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The land snail midden from Balma del Gai (Barcelona, Spain) and the evolution of terrestrial gastropod consumption during the late Palaeolithic and Mesolithic in eastern Iberia
Quaternary International 244 (2011) 37e44
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The land snail midden from Balma del Gai (Barcelona, Spain) and the evolution of terrestrial gastropod consumption during the late Palaeolithic and Mesolithic in eastern Iberia Lluís Lloveras, Jordi Nadal*, Pilar Garcia Argüelles, Josep Maria Fullola, Alícia Estrada y SERP, Departament de Prehistòria, Història Antiga i Arqueologia, Universitat de Barcelona, C/ Montalegre 6-8, 08001 Barcelona, Spain
a r t i c l e i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Article history: Available online 13 May 2011
The aim of this paper is to describe the results of a study of the terrestrial gastropods recovered at the Epipalaeolithic site Balma del Gai, and comparing it with other Upper Palaeolithic and Epipalaeolithic samples from the Mediterranean region of the Iberian Peninsula. Balma del Gai is located in northeastern Spain, in the municipality of Moià, province of Barcelona. This small rock shelter lies about 50 km inland from the coast. The second layer, the middle one, (Nivell I) contains diverse Epipalaeolithic occupations dated from 12,240 110 BP to 8930 140 BP. A large amount of terrestrial gastropod shells was recovered during archaeological excavations. These shells belong to the species Cepaea nemoralis, which is very common in other contemporaneous sites from the region. The anthropic origin of the sample has been confirmed by a previous taphonomic study. New results reveal an evolution in the use of land snails as a food resource from south to north in Mediterranean Iberia: consumption of land snails began in the south with the warmer stages at the end of the Pleistocene and extended northwards during the Holocene. However, land snails were most likely only a seasonal food source, and their presence is probably correlated with the exploitation of other resources such as small mammals (rabbits) and collected plants and fruits. Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction The study of terrestrial snails from archaeological sites can be considered as a theme of minor importance considering the general archaeomalacological literature. Very few works on the subject were published in the proceedings of the first two meetings of the ICAZ Archaeomalacology Working Group (Szabó and Quitmeyer, 2008; Álvarez- Fernández and Carvajal-Contreras, 2010) or other scientific events related to the study of small prey and human consumption (Brugal and Desse, 2004). This situation is to a certain extent caused by the opinion of some archaeologists who consider the presence of land snails as due to non-human activity (see discussions in Rizner et al., 2009: 527; Gutiérrez, 2009: 387). However, the anthropic origin of terrestrial gastropod accumulations has become evident in certain geographical areas and at certain historical moments. Specifically, the consumption of terrestrial snails during the end of the Upper Palaeolithic and among the hunteregatherer cultures of the Holocene have been
* Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (J. Nadal). y Deceased. 1040-6182/$ e see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2011.04.036
clearly observed in diverse areas of the Mediterranean basin. The regions most exhaustively studied are the SoutheEast of France, Italy, the Aegean and the Magreb (Lubell, 2004a). Despite anthropic land snail accumulations having been documented in many Upper Palaeolithic and Epipalaeolithic sites from the eastern coastal regions of the Iberian Peninsula, very little is known about this resource and its importance for human populations in these periods. Thus, the aim of this paper is to describe the results obtained in the study of the terrestrial gastropod sample recovered at the Epipalaeolithic site of Balma del Gai and to contextualize them within the evolution of this food resource in the Mediterranean basin of Iberia from the emergence of the pattern in the Upper Palaeolithic to the highest frequency during Early Holocene, filling the existing gap of information for this area and these periods. 2. Site description Balma del Gai is an Epipalaeolithic site with significant assemblage of land snail shells. The site is a small rock shelter situated in the municipality of Moià (Barcelona, Spain), measuring approximately 10.5 m long and 5.5 m wide. It opens to the southeast and near it (nowadays about 25 m away) there is a little stream (Fig. 1).
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Fig. 1. General view of Balma del Gai.
The site is 760 m a s l and approximately 50 km from the present day coast. In spite of the altitude, the area where Balma del Gai is located is not very steep as it belongs to the “altiplà del Moianès”, the Moianes plateau (Fig. 6). Balma del Gai was discovered by Joan Surroca in 1975, when he recovered worked lithic elements associated with bones and land snail shells in the rock shelter, and an excavation was undertaken in the late 1970s by a SpanisheFrench team, directed by Jean Guilaine and Miquel Llongueras. In 1994, new excavations opened a large surface, obtained new radiocarbon data and started new studies on the recovered materials including anthracology, palynology and petrology. These excavations are ongoing. The stratigraphy is composed of three levels. From the top to the bottom, the first is the nivell superficial, which is 25 cm thick. It is composed of a mixture of Epipaleolithic remains from the nivell 1 and materials from more recent occupations, dating to the end of the prehistoric period and historic times. The second level (nivell 1) is the subject of this paper, as it contains the Epipaleolithic/Mesolithic sequence. It is 30 cm thick at the contact of the rock shelter. The distribution of the material across the level indicates diverse habitation layers, sometimes very difficult to discriminate. Some of them, the upper and also the less intense belong to the Geometric Filador type, in the terminology of Fortea (1973), which is parallel to Sauveterrian French Mesolithic, according to the chronology and the lithic industries recovered in it. The most important occupations belong to the Microlaminar Epipaleolithic, similar in chronology and materials to the Azilian in France and northwestern Spain. The lowest level (nivell 2) is made of gelifracts from the collapse of part of the surface of the shelter during a very cold period at the end of the Pleistocene and does not contain any in situ archaeological material but only some artifacts that have percolated among the crioclasts from nivell 1. The layers containing the geometric Filador complex are characterized by triangular microliths made by the microburin technique. They are dated by four radiocarbon dates: Gif-A10028: 8930 140 BP (10,373e9558 cal BP), MC-1478: 9860 400 BP (12,562e10,299 cal BP), MC-2141: 10,030 160 BP (12,370e11,174 cal BP) and MC-2140: 10,050 BP (12,566e10,785 cal BP). The layers considered to be of the Microlaminar Epipaleolitihic contain bladetels, points and endscrapers, and also some artifacts made on bone and red deer antler. The radiocarbon dates for these layers are Gif-A95617: 10,260 90 BP (12,407e11,628 cal BP), GifA10029: 11,170 160 BP (13,332e12,687 cal BP) and GifA-95630: 12,240 110 (14,878e13,824 cal BP). These chronologies are coherent with other Epipalaeolithic sites from both chronocultural
