Article
Earliest known use of marine resources by Neanderthals
Author/s | Cortés Sánchez, Miguel
Morales Muñiz, Arturo Simón Vallejo, María Dolores Lozano Francisco, María C. Vera-Peláez, José L. Finlayson, Clive Rodríguez Vidal, Joaquín Delgado Huertas, Antonio Jiménez Espejo, Francisco José Martínez Ruiz, Francisca Martínez-Aguirre, Aránzazu Pascual Granged, Arturo José Bergadà Zapata, María Mercè Gibaja Bao, Juan Francisco Riquelme Cantal, José Antonio López Sáez, José Antonio Rodrigo Gámiz, Marta Sakai, Saburo Sugisaki, Saiko Finlayson, Geraldine Fa, Darren A. Bicho, Nuno |
Department | Universidad de Sevilla. Departamento de Prehistoria y Arqueología Universidad de Sevilla. Departamento de Física Aplicada I |
Publication Date | 2011 |
Deposit Date | 2015-06-09 |
Published in |
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Abstract | Numerous studies along the northern Mediterranean borderland have documented the use of shellfish by Neanderthals but
none of these finds are prior to Marine Isotopic Stage 3 (MIS 3). In this paper we present evidence ... Numerous studies along the northern Mediterranean borderland have documented the use of shellfish by Neanderthals but none of these finds are prior to Marine Isotopic Stage 3 (MIS 3). In this paper we present evidence that gathering and consumption of mollusks can now be traced back to the lowest level of the archaeological sequence at Bajondillo Cave (Ma´laga, Spain), dated during the MIS 6. The paper describes the taxonomical and taphonomical features of the mollusk assemblages from this level Bj19 and briefly touches upon those retrieved in levels Bj18 (MIS 5) and Bj17 (MIS 4), evidencing a continuity of the shellfishing activity that reaches to MIS 3. This evidence is substantiated on 29 datings through radiocarbon, thermoluminescence and U series methods. Obtained dates and paleoenvironmental records from the cave include isotopic, pollen, lithostratigraphic and sedimentological analyses and they are fully coherent with paleoclimate conditions expected for the different stages. We conclude that described use of shellfish resources by Neanderthals (H. neanderthalensis) in Southern Spain started ,150 ka and were almost contemporaneous to Pinnacle Point (South Africa), when shellfishing is first documented in archaic modern humans. |
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