Dead from the sea: sea-worn shells in Aegean prehistory. Archaeomalacology: shells in the archaeological record. (original) (raw)

The use of marine shell in Cingle Vermell and Roc del Migdia (Vilanova de Sau, Barcelona, Spain), two prehistoric sites in the western Mediterranean. First approach

This paper presents the results of a preliminary study of malacological materials in the archaeological sites of the Roc del Migdia and the Cingle Vermell. The rock shelters are located 15 km east of the city of Vic (Barcelona province) in the Sau Valley of north eastern Catalonia. The valley lies near the intersection of distinct climatic influences, which create a zone in which there is a wide range of different biological communities supporting a broad range of potential human food resources. One foreign material recovered at these sites is marine Mollusca, which are represented by a few ornaments and fragmented shells from the occupation levels. These ornaments were made using species like Hinia, Trivia and Cyclope. All of them are single perforated or bi-perforated using different techniques and all ornaments are of small size. Early excavations at the Roc del Migdia reported an occupation chronology from the upper Palaeolithic until the Bronze Age. There are few contemporary archaeological sites in the immediate area with the exception of the Cingle Vermell that show evidence for Epipalaeolithic occupation. The sites are involved in the multidisciplinary project Evolució de les Ocupacions Humanes des del Paleolitic al Neolitic a la Vall de Sau (Osona).

MOUGNE C., DUPONT C., GIAZZON D., QUESNEL L., 2014 – Shellfish from the Bronze Age site of Clos des Châtaigniers (Mathieu, Normandy, France). In Human Exploitation of Aquatic Landscapes' special issue (ed. Ricardo Fernandes and John Meadows). Internet Archaeology, 37. doi:10.11141/ia.37.5, 1-36.

MOUGNE C., DUPONT C., GIAZZON D., QUESNEL L., 2014 – Shellfish from the Bronze Age site of Clos des Châtaigniers (Mathieu, Normandy, France). In Human Exploitation of Aquatic Landscapes' special issue (ed. Ricardo Fernandes and John Meadows). Internet Archaeology, 37. doi:10.11141/ia.37.5 (http://dx.doi.org/10.11141/ia.37.5) 1-36. Th is article provides initial results on the use of shellfish by the inhabitants of Clos des Châtaigniers, Normandy (France) during the Late Bronze Age. The settlement is located at Mathieu, 10km from the coast. The French National Institute of Preventive Ar chaeological Research (INRAP) conducted excavations on this site in 2010, under the direction of David Giazzon. A semi - circular domestic enclosure from the end of the Late Bronze Age was discovered. The diet of the inhabitants of Mathieu was partly based o n mussels, which were found in large quantities. These shells were collected at low tide on a rocky to muddy/rocky shore. They were then transported inland to be eaten fresh or processed. Other marine invertebrates were also present on this site. Some of t hem were collected with the mussels. In fact, they were mixed with or fixed to this bivalve. Many other small fragments of shells are present on the site and could have come from the stomach contents of fish.

Shells and Humans: Molluscs and Other Coastal Resources from the Earliest Human Occupations at the Mesolithic Shell Midden of El Mazo (Asturias, Northern Spain)

Papers from the Institute of Archaeology, 2017

Human populations exploited coastal areas with intensity during the Mesolithic in Atlantic Europe, resulting in the accumulation of large shell middens. Northern Spain is one of the most prolific regions, and especially the so-called Asturian area. Large accumulations of shellfish led some scholars to propose the existence of intensification in the exploitation of coastal resources in the region during the Mesolithic. In this paper, shell remains (molluscs, crustaceans and echinoderms) from stratigraphic units 114 and 115 (dated to the early Mesolithic c. 9 kys cal BP) at El Mazo cave (Asturias, northern Spain) were studied in order to establish resource exploitation patterns and environmental conditions. Species representation showed that limpets, top shells and sea urchins were preferentially exploited. One-millimetre mesh screens were crucial in establishing an accurate minimum number of individuals for sea urchins and to determine their importance in exploitation patterns. Environmental conditions deduced from shell assemblages indicated that temperate conditions prevailed at the time of the occupation and the morphology of the coastline was similar to today (rocky exposed shores). Information recovered relating to species representation, collection areas and shell biometry reflected some evidence of intensification (reduced shell size, collection in lower areas of exposed shores, no size selection in some units and species) in the exploitation of coastal resources through time. However, the results suggested the existence of changes in collection strategies and resource management, and periods of intense shell collection may have alternated with times of shell stock recovery throughout the Mesolithic.