traditions in northeast Spain (Garcia-Argüelles et al., 2009a). Calibrations have been done with OxCal online version 4.1, the range is 2s, 95.4% (Fig. 2). According to these dates, the Microlaminar layers of Balma del Gai can be related to the end of GI-1 and especially to GS-1, and the Geometric Filador type occupations to the early Holocene. This chronological and archaeological sequence is coherent with the framework of other sites from the Ebro River valley and Mediterranean watershed of the Iberian Peninsula (Aura et al., 2011). Compared to other sites in the region, Balma del Gai is very rich in organic remains. Among the larger mammals are red deer (Cervus elaphus), wild boar (Sus scrofa) and small bovids (Rupicapra rupicapra and Capra pyrenaica). The most abundant species is, without doubt, the rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) with thousands of specimens, representing more than 95% in NISP and also MNI among the vertebrate bones. Rabbits were used both for food and skins, as can be seen from the cut marks on different parts of the bones (Garcia-Argüelles et al., 2004; Lloveras et al., 2009). Also present are different kinds of Mediterranean mollusc shells e bivalves, gastropods and scaphopods e that were used as symbolic and decorative objects (Estrada et al., 2010), terrestrial pulmonates of very small size, that cannot be related directly to human activity (they are in process of study), and numerous large terrestrial snail shells, identified as Ceapea nemoralis, that will be the focus of this paper. The organic finds are completed by plant remains (pollen, charcoal, and carbonized fruits). The latter are probably the only kind of plant remain directly related to human diet), and include examples of blackthorn (Prunus spinosa). 3. Material and methods The samples of C. nemoralis shells analyzed were systematically collected during the excavations to 2009. Most were recovered in situ except the smallest fragments (in general resulting from the archaeological excavation itself). Due to their abundance, the exact position of snail shells was not registered by the Laplace and Méroc (1954) method, as it was done with other artifacts or ecofacts. C. nemoralis remains were separated by squares of 25 cm 25 cm and every 5 cm depth if no changes in sediment were observed (Fig. 3). The smallest fragments were recovered by sieving in 5 mm, 2 mm and 0.5 mm mesh. The remains obtained were cleaned with water and then analyzed. The variables studied were: a) Level of fragmentation: distinguishing complete specimens, diagnostic broken parts (when these remains can be used to count individuals), and fragments (when they cannot be used to calculate minimum number of individuals). b) Biometrics: breadth and height of the shell, according to the method of Kerney and Cameron (1994, p. 14). c) Polymorphism: study of the number of bands and the level of fusion among them, according to established methodology (e.g. Goodhart, 1962). d) Other alterations like burning modifications (Rizner et al., 2009). e) The minimum number of individuals (MNI) was obtained by counting complete individuals and the apex of broken elements (Mason et al., 1998; Giovas, 2009).
4. Results The MNI estimated for C. nemoralis is 6738. Of those, 2815 are complete or almost complete shells, and 3923 are non-repetitive
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Fig. 2. Archaeological section of Balma del Gai with indication of the different levels identified during excavation and the distribution of some of the 14C dates obtained in diverse layers from Level I (Nivell I).
elements that allow calculation of the number of individuals. There is a huge number of small fragments, most of them a consequence of the excavation process as it is very difficult to separate the soil from the shells. The number of these fragments has not been calculated yet. The specimens studied are very homogenous in their measurements (Fig. 4). The average shell breadth is 23.97 mm (range: 14.5e26.0) and the average shell height is 17.70 mm (range:
9.2e19.1). Most of the individuals must be considered adults, as they also show the peristome already formed. This demonstrates selective harvesting of adult animals. The number of shells with evident marks of fire alteration is very scarce (less than 0.5% of individuals). The study of polymorphism as shown by the banding pattern (Fig. 5) reveals two main patterns: shells with no bands (00000) and the shells with five bands (12345), each present in 40% of the cases. The third pattern observed is that in which just the medium band is preserved (00300), in 12% of the cases. The rest (8%) are other patterns with very few cases.
5. Discussion
Fig. 3. Detail of Cepea nemoralis specimens on an archaeological layer from Balma del Gai during excavation. As can be observed by the chaotic distribution of the shells among the soil and the characteristics of the sediment itself, the shells of terrestrial snails were difficult to recover. Shells broken during excavation were excluded from the taphonomic studies.
Land snail accumulations are abundant in Upper Palaeolithic and Epipalaeolithic sites of the coastal regions of the Iberian Peninsula. However, although data are not scarce the problem is that in many cases the information has been irregularly published, with no clear information about chronology or stratigraphy, quantification of specimens or biometrics. This lack of information is the reason why some researchers may consider that terrestrial shell middens in this area are not clearly the consequence of prehistoric human activity. The anthropic origin of the Balma del Gai sample was confirmed in a previous taphonomic study by Estrada et al. (2009). In this study; the analysis of the size of the accumulation, the breakage pattern, and the homogeneity of taxa and size, corroborate the human origin of the sample and discard other agents that could have been responsible for this kind of accumulations including small carnivores and insectivores
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Fig. 4. Biometric results of the analysis of Cepaea nemoralis shell size.
such as fox, badger and hedge-hog; birds such as thrushes, and catastrophic deaths. The scarcity of alterations by burning observed in the Balma del Gai assemblage is common in these type of accumulations because snails can be taken out of the shells or cooked without direct exposure of the animals to fire and, according to some researchers, a light exposure to fire can show little marking on the shells (Mussi et al., 2004; Rizner et al., 2009).1 The data on polymorphism are difficult to interpret, mainly because at the moment there are no similar studies in the region. The most closely related investigations have been done in southern France and Andorra (André, 1987). At Dourgne and Arques, the main banding pattern is 00000, with 88% and 91% of the cases respectively, and at Balma de la Margineda 100% of shells presented the 00000 banding pattern (André, 1987). This important difference between the French sites and Balma del Gai could be explained as an adaptation of this snail species to warmer climates or forested landscapes to the south of the Pyrenees, although the evolutionary causes of Cepaea polymorphism are still unclear (Jones et al., 1977).
Mesolithic in the Mediterranean basin of the Iberian Peninsula in which edible land snails are abundant are listed in Table 1 and shown in Fig. 6. In all these sites the snails were accumulated as a result of human consumption. The main problem to interpret the results obtained in the present study is the difficulty of comparing them with other parallel sites. This is because published information is scarce and sometimes the only data about quantification of these remains are very imprecise (like “presence”, “abundance”, “important number” and so on). In any case, snail midden
5.1. Context and parallels As mentioned above, the Balma del Gai land snail midden is not a unique case. Sites from the Upper Palaeolithic and Epipalaeolithic/
1 Steaming of molluscs in layers of fresh vegetation placed over heated rocks is a commonly used method of cooking which leaves no traces of burning on shells. This is the method inferred for land snails in Capsian sites because of the enormous quantities of fire-cracked rock and ash found in those sites [ed.].
Fig. 5. Banding patterns in the Balma del Gai Cepaea nemoralis population. From left to right, model 00000, model 12345, model 00300.
