Santander, February 19th-22nd 2008 - Aranzadi

New data on Asturian shell midden sites: the cave of Mazaculos II (Asturias, Northern Spain)
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Last, collection could have taken place in
exposed or sheltered areas. Craighead’s study
(1995; see also: Bailey and Craighead 2003) of
Patella vulgata at La Riera established a discriminating
function in order to calculate coastal exposure
of the areas where the limpets came from.
This was done using biometric measurements
(length, width, height). If this function is applied,
we can observe that more than 90% of the Patella
vulgata specimens found at Mazaculos come from
exposed coasts (Table 2). In addition, there is a
large presence of species that only inhabit exposed
coasts, such as the Charonia lampas, Gibbula
umbilicalis, Haliotis tuberculata, Melarhaphe neritoides,
Patella intermedia, and Patella ulyssiponensis
molluscs, the echinoderm Paracentrotus
lividus, and the Pollicipes pollicipes crustacean in
particular. The scarce presence of species typical
of sheltered coasts, such as Hydrobia ulvae,
Ruditapes decussatus or Scrobicularia plana, supports
the hypothesis that collection was focused
on exposed areas.
However, differences can be noted if we compare
La Riera, which shows exploitation in sheltered
areas (we should approach this datum with
caution given the small size of the sample available
for analysis), to Mazaculos and La Llana, which
show a clear exploitation of exposed areas.
7. CONCLUSIONS
Therefore, in terms of species representation,
it is possible to talk about an Asturian species
representation pattern. Thus, the collection of
molluscs by human populations was fundamentally
focused on the Patella genus, and to a lesser
extent on Osilinus lineatus. Moreover, the appearance
of other marginal species is also common,
including marine bivalves, marine gastropods,
land gastropods, crustaceans and echinoderms.
As can be noted from the Mazaculos analysis,
during the Neolithic the group of species being
exploited presents the same characteristics as
during the Asturian.
Regarding the collection areas, mollusc
exploitation took place in rocky intertidal areas,
Patella vulgata
Zonation
Exposure
High Shore Low Shore Exposed Sheltered
MZ A3 (Asturian) 30,2% 69,8% 92,5% 7,5%
MZ A2bottom (Neolithic) 35,7% 64,3% 96,2% 3,8%
MZ A2base (Neolithic) 35,8% 64,2% 95,3% 4,7%
MZ A2+A2base (Neolithic) 39,1% 60,9% 91,3% 8,7%
Table 2. Zonation and exposure of Patella vulgata at Mazaculos II.
with a predominance of collection in lower and
exposed shores. This pattern is probably conditioned
by the morphology of the coast, where
these types of areas, rocky and exposed, are predominant,
and it would have been maintained
during the Asturian and the Neolithic, an indication
of the lack of marked changes in climatic
conditions across these periods. On the other
hand, the lack of large estuaries in the zone,
especially in the core of higher concentration of
Asturian sites, impeded an increase in the diversity
of exploited species (a fact that is also observed
in other areas of the Cantabrian coast during
the Mesolithic and the Neolithic), explaining the
stability of exploitation patterns and areas in
these periods.
The similarities documented in the exploitation
of molluscs during the Asturian and early Neolithic
seem to indicate that in the coastal areas of the
Cantabrian region the introduction of agriculture
and stockbreeding kept a slow pace. Thus, populations
living along the coastal area continued the
exploitation of molluscs at least to ca. 5,000 BP,
although during the Neolithic the quantities of
shells accumulated in sites were much less than
in Mesolithic times. This allows us to suppose that
local hunter-gatherer groups adopted the new
economic forms of the Neolithic in a gradual way,
probably under the influence of Neolithic groups
of external origin settled in the inland areas of the
region, that coexisted alongside them, but maybe
not maintaining close social interaction. However,
some authors have proposed that local groups
were developing the new Neolithic lifeways in an
autochthonous way.
8. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank the University
of Cantabria for providing the funding for this
research, Pia Spry-Marqués for the translation
and Teresa Steele and an anonymous reviewer
for their comments; Javier Pérez (University of
Vigo) corrected the final manuscript. Part of this
work has been also funded by the Spanish
Ministry of Education and Research (Proy.
HUM2006-13729).
9. BIBLIOGRAPHY
ALCALDE DEL RIO, H.; BREUIL, H. & SIERRA, L.
1911 Les cavernes de la Région Cantabrique. Imp. V.A. Chêne,
Mónaco.
MUNIBE Suplemento - Gehigarria 31, 2010
S.C. Aranzadi. Z.E. Donostia/San Sebastián