity, 6 , 7 as well as biogeographic information on the species analysed. 8 , 9 , 10 Depending on the size and shape of the material/species being sampled, and the resolution and precision requirements of the study, a variety of sampling techniques can be used to produce powder samples for mass spectrometry analysis.…”