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Table 1 Upper Palaeolithic and Epipalaeolithic/Mesolithic sites from the Mediterranean basin of the Iberian Peninsula with significant presence of edible land snails. In all these sites snail accumulations were considered of anthropic origin and related to human consumption. Date cal BP 2s (95.4%)
Species
Reference
110 1400 2300 970 370
29,594e28,612 32,427e26,010 36,579e23,236 28,669e23,884 13,432e11,412
I. alonensis
Jordá, 1986; Ferrer and Crespo, 2005; Aura et al., 2010
900 850 200 260 270 370 170 270 350 360 40 40 40 80 97 160 190 240 80
27,968e23,349 24,500e20,259 17,604e16,713 16,914e15,217 16,841e15,126 16,396e13,749 14,849e13,492 16,896e15,186 13,148e11,326 10,159e8419 12,890e12,610 12,382e11,990 10,250e10,161 11,955e11,249 11,955e11,226 11,955e10,753 11,596e10,171 13,335e12,223 11,611e11,128
I. alonensis I. alonensis “Helix”
Martinez, 1989, 1997 Martínez, 1997 Davidson, 1989
I. alonensis
Olària et al., 1981
I. alonensis I. alonensis
Vilaseca, 1971 Jordá, 1986; Ferrer and Crespo, 2005 Aguilera et al., 1999
110 160 90 296 160 400 140 160 240 320 370 50 40 120 160 420 150
14,878e13,824 13,332e12,687 12,407e11,628 12,566e10,785 12,370e11,174 12,562e10,299 10,373e9558 11,752e10,676 10,514e9316 10,115e8385 9703e8014 8632e8429 8284e8024 13,429e12,909 11085e9956 10675e8520 9674e9009
Site
Culture
Date BP
Nerja
Gravetian
Caballo Algarrobo Parpalló
Magdalenian Magdalenian Solutrean
Matutano
Magdalenian
Camping Salou Nerja
End of Upper Palaeolithic Epipalaeolithic
Diablets
Epipalaeolithic
Filador
Epipalaeolithic
Font Voltada Guineu
Epipalaeolithic Epipalaeolithic
24,480 24,300 23,400 21,760 10,780 No date 21,105 18,622 13,960 13,370 13,220 12,520 12,090 13,330 10,580 8260 10,860 10,320 9030 10,020 9988 9839 9460 10,920 9850
Balma del Gai
Epipalaeolithic
Cingle Vermell Roc del Migdia
Epipalaeolithic Mesolithic Epipalaeolithic Mesolithic
Serrat del Pont
Mesolithic
Margineda (Andorra)
Epipalaeolithic Mesolithic
12,240 11,170 10,260 10,050 10,030 9860 8930 9760 8800 8190 7950 7770 7330 11,320 9250 8530 8390
accumulations from this area cannot be considered, by the number of individuals recovered, as equivalent to the classic escargotières from North Africa (Lubell, 2004a,b; Lubell et al., 1976). The specimens recovered in the Mediterranean basin of the Iberian Peninsula are never more than a few thousand. These snail accumulations appeared during the earlier cultures of the Upper Palaeolithic in the southern regions (Andalusia). During the late Pleistocene these types of accumulations are restricted to the southern areas and always relatively near the coast: the Gravetian levels of Nerja (Andalusia), the Solutrean occupations of Parpalló (Valencia) or the Magdalenian/end of Upper Palaeolithic occupations from El Caballo and Algarrobo (Murcia), Matutano (Valencia) and Camping Salou open air shelter (Southern Catalonia). These Pleistocene middens always contain Iberus alonensis, which has warmer requirements than C. nemoralis. Today, the ecological frontier of this species is still the province of Tarragona in the south of the Catalonia region (Bech, 1990). On the other hand, during the early Holocene, the presence of terrestrial snail accumulations in Epipalaeolithic and Mesolithic sites increases towards the north, especially in Catalonia (Filador, Font Voltada, Guineu, Cingle Vermell, Roc del Migdia, Bauma del Serrat del Pont, and Balma de la Margineda, in Andorra) and the northern area of Valencia (Diablets). In these areas, the most common species changes to
I. alonensis
C. nemoralis
Garcia-Argüelles et al., 2009b
C. nemoralis C. nemoralis C. nemoralis
Mir and Freixas, 1993 Personal com. Garcia-Argüelles et al., 2009b Present study
C. nemoralis C. nemoralis
Vila, 1985 Yll et al., 1994
C. nemoralis
Alcalde and Saña, 2008
C. nemoralis
Guilaine and Martzluff, 1995; Guilaine et al., 2008
C. nemoralis and the middens are generally inland and in mountainous places (Table 1 and Fig. 6). The maximum concentration of land snail middens is documented in the neighbouring region of southern France on the north side of the Pyrenees, where many sites from the Epipalaeolithic to the Ancient Neolithic can be mentioned (Guilaine, 1979; Lubell, 2004a). 5.2. The consumption of land snails in the context of PleistoceneeHolocene changes in climate and human subsistence in the Mediterranean region of Iberia Assuming that these accumulations are human, why did the consumption of land snails start with the establishment of warm periods? Of course, the easiest answer to this question is because of an increase in terrestrial snail populations as a result of warmer climate. But this is an incomplete answer. The response to why a human population in a certain period of time exploits a resource as a food must be answered not just by the presence or even the abundance of it in the ecosystem but also by aspects such as technology, cultural behavior and nourishment requirements. There is no doubt that PleistoceneeHolocene climate evolution in Mediterranean Iberia resulted in changes in the potential
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Fig. 6. Location of Balma del Gai and other sites discussed here. 1: Nerja; 2:Caballo; 3: Algarrobo; 4: Parpalló; 5: Matutano; 6:Diablets; 7: Camping Salou; 8: Filador; 9: Font Voltada; 10: Guineu; 11: Balma del Gai; 12: Cingle Vermell; 13: Roc del Migdia; 14: Serrat del Pont; 15: Margineda (Andorra).
