Shellfish collectors on the seashore: The exploitation of the marine environment between the end of the Paleolithic and the Mesolithic in the Mediterranean Iberia

Abstract

Studies carried out to date on the Iberian Peninsula have led to the belief that hunter-gatherer sites with exploitation of the marine environment are particularly found in the Cantabrian and Atlantic area. In this study, we present new data and studies of all the coastal sites in the Mediterranean area and we summarize current data, allowing us to change the existing paradigm. We argue for the existence of hunter-gatherer communities who made considerable use of maritime resources from the end of the Pleistocene and the beginning of the Holocene on the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula.

KEYWORDS:

• Shellfish
• marine resources
• Paleolithic
• Mesolithic
• Mediterranean Iberia

Acknowledgements

Dídac Román is a researcher on the Government of Valencia’s Pla GenT program in the Universitat Jaume I. This work was supported by the HAR2017-86509 and HAR2016-80693-P projects.

Notes

1 Bathymetry: GEBCO 30 arc-second grid: (https://www.gebco.net/data_and_products/gridded_bathymetry_data/) Theoretical territories calculated based on maps of distances of anisochronic cost derived from MDT25 25 m (http://centrodedescargas.cnig.es). Software used: TerrSet 18.31; Qgis 3.6 + Qgis2threejs plugin 2.3.

2 We have maintained the original terminology used by the author.