From the mountains to the sea: the view from stable isotope data on humans and animals in Mesolithic Northern Spain

Abstract

In this paper we summarise the available human radiocarbon dates and stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotope data for the Mesolithic of Northern Spain. Tis reinforces a strong division between inland and coastal locations, with the two separated by a distance of as little as ca. 10 km. Tere is considerable time depth to this division, which appears to exist from at least the second half of the eighth millennium BC, representing the region’s earliest Holocene human results. We also present new δ13C and δ15N data for terrestrial fauna from the inland site of Los Canes, as well as for a small number of marine and estuarine fish species from coastal sites.