resources that could be exploited by human groups. As an example, the reduction of horses as prey and the increase of red deer during the Upper Palaeolithic, associated with the improvement of the climate, have been clearly demonstrated (Nadal et al., 2006). It is well known that open landscape species were replaced by others better adapted to forests (such as red deer, roe deer and wild boar), which were less gregarious and more difficult to hunt without a technology based on the bow and arrow. The use of microliths as arrow points and other artifacts related to the manufacture of arrow shafts such as stone polishers during the Epipalaeolithic in Eastern Spain have been documented in diverse studies (GarciaArgüelles, 1993; Utrilla and Montes, 2008). That is similar to what happened with plant resources. Carbonized fruit remains are absent in Upper Palaeolithic sites in Catalonia but they are well represented in Epipalaeolithic ones. In the case of Balma del Gai, some burned blackthorn fruits (P. spinosa) were recovered during the excavations, associated with the snail shells and also with rabbit bones. Blackthorn fruits (or other Prunus fruits) have also been found in Molí del Salt (Tarragona), Cingle Vermell (Barcelona) and Balma Margineda (Andorra). Other plant resources recovered from Holocene hunteregatherer sites in Northeast Iberia are acorns (Cingle Vermell and Roc del Migdia, in Barcelona; Balma del Serrat del Pont, in Girona), pine kernels (Cingle Vermell), hazelnuts (Roc del Migdia, Sota Palou, in Girona, Balma Margineda), Sorbus fruits (Balma del Serrat del Pont), hawthorn fruits and rose hips (Molí del Salt), always preserved by carbonization (Buxó, 1988; Alcalde and Saña, 2008; Allué et al., 2010). These species indicate the seasons when the sites were
visited. All these fruits and nuts mature during the end of summer and along the autumn. It seems that these plant records are clearly correlated with the evolution of the landscape. In pollen diagrams, the end of the Pleistocene is dominated by non-arboreal pollen and arboreal pollen from genera such as Pinus but that with the Holocene there is an increase of diversity among tree taxa such as Quercus, Corylus, Acer, Prunus and Fagus. The anthracological analysis of Balma del Gai sediments reflects this situation (Fig. 7): pines are dominant in the bottom of the stratigraphy but they are progressively substituted by warmer taxa, especially Acer and Rhamnus towards the top of the sequence (Allué et al., 2007; Fig. 7). It is in this context that rabbit bone and terrestrial snail shell accumulations also became more common in archaeological assemblages. These changes are not casual and may be related to climate change. Probably, the presence of new prey helped in the generalization of some technologies such as the use of bow and arrow and maybe the use of snares, or even the use of dogs, but these are both hard to verify in the archaeological record. Such practices could also be considered complementary to gathering strategies as demonstrated by the carpological evidence. Apart from the variations observed in plant and animal species as a consequence of climate change, another factor should be taken into account to explain the economic changes that occurred: the nourishment equilibrium among the new resources. It is well known that a balanced diet requires a certain proportion of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. There are diverse strategies to achieve this in extant hunteregatherer groups, and ethnographic
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Fig. 7. Anthracological diagram of Balma del Gai From Allué et al. (2007).
studies have documented extreme situations such as the Innuit diet. But these studies have also demonstrated that the proteins must be complemented by fats or carbohydrates, even though carbohydrates and fats can be substituted one by the other. Studies on the changes related to latitude in the strategies of hunting/ fishing and gathering made by Lee (1968), according to the data of Murdock (1967), are usually used by archaeologists to extrapolate to prehistoric data, and these can also be read in order of the equilibrium of proteins, fats and carbohydrates in diet. This is the case, for example, in the evolution of subsistence strategies among the Maoris (in this case, gathering was replaced by agriculture) in pre-European New Zealand (Leach, 2006: 181). At Balma del Gai, as in other Epipalaeolithic sites, the substitution of a part of the resources richer in fats (big game) by others which are poorer like rabbits and snails (for the nutritional characteristics of land snails see Lubell, 2004b) would be compensated for by the increase of plant resources rich in carbohydrates and, in some cases, by nuts, rich in fats. If this relationship between the different resources must be considered in terms of necessities, (as a result of the loss of animal fats in the diet) or possibilities (as a result of the increment of the diversity of edible plants), is something that cannot be explained yet. Although all these explanations are rather speculative, the new data presented are consistent with this proposal, and this is an idea that should be taken into account. On the other hand, the presence of terrestrial snails in archaeological sites could also be correlated with the seasonality of the occupations. Thus, in the case of Balma del Gai, it seems that the site was occupied, at least, during late summer and the autumn judging by the remains of Prunus and the level of growth of deer antlers recovered. This period coincides with some of the times throughout the year when land snails are more active (spring and the end of summer and the beginning of autumn for C. nemoralis). In any case, all these are explanations that must be clarified with future new data, but they show that terrestrial gastropod remains in archaeological sites must not be under-estimated, and should not
be considered as something casual in terms of nourishment or diet. The new data presented demonstrates that the Mediterranean basin of Iberia follows the same evolution in the use of land snails as a food resource during the end of Pleistocene and the Holocene as the rest of the circum-Mediterranean region. Acknowledgments Excavations at Balma del Gai are authorized and funded by the Archaeological and Paleontological Service of the Department of Culture of the Greneralitat de Catalunya. The Archaeological and Paleontological Museum of Moià (Barcelona, Spain) also helps the excavation with logistical and financial support. Our research is supported by HAR2008-00103 from the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICIN) in Spain and SGR2009-1145 from Generalitat de Catalunya. We are very grateful to David Lubell and Nick Barton, who have helped us very much to improve the paper. References Aguilera, G., Olària, C., Gusi, F., 1999. El jaciment prehistòric de la Cova dels Diablets (Alcalà de Xivert, Castelló). Quaderns de Prehistòria i Arqueologia de Castelló 20, 7e37. Alcalde, G., Saña, M., 2008. Procés d’ocupació de la Bauma del Serrat del Pont (La Garrotxa) entre 7400 i 5480 cal aC. Publicacions eventuals d’Arqueologia de la Garrotxa, Olot. Allué, E., Nadal, J., Estrada, A., García-Argüelles, P., 2007. los datos antracológicos de la Balma del Gai (Bages, Barcelona): una aproximación al conocimiento de la vegetación y la explotación de los recursos forestales durante el tardiglaciar en el NE peninsular. Trabajos de Prehistoria 64 (1), 87e97. Allué, E., Ibáñez, N., Salarié, P., Vaquero, M., 2010. Small prey and plant exploitation by late Pleistocene hunter-gatherers. A case study from the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula. Archaeological and Anthopological Sciences 2 (1), 11e24. Aura, J.E., Jordá, J.F., Montes, L., Utrilla, P., 2011. Human responses to Younger Dryas in the Ebro Valley and Mediterranean Watershed (Eastern Spain). Quaternary International 242, 348e359. Álvarez-Fernández, E., Carvajal-Contreras, D.R. (Eds.), 2010. Not Only Food. Marine, Terrestrial and Freshwater Molluscs in Archaeological Sites. Munibe suplemento, vol. 31. Sociedad de Ciencias Aranzadi, Donostia.
