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. 2011;6(9):e24026.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0024026. Epub 2011 Sep 14.

Earliest known use of marine resources by Neanderthals

Miguel Cortés-Sánchez  1 , Arturo Morales-Muñiz, María D Simón-Vallejo, María C Lozano-Francisco, José L Vera-Peláez, Clive Finlayson, Joaquín Rodríguez-Vidal, Antonio Delgado-Huertas, Francisco J Jiménez-Espejo, Francisca Martínez-Ruiz, M Aranzazu Martínez-Aguirre, Arturo J Pascual-Granged, M Mercè Bergadà-Zapata, Juan F Gibaja-Bao, José A Riquelme-Cantal, J Antonio López-Sáez, Marta Rodrigo-Gámiz, Saburo Sakai, Saiko Sugisaki, Geraldine Finlayson, Darren A Fa, Nuno F Bicho
Affiliations

Earliest known use of marine resources by Neanderthals

Miguel Cortés-Sánchez et al. PLoS One. 2011.

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 that gathering and consumption of mollusks can now be traced back to the lowest level of the archaeological sequence at Bajondillo Cave (Málaga, Spain), dated during the MIS 6. The paper describes the taxonomical and taphonomical features of the mollusk assemblages from this level Bj(19) and briefly touches upon those retrieved in levels Bj(18) (MIS 5) and Bj(17) (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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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Map of the Iberian Peninsula locating Middle Paleolithic sites with reported finds of marine mollusks.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Bajondillo Cave: Overview of records from the chronostratigraphical sequence (techno-typological sequence taken from [6]).
Figure 3
Figure 3. Lithic industries from Bj19.
Retouched tools (1–4, 6, 10), Flakes (5, 7–9, 12), Levallois core (13), Thermoaltered items (6,12,14). All pieces executed in flint except no. 10 (quartzite).
Figure 4
Figure 4. Marine mollusks and barnacles from Bj19.
Mytilus galloprovincialis (1–6), Glycymeris sp (7), Balanus trigonus (8,11–12), Donacilla cornea (9), Stramonita haemastoma (10), Pearls of M. galloprovincialis (13–14), Melanopsis laevigata (15), Rumina decollate (16), Iberus marmoratus (17), Fragments of M. galloprovincialis (18).
Figure 5
Figure 5. Bajondillo Cave: Pollen sequence from levels Bj19-Bj17.
Figure 6
Figure 6. Stable oxygen isotopic composition of shells from Bajondillo Cave and Malaga coast.
Bajondillo Cave: aragonitic and calcitic mollusk shells and two present-day specimens of Mytilus cf. galloprovencialis from the coast of Malaga.
Figure 7
Figure 7. Bulk sediment La/Lu ratios from Bajondillo Cave.
Grey arrows reveal the increase of La/Lu values across eolian sand-rich layers from Bajondillo Cave.
Figure 8
Figure 8. La/Lu ratio versus age, obtained in bulk sediments from site 300G (Alboran Sea basin).
The red line depicts the 3-point smoothing average. Light grey vertical bars signal cold periods, including Heinrich events (H1–H3) and the 8.2 cal ka BP cold episode.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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