@article{10902/34379,
year = {2024},
url = {https://hdl.handle.net/10902/34379},
abstract = {Over the last few decades, research has significantly enhanced our understanding of the role played by shellfish in human subsistence during the Mesolithic period along the Atlantic coast of Europe. Instrumental to this advance has been the analysis of stable oxygen isotope measurements (δ18O) from mollusc shells, which offers valuable insights into the seasonality of shellfish exploitation. The δ18O values serve as reliable indicators of past seasonal seawater temperature variations experienced by the molluscs, enabling us to accurately determine the time of year when past humans collected them. Recent studies using this approach have successfully identified seasonal exploitation patterns of the topshell Phorcus lineatus (da Costa, 1778) in Atlantic Europe. However, uncertainties remain regarding the exploitation schedule of Patella depressa Pennant 1777, one of the most abundantly collected species in Mesolithic sites. Here we used shell δ18O values of P. depressa from the Mesolithic sites of El Mazo (Northern Iberia) to determine its seasonality of exploitation. Our study reveals that P. depressa was prevalently exploited during colder months. Modern specimens of the same limpet species were also collected during two annual cycles to assess potential seasonal changes in meat yield return. Results obtained has profound implications for better understanding how last coastal foragers managed available littoral resources throughout the year.},
organization = {Open Access Funding provided by Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona. This research was performed as part of the projects HAR2016-75605-R and HAR2017-86262-P, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, MINECO, and PID2021-124059NB-I00 and PID2021-124589NA-I00, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. This investigation was also supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation thought a Humboldt Research Fellowship (no code available). This work was also funded by EarlyFoods (Evolution and impact of early food production systems) (grant number 2021_SGR_00527). During the development of this research AGE was funded by the Basque Country Postdoctoral Programme (grant number POS_2020_2_0032), by the University of La Rioja through a posdoctoral grant (no code available), by the Catalonia Postdoctoral Programme through a Beatriu de Pinós fellowship (grant number 2020 BP 00240) and he is currently working in the framework of a Marie Skłodowska Curie – Postdoctoral Fellowship (grant reference: HEU-101064225-NEARCOAST), funded by the European Union. RAM is supported by the University of Cantabria (grant number: CVE:2019–8461). This work contributes to the ICTA-UAB “María de Maeztu’’ Programme for Units of Excellence of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (CEX2019-000940-M). PR would like to thank the Max Planck Society for funding.},
publisher = {Springer Verlag},
publisher = {Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 2024, 16, 76},
title = {Seasonal exploitation of intertidal resources at El Mazo (N Iberia) reveals optimized human subsistence strategies during the Mesolithic in Atlantic Europe},
author = {García Escárzaga, Asier and Gutiérrez Zugasti, Fernando Igor and Arniz Mateos, Rosa María and Cuenca Solana, David and González Morales, Manuel R. and Ilgner, Jana and Lucas, Mary and Colonese, André Carlo and Roberts, Patrick},
}