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Jordá, J.F., 1986. La Prehistoria de la cueva de Nerja. Patronato de la Cueva de Nerja, Nerja, 450 pp. Kerney, M.P., Cameron, R.A.D., 1994. Land Snails of Britain and North-West Europe. Collins, London, 288 pp. Laplace, G., Méroc, L., 1954. Application des coordonées cartésiennes à la fouille d’un gisement. Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française 51 (1e2), 56e66. Leach, F., 2006. Fishing in pre-European New Zealand. Archaeofauna: International Journal of Archaeozoology 15, 9e266. Lee, R.B., 1968. What hunters do for a living, or, how to make out on scarce resources. In: Lee, R.B., DeVore, I. (Eds.), Man the Hunter. Aldine, New York, pp. 30e48. Lloveras, L., Moreno-García, M., Nadal, J., 2009. Butchery, cooking and human consumption marks on rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) bones: an experimental study. Jounal of Taphonomy 2-3, 179e201. Lubell, D., 2004a. Prehistoric edible land snails in the circum-Mediterranean: the archaeological evidence. In: Brugal, J.Ph., Desse, J. (Eds.), Petits animaux et sociétés humaines.Du complément alimentaire aux ressources utilitaires. Éditions APDCA, Antibes, pp. 77e98. Lubell, D., 2004b. Are land snails a signature for the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in the circum-Mediterranean? In: Budja, M. (Ed.), The Neolithization of Eurasia e Paradigms, Models and Concepts Involved Neolithic Studies, vol. 11, pp. 1e24. Documenta Praehistorica XXXI. Lubell, D., Hassan, F.A., Gautier, A., Ballais, J.L., 1976. The Capsian escargotières. Science 191, 910e920. Martinez, M., 1989. El Magdaleniense superior en la costa de Murcia. Editorial regional de Murcia, Murcia. 189 p.. Martínez, M., 1997. El final del Paleolítico en las tierras bajas del sureste español. In: Fullola, J.M., Soler, N. (Eds.), El món Mediterrani després del Planiglacial (18.000e12.000 BP). Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya, Girona, pp. 345e354. Mason, R.D., Peterson, M.L., Tiffany, J.A., 1998. Weighing vs. counting: measurement reliability and the California school of midden analysis. American Antiquity 63, 303e324. Murdock, G.P., 1967. Ethnographic Atlas. University of Pittsburg Press. 128 p. Mir, A., Freixas, A.,1993. La Font Voltada, un yacimiento de finales del Paleolítico Superior en Montbrió de la Marca (La Conca de Barberà, Tarragona). Cypsela 10, 13e21. Mussi, M., D’Angelo, E., Fiore, I., 2004. Escargots et autres “petites” resources alimentaires: le cas de la Grotta di Pozzo (Abruzzes, italie centrale). In: Brugal, J.Ph., Desse, J. (Eds.), Petits animaux et sociétés humaines, pp. 99e109. Nadal, J., Fullola, J.M., Esteve, X., 2006. Caballos y ciervos: una aproximación a la evolución climática y económica del Paleolítico superior en el Mediterráneo peninsular. Munibe 57, 313e324. Olària, C., Gusi, F., Estévez, J., Casabò, J., Rovira, M.L., 1981. El yacimiento magdaleniense superior de Cova Matutano (Villafamés, Castellón). Estudio del sondeo estratigráfico 1979. Cuadernos de Prehistoria y Arqueología Castellonense 8, 21e100. Rizner, M., Vukosavljevi c, N., Miracle, P., 2009. The paleoecological and paleodietary significance of edible land snails (Helix sp.) across the Pleistocene-Holocene transition on the eastern Adriatic coast. In: McCarthan, S.B., Schulting, R., Warren, G., Woodman, P. (Eds.), Mesolithic Horizons. Papers Presented at the Seventh International Conference on the Mesolithic in Europe, Belfast 2005, vol. II. Oxbow, Oxford, pp. 527e532. Szabó, K., Quitmeyer, I.R. (Eds.), 2008. Molluscs and Other Marine Resources. Archaeofauna, vol. 17. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid. Utrilla, P., Montes, L. (Eds.), 2008. El Mesolitico Geométrico en la Península Ibérica. Monografías Arqueológicas, vol. 44. Universidad de Zaragoza. Vila, A., 1985. El Cingle Vermell, assentament de caçadors-recol$lectors del Xè mil$leni BP. Departament de Cultura de la Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona. 79 p.. Vilaseca, S., 1971. El conchero del Camping Salou (Cabo Salou, provincia de Tarragona. Trabajos de Prehistoria 28, 63e92. Yll, E., Watson, J., Paz, M.A., 1994. Les darreres excavacions al Roc del Migdia (Vilanova de Sau, Osona): estat de la qüestió i noves perspectives. Tribuna d’Arqueologia 1992-1993, 15e24.
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The land snail midden from Balma del Gai (Barcelona, Spain) and the evolution of terrestrial gastropod consumption during the late Palaeolithic and Mesolithic in eastern Iberia Lluís Lloveras, Jordi Nadal*, Pilar Garcia Argüelles, Josep Maria Fullola, Alícia Estrada y SERP, Departament de Prehistòria, Història Antiga i Arqueologia, Universitat de Barcelona, C/ Montalegre 6-8, 08001 Barcelona, Spain
a r t i c l e i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Article history: Available online 13 May 2011
The aim of this paper is to describe the results of a study of the terrestrial gastropods recovered at the Epipalaeolithic site Balma del Gai, and comparing it with other Upper Palaeolithic and Epipalaeolithic samples from the Mediterranean region of the Iberian Peninsula. Balma del Gai is located in northeastern Spain, in the municipality of Moià, province of Barcelona. This small rock shelter lies about 50 km inland from the coast. The second layer, the middle one, (Nivell I) contains diverse Epipalaeolithic occupations dated from 12,240 110 BP to 8930 140 BP. A large amount of terrestrial gastropod shells was recovered during archaeological excavations. These shells belong to the species Cepaea nemoralis, which is very common in other contemporaneous sites from the region. The anthropic origin of the sample has been confirmed by a previous taphonomic study. New results reveal an evolution in the use of land snails as a food resource from south to north in Mediterranean Iberia: consumption of land snails began in the south with the warmer stages at the end of the Pleistocene and extended northwards during the Holocene. However, land snails were most likely only a seasonal food source, and their presence is probably correlated with the exploitation of other resources such as small mammals (rabbits) and collected plants and fruits. Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction The study of terrestrial snails from archaeological sites can be considered as a theme of minor importance considering the general archaeomalacological literature. Very few works on the subject were published in the proceedings of the first two meetings of the ICAZ Archaeomalacology Working Group (Szabó and Quitmeyer, 2008; Álvarez- Fernández and Carvajal-Contreras, 2010) or other scientific events related to the study of small prey and human consumption (Brugal and Desse, 2004). This situation is to a certain extent caused by the opinion of some archaeologists who consider the presence of land snails as due to non-human activity (see discussions in Rizner et al., 2009: 527; Gutiérrez, 2009: 387). However, the anthropic origin of terrestrial gastropod accumulations has become evident in certain geographical areas and at certain historical moments. Specifically, the consumption of terrestrial snails during the end of the Upper Palaeolithic and among the hunteregatherer cultures of the Holocene have been
* Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (J. Nadal). y Deceased. 1040-6182/$ e see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2011.04.036
clearly observed in diverse areas of the Mediterranean basin. The regions most exhaustively studied are the SoutheEast of France, Italy, the Aegean and the Magreb (Lubell, 2004a). Despite anthropic land snail accumulations having been documented in many Upper Palaeolithic and Epipalaeolithic sites from the eastern coastal regions of the Iberian Peninsula, very little is known about this resource and its importance for human populations in these periods. Thus, the aim of this paper is to describe the results obtained in the study of the terrestrial gastropod sample recovered at the Epipalaeolithic site of Balma del Gai and to contextualize them within the evolution of this food resource in the Mediterranean basin of Iberia from the emergence of the pattern in the Upper Palaeolithic to the highest frequency during Early Holocene, filling the existing gap of information for this area and these periods. 2. Site description Balma del Gai is an Epipalaeolithic site with significant assemblage of land snail shells. The site is a small rock shelter situated in the municipality of Moià (Barcelona, Spain), measuring approximately 10.5 m long and 5.5 m wide. It opens to the southeast and near it (nowadays about 25 m away) there is a little stream (Fig. 1).
