Neanderthal brown crab recipes: A combined approach using experimental, archaeological and ethnographic evidence

ABSTRACT

In order to gain better understanding of the Neanderthals’ subsistence exploitation of marine crustaceans, this work presents evidence on the consumption of brown crabs using experimentation following-up from the archaeological evidence recovered from the 2010-2013 excavation of Gruta da Figueira Brava (Portugal). Amongst the aquatic fauna from occupation phase FB4, which dates to MIS-5b, brown crabs (Cancer pagurus) are numerous. The average carapace width estimated from their remains is 16 cm, and skeletal part analysis reveals the introduction of complete animals and their on-site processing. Due to the lack of a referential corpus for the interpretation of archaeological crab taphonomy, we experimented with the processing of two raw, two boiled, and two roasted brown crabs. We found that manual processing of large adult Cancer pagurus is only possible for the disarticulation of the walking legs, and the separation of the claws. Experimental results indicate that archaeological crabs were roasted, which weakened the shell and facilitated breaking it open. Though it is also possible to manually disarticulate the fingers, most times it requires a small hammerstone. Impact scars and longitudinal fractures bear witness to the use of such tools to access the meatier parts of both the propodus and the dactylopodus.

KEYWORDS:

• Cancer pagurus
• taphonomy
• experimentation
• subsistence
• Middle Palaeolithic
• Portugal

Acknowledgments

We thank João de Brito Vidigal for all the assistance given to us during our experimentation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by Mariana Nabais’ one-year postdoc contract within the project “Archaeology and Evolution of Early Humans in the Western façade of Iberia (ARQEVO)” (PTDC/HAR-ARQ/30413/2017), UIDB/ 00698/2020 and UIDP/00698/2020, funded by the Fundação para a Ciúncia e Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal. Additional financial support has been provided by Mariana Nabais’ two-year postdoc contract for project “Neanderthal and Anatomically Modern Human interactions with small prey in Atlantic Iberia throughout the changing environments of the Pleistocene”, as part of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 101034349, and from the State Research Agency of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the Program Maria de Maeztu Unit of Excellence (CEX2019-000945-M). This research has also been possible thanks to a Margarita Salas postdoctoral fellowship awarded to Rodrigo Portero by the University of Salamanca and the Spanish Ministry of Science (Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia) with UE-Next-Generation funds.