A group of Spanish specialists conducted research on various marine elements found in caves in the south of that country.
All the scientific evidence indicated that these were mainly foragers and hunters, but a team of researchers has now shown that Homo sapiens already showed his interest in crustaceans and fish at least 15,000 years ago.
It was verified by a team of Spanish researchers After analyzing the fossil remains of the Cueva de la Victoria, in the city of Malaga Victory Corner (Southern Spain), where they verified that those humans marine resources acquired through shellfish farming techniques, which practiced “rebalaje” to fish and even capture mammals stranded in the sand.
The research results, which were published in the scientific journal Eliione of the Cell Press group, are added to those already published in recent years and which reveal the importance of the Paleolithic caves in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in which the oldest cave paintings in the world (about 65,000 years ago) – in the Ardales cave in Malaga – and through which numerous ancient cultures have passed for almost 60,000 years.
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The remains analyzed now correspond to the late Paleolithic, to the Magdalenian period (about 15,000 years ago) and are mostly stone tools and ornaments, as well as human and animal remains that helped researchers understand the subsistence strategies of that cave’s inhabitants already at that time compare them with people from other areas.
The research started fifty years ago by the archaeologist Francisco Javier Fortea – already deceased-, researchers from various Spanish universities – of Salamanca (northwest), Valencia (east), Basque Country (north) and UNED-, of the Superior Council of Lo demonstrated scientific research (CSIC) and the Spanish Geological and Mining Institute (IGME). the protein base of the Mediterranean diet it was already in full activity during the Paleolithic in the bay of Malaga.
The application of modern technologies It allowed them to deepen the interpretation of the archaeological remains and rock art of this cavity, consolidated as an “exceptional” laboratory, according to the researchers, to learn about the customs of the Paleolithic peoples of southern Europe.
Therefore, this work has shown that while in the rest of Europe Homo sapiens -15,000 years ago- they based their diet on reindeer or bisonon the Costa del Sol it had already incorporated fish and shellfish.
the archaeologist Mary of the Sea Mirror he observed that Paleolithic humans were “hunters, gatherers and fishermen”, but their role as fishermen was little known, so the collection of marine fauna found inside the cave is particularly interesting.
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In statements to the EFE agency, the researcher recalled that many of the remains extracted from this site remained at the University of Salamanca as “secondary” elements of other great findsbut now they have taken on a new ecological and chronological value.
This cavity is located right 70 meters above sea level and hosts a double site – archaeological and artistic – and in its halls and galleries are preserved numerous vestiges of the two great prehistoric phases (Paleolithic and Neolithic) The scientists who worked in the area and who have now analyzed the archaeological remains deposited in the University of Salamanca for decades confirmed that some rooms were related to human occupations of the Paleolithic and others would serve as funeral deposits during the Neolithic.
And even its walls reflect this passage, with paintings (hands and fauna) characteristic of the Paleolithic and rock art typical of the Neolithic phase (schematized human representations), which coexist in the Victory Grotto with human remains.
The analyzes that were carried out allowed the researchers to determine that the “sapiens” included in their diet at the end of the Paleolithic – between 13,500 and 15,000 years ago – different types of fish such as sea bream, sea bream or breca and like molluscs shell, clams, clams, mussels or coquinas. Also shellfish such as crabs and marine mammals (dolphins and whale skin remains), as well as various land animals (rabbit, goat, horse, deer or wild boar).
Only three species reached the cave as “unhunted” or collected fauna: a fox, a lynx and a lizard-like reptilewhich according to the researchers shows that the inhabitants of the area have learned to exploit the natural resources of two ecosystems that are very close and favorable to food: the mountains of Malaga and the coast.
María del Mar Espejo assured that the caves of Rincón de la Victoria have always been particularly important for researchers, but that interest has skyrocketed today for the availability of modern technologies “and the change of mentality of current generations regarding the environment and the relationship between man and a privileged space”.
Source: Clarin