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Fig. 1. General view of Balma del Gai.
The site is 760 m a s l and approximately 50 km from the present day coast. In spite of the altitude, the area where Balma del Gai is located is not very steep as it belongs to the “altiplà del Moianès”, the Moianes plateau (Fig. 6). Balma del Gai was discovered by Joan Surroca in 1975, when he recovered worked lithic elements associated with bones and land snail shells in the rock shelter, and an excavation was undertaken in the late 1970s by a SpanisheFrench team, directed by Jean Guilaine and Miquel Llongueras. In 1994, new excavations opened a large surface, obtained new radiocarbon data and started new studies on the recovered materials including anthracology, palynology and petrology. These excavations are ongoing. The stratigraphy is composed of three levels. From the top to the bottom, the first is the nivell superficial, which is 25 cm thick. It is composed of a mixture of Epipaleolithic remains from the nivell 1 and materials from more recent occupations, dating to the end of the prehistoric period and historic times. The second level (nivell 1) is the subject of this paper, as it contains the Epipaleolithic/Mesolithic sequence. It is 30 cm thick at the contact of the rock shelter. The distribution of the material across the level indicates diverse habitation layers, sometimes very difficult to discriminate. Some of them, the upper and also the less intense belong to the Geometric Filador type, in the terminology of Fortea (1973), which is parallel to Sauveterrian French Mesolithic, according to the chronology and the lithic industries recovered in it. The most important occupations belong to the Microlaminar Epipaleolithic, similar in chronology and materials to the Azilian in France and northwestern Spain. The lowest level (nivell 2) is made of gelifracts from the collapse of part of the surface of the shelter during a very cold period at the end of the Pleistocene and does not contain any in situ archaeological material but only some artifacts that have percolated among the crioclasts from nivell 1. The layers containing the geometric Filador complex are characterized by triangular microliths made by the microburin technique. They are dated by four radiocarbon dates: Gif-A10028: 8930 140 BP (10,373e9558 cal BP), MC-1478: 9860 400 BP (12,562e10,299 cal BP), MC-2141: 10,030 160 BP (12,370e11,174 cal BP) and MC-2140: 10,050 BP (12,566e10,785 cal BP). The layers considered to be of the Microlaminar Epipaleolitihic contain bladetels, points and endscrapers, and also some artifacts made on bone and red deer antler. The radiocarbon dates for these layers are Gif-A95617: 10,260 90 BP (12,407e11,628 cal BP), GifA10029: 11,170 160 BP (13,332e12,687 cal BP) and GifA-95630: 12,240 110 (14,878e13,824 cal BP). These chronologies are coherent with other Epipalaeolithic sites from both chronocultural
traditions in northeast Spain (Garcia-Argüelles et al., 2009a). Calibrations have been done with OxCal online version 4.1, the range is 2s, 95.4% (Fig. 2). According to these dates, the Microlaminar layers of Balma del Gai can be related to the end of GI-1 and especially to GS-1, and the Geometric Filador type occupations to the early Holocene. This chronological and archaeological sequence is coherent with the framework of other sites from the Ebro River valley and Mediterranean watershed of the Iberian Peninsula (Aura et al., 2011). Compared to other sites in the region, Balma del Gai is very rich in organic remains. Among the larger mammals are red deer (Cervus elaphus), wild boar (Sus scrofa) and small bovids (Rupicapra rupicapra and Capra pyrenaica). The most abundant species is, without doubt, the rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) with thousands of specimens, representing more than 95% in NISP and also MNI among the vertebrate bones. Rabbits were used both for food and skins, as can be seen from the cut marks on different parts of the bones (Garcia-Argüelles et al., 2004; Lloveras et al., 2009). Also present are different kinds of Mediterranean mollusc shells e bivalves, gastropods and scaphopods e that were used as symbolic and decorative objects (Estrada et al., 2010), terrestrial pulmonates of very small size, that cannot be related directly to human activity (they are in process of study), and numerous large terrestrial snail shells, identified as Ceapea nemoralis, that will be the focus of this paper. The organic finds are completed by plant remains (pollen, charcoal, and carbonized fruits). The latter are probably the only kind of plant remain directly related to human diet), and include examples of blackthorn (Prunus spinosa). 3. Material and methods The samples of C. nemoralis shells analyzed were systematically collected during the excavations to 2009. Most were recovered in situ except the smallest fragments (in general resulting from the archaeological excavation itself). Due to their abundance, the exact position of snail shells was not registered by the Laplace and Méroc (1954) method, as it was done with other artifacts or ecofacts. C. nemoralis remains were separated by squares of 25 cm 25 cm and every 5 cm depth if no changes in sediment were observed (Fig. 3). The smallest fragments were recovered by sieving in 5 mm, 2 mm and 0.5 mm mesh. The remains obtained were cleaned with water and then analyzed. The variables studied were: a) Level of fragmentation: distinguishing complete specimens, diagnostic broken parts (when these remains can be used to count individuals), and fragments (when they cannot be used to calculate minimum number of individuals). b) Biometrics: breadth and height of the shell, according to the method of Kerney and Cameron (1994, p. 14). c) Polymorphism: study of the number of bands and the level of fusion among them, according to established methodology (e.g. Goodhart, 1962). d) Other alterations like burning modifications (Rizner et al., 2009). e) The minimum number of individuals (MNI) was obtained by counting complete individuals and the apex of broken elements (Mason et al., 1998; Giovas, 2009).
4. Results The MNI estimated for C. nemoralis is 6738. Of those, 2815 are complete or almost complete shells, and 3923 are non-repetitive
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Fig. 2. Archaeological section of Balma del Gai with indication of the different levels identified during excavation and the distribution of some of the 14C dates obtained in diverse layers from Level I (Nivell I).
elements that allow calculation of the number of individuals. There is a huge number of small fragments, most of them a consequence of the excavation process as it is very difficult to separate the soil from the shells. The number of these fragments has not been calculated yet. The specimens studied are very homogenous in their measurements (Fig. 4). The average shell breadth is 23.97 mm (range: 14.5e26.0) and the average shell height is 17.70 mm (range:
9.2e19.1). Most of the individuals must be considered adults, as they also show the peristome already formed. This demonstrates selective harvesting of adult animals. The number of shells with evident marks of fire alteration is very scarce (less than 0.5% of individuals). The study of polymorphism as shown by the banding pattern (Fig. 5) reveals two main patterns: shells with no bands (00000) and the shells with five bands (12345), each present in 40% of the cases. The third pattern observed is that in which just the medium band is preserved (00300), in 12% of the cases. The rest (8%) are other patterns with very few cases.
5. Discussion
Fig. 3. Detail of Cepea nemoralis specimens on an archaeological layer from Balma del Gai during excavation. As can be observed by the chaotic distribution of the shells among the soil and the characteristics of the sediment itself, the shells of terrestrial snails were difficult to recover. Shells broken during excavation were excluded from the taphonomic studies.
Land snail accumulations are abundant in Upper Palaeolithic and Epipalaeolithic sites of the coastal regions of the Iberian Peninsula. However, although data are not scarce the problem is that in many cases the information has been irregularly published, with no clear information about chronology or stratigraphy, quantification of specimens or biometrics. This lack of information is the reason why some researchers may consider that terrestrial shell middens in this area are not clearly the consequence of prehistoric human activity. The anthropic origin of the Balma del Gai sample was confirmed in a previous taphonomic study by Estrada et al. (2009). In this study; the analysis of the size of the accumulation, the breakage pattern, and the homogeneity of taxa and size, corroborate the human origin of the sample and discard other agents that could have been responsible for this kind of accumulations including small carnivores and insectivores
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Fig. 4. Biometric results of the analysis of Cepaea nemoralis shell size.
such as fox, badger and hedge-hog; birds such as thrushes, and catastrophic deaths. The scarcity of alterations by burning observed in the Balma del Gai assemblage is common in these type of accumulations because snails can be taken out of the shells or cooked without direct exposure of the animals to fire and, according to some researchers, a light exposure to fire can show little marking on the shells (Mussi et al., 2004; Rizner et al., 2009).1 The data on polymorphism are difficult to interpret, mainly because at the moment there are no similar studies in the region. The most closely related investigations have been done in southern France and Andorra (André, 1987). At Dourgne and Arques, the main banding pattern is 00000, with 88% and 91% of the cases respectively, and at Balma de la Margineda 100% of shells presented the 00000 banding pattern (André, 1987). This important difference between the French sites and Balma del Gai could be explained as an adaptation of this snail species to warmer climates or forested landscapes to the south of the Pyrenees, although the evolutionary causes of Cepaea polymorphism are still unclear (Jones et al., 1977).
Mesolithic in the Mediterranean basin of the Iberian Peninsula in which edible land snails are abundant are listed in Table 1 and shown in Fig. 6. In all these sites the snails were accumulated as a result of human consumption. The main problem to interpret the results obtained in the present study is the difficulty of comparing them with other parallel sites. This is because published information is scarce and sometimes the only data about quantification of these remains are very imprecise (like “presence”, “abundance”, “important number” and so on). In any case, snail midden
5.1. Context and parallels As mentioned above, the Balma del Gai land snail midden is not a unique case. Sites from the Upper Palaeolithic and Epipalaeolithic/
1 Steaming of molluscs in layers of fresh vegetation placed over heated rocks is a commonly used method of cooking which leaves no traces of burning on shells. This is the method inferred for land snails in Capsian sites because of the enormous quantities of fire-cracked rock and ash found in those sites [ed.].
Fig. 5. Banding patterns in the Balma del Gai Cepaea nemoralis population. From left to right, model 00000, model 12345, model 00300.
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Table 1 Upper Palaeolithic and Epipalaeolithic/Mesolithic sites from the Mediterranean basin of the Iberian Peninsula with significant presence of edible land snails. In all these sites snail accumulations were considered of anthropic origin and related to human consumption. Date cal BP 2s (95.4%)
Species
Reference
110 1400 2300 970 370
29,594e28,612 32,427e26,010 36,579e23,236 28,669e23,884 13,432e11,412
I. alonensis
Jordá, 1986; Ferrer and Crespo, 2005; Aura et al., 2010
900 850 200 260 270 370 170 270 350 360 40 40 40 80 97 160 190 240 80
27,968e23,349 24,500e20,259 17,604e16,713 16,914e15,217 16,841e15,126 16,396e13,749 14,849e13,492 16,896e15,186 13,148e11,326 10,159e8419 12,890e12,610 12,382e11,990 10,250e10,161 11,955e11,249 11,955e11,226 11,955e10,753 11,596e10,171 13,335e12,223 11,611e11,128
I. alonensis I. alonensis “Helix”
Martinez, 1989, 1997 Martínez, 1997 Davidson, 1989
I. alonensis
Olària et al., 1981
I. alonensis I. alonensis
Vilaseca, 1971 Jordá, 1986; Ferrer and Crespo, 2005 Aguilera et al., 1999
110 160 90 296 160 400 140 160 240 320 370 50 40 120 160 420 150
14,878e13,824 13,332e12,687 12,407e11,628 12,566e10,785 12,370e11,174 12,562e10,299 10,373e9558 11,752e10,676 10,514e9316 10,115e8385 9703e8014 8632e8429 8284e8024 13,429e12,909 11085e9956 10675e8520 9674e9009
Site
Culture
Date BP
Nerja
Gravetian
Caballo Algarrobo Parpalló
Magdalenian Magdalenian Solutrean
Matutano
Magdalenian
Camping Salou Nerja
End of Upper Palaeolithic Epipalaeolithic
Diablets
Epipalaeolithic
Filador
Epipalaeolithic
Font Voltada Guineu
Epipalaeolithic Epipalaeolithic
24,480 24,300 23,400 21,760 10,780 No date 21,105 18,622 13,960 13,370 13,220 12,520 12,090 13,330 10,580 8260 10,860 10,320 9030 10,020 9988 9839 9460 10,920 9850
Balma del Gai
Epipalaeolithic
Cingle Vermell Roc del Migdia
Epipalaeolithic Mesolithic Epipalaeolithic Mesolithic
Serrat del Pont
Mesolithic
Margineda (Andorra)
Epipalaeolithic Mesolithic
12,240 11,170 10,260 10,050 10,030 9860 8930 9760 8800 8190 7950 7770 7330 11,320 9250 8530 8390
accumulations from this area cannot be considered, by the number of individuals recovered, as equivalent to the classic escargotières from North Africa (Lubell, 2004a,b; Lubell et al., 1976). The specimens recovered in the Mediterranean basin of the Iberian Peninsula are never more than a few thousand. These snail accumulations appeared during the earlier cultures of the Upper Palaeolithic in the southern regions (Andalusia). During the late Pleistocene these types of accumulations are restricted to the southern areas and always relatively near the coast: the Gravetian levels of Nerja (Andalusia), the Solutrean occupations of Parpalló (Valencia) or the Magdalenian/end of Upper Palaeolithic occupations from El Caballo and Algarrobo (Murcia), Matutano (Valencia) and Camping Salou open air shelter (Southern Catalonia). These Pleistocene middens always contain Iberus alonensis, which has warmer requirements than C. nemoralis. Today, the ecological frontier of this species is still the province of Tarragona in the south of the Catalonia region (Bech, 1990). On the other hand, during the early Holocene, the presence of terrestrial snail accumulations in Epipalaeolithic and Mesolithic sites increases towards the north, especially in Catalonia (Filador, Font Voltada, Guineu, Cingle Vermell, Roc del Migdia, Bauma del Serrat del Pont, and Balma de la Margineda, in Andorra) and the northern area of Valencia (Diablets). In these areas, the most common species changes to
I. alonensis
C. nemoralis
Garcia-Argüelles et al., 2009b
C. nemoralis C. nemoralis C. nemoralis
Mir and Freixas, 1993 Personal com. Garcia-Argüelles et al., 2009b Present study
C. nemoralis C. nemoralis
Vila, 1985 Yll et al., 1994
C. nemoralis
Alcalde and Saña, 2008
C. nemoralis
Guilaine and Martzluff, 1995; Guilaine et al., 2008
C. nemoralis and the middens are generally inland and in mountainous places (Table 1 and Fig. 6). The maximum concentration of land snail middens is documented in the neighbouring region of southern France on the north side of the Pyrenees, where many sites from the Epipalaeolithic to the Ancient Neolithic can be mentioned (Guilaine, 1979; Lubell, 2004a). 5.2. The consumption of land snails in the context of PleistoceneeHolocene changes in climate and human subsistence in the Mediterranean region of Iberia Assuming that these accumulations are human, why did the consumption of land snails start with the establishment of warm periods? Of course, the easiest answer to this question is because of an increase in terrestrial snail populations as a result of warmer climate. But this is an incomplete answer. The response to why a human population in a certain period of time exploits a resource as a food must be answered not just by the presence or even the abundance of it in the ecosystem but also by aspects such as technology, cultural behavior and nourishment requirements. There is no doubt that PleistoceneeHolocene climate evolution in Mediterranean Iberia resulted in changes in the potential
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Fig. 6. Location of Balma del Gai and other sites discussed here. 1: Nerja; 2:Caballo; 3: Algarrobo; 4: Parpalló; 5: Matutano; 6:Diablets; 7: Camping Salou; 8: Filador; 9: Font Voltada; 10: Guineu; 11: Balma del Gai; 12: Cingle Vermell; 13: Roc del Migdia; 14: Serrat del Pont; 15: Margineda (Andorra).
resources that could be exploited by human groups. As an example, the reduction of horses as prey and the increase of red deer during the Upper Palaeolithic, associated with the improvement of the climate, have been clearly demonstrated (Nadal et al., 2006). It is well known that open landscape species were replaced by others better adapted to forests (such as red deer, roe deer and wild boar), which were less gregarious and more difficult to hunt without a technology based on the bow and arrow. The use of microliths as arrow points and other artifacts related to the manufacture of arrow shafts such as stone polishers during the Epipalaeolithic in Eastern Spain have been documented in diverse studies (GarciaArgüelles, 1993; Utrilla and Montes, 2008). That is similar to what happened with plant resources. Carbonized fruit remains are absent in Upper Palaeolithic sites in Catalonia but they are well represented in Epipalaeolithic ones. In the case of Balma del Gai, some burned blackthorn fruits (P. spinosa) were recovered during the excavations, associated with the snail shells and also with rabbit bones. Blackthorn fruits (or other Prunus fruits) have also been found in Molí del Salt (Tarragona), Cingle Vermell (Barcelona) and Balma Margineda (Andorra). Other plant resources recovered from Holocene hunteregatherer sites in Northeast Iberia are acorns (Cingle Vermell and Roc del Migdia, in Barcelona; Balma del Serrat del Pont, in Girona), pine kernels (Cingle Vermell), hazelnuts (Roc del Migdia, Sota Palou, in Girona, Balma Margineda), Sorbus fruits (Balma del Serrat del Pont), hawthorn fruits and rose hips (Molí del Salt), always preserved by carbonization (Buxó, 1988; Alcalde and Saña, 2008; Allué et al., 2010). These species indicate the seasons when the sites were
visited. All these fruits and nuts mature during the end of summer and along the autumn. It seems that these plant records are clearly correlated with the evolution of the landscape. In pollen diagrams, the end of the Pleistocene is dominated by non-arboreal pollen and arboreal pollen from genera such as Pinus but that with the Holocene there is an increase of diversity among tree taxa such as Quercus, Corylus, Acer, Prunus and Fagus. The anthracological analysis of Balma del Gai sediments reflects this situation (Fig. 7): pines are dominant in the bottom of the stratigraphy but they are progressively substituted by warmer taxa, especially Acer and Rhamnus towards the top of the sequence (Allué et al., 2007; Fig. 7). It is in this context that rabbit bone and terrestrial snail shell accumulations also became more common in archaeological assemblages. These changes are not casual and may be related to climate change. Probably, the presence of new prey helped in the generalization of some technologies such as the use of bow and arrow and maybe the use of snares, or even the use of dogs, but these are both hard to verify in the archaeological record. Such practices could also be considered complementary to gathering strategies as demonstrated by the carpological evidence. Apart from the variations observed in plant and animal species as a consequence of climate change, another factor should be taken into account to explain the economic changes that occurred: the nourishment equilibrium among the new resources. It is well known that a balanced diet requires a certain proportion of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. There are diverse strategies to achieve this in extant hunteregatherer groups, and ethnographic
L. Lloveras et al. / Quaternary International 244 (2011) 37e44
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Fig. 7. Anthracological diagram of Balma del Gai From Allué et al. (2007).
studies have documented extreme situations such as the Innuit diet. But these studies have also demonstrated that the proteins must be complemented by fats or carbohydrates, even though carbohydrates and fats can be substituted one by the other. Studies on the changes related to latitude in the strategies of hunting/ fishing and gathering made by Lee (1968), according to the data of Murdock (1967), are usually used by archaeologists to extrapolate to prehistoric data, and these can also be read in order of the equilibrium of proteins, fats and carbohydrates in diet. This is the case, for example, in the evolution of subsistence strategies among the Maoris (in this case, gathering was replaced by agriculture) in pre-European New Zealand (Leach, 2006: 181). At Balma del Gai, as in other Epipalaeolithic sites, the substitution of a part of the resources richer in fats (big game) by others which are poorer like rabbits and snails (for the nutritional characteristics of land snails see Lubell, 2004b) would be compensated for by the increase of plant resources rich in carbohydrates and, in some cases, by nuts, rich in fats. If this relationship between the different resources must be considered in terms of necessities, (as a result of the loss of animal fats in the diet) or possibilities (as a result of the increment of the diversity of edible plants), is something that cannot be explained yet. Although all these explanations are rather speculative, the new data presented are consistent with this proposal, and this is an idea that should be taken into account. On the other hand, the presence of terrestrial snails in archaeological sites could also be correlated with the seasonality of the occupations. Thus, in the case of Balma del Gai, it seems that the site was occupied, at least, during late summer and the autumn judging by the remains of Prunus and the level of growth of deer antlers recovered. This period coincides with some of the times throughout the year when land snails are more active (spring and the end of summer and the beginning of autumn for C. nemoralis). In any case, all these are explanations that must be clarified with future new data, but they show that terrestrial gastropod remains in archaeological sites must not be under-estimated, and should not
be considered as something casual in terms of nourishment or diet. The new data presented demonstrates that the Mediterranean basin of Iberia follows the same evolution in the use of land snails as a food resource during the end of Pleistocene and the Holocene as the rest of the circum-Mediterranean region. Acknowledgments Excavations at Balma del Gai are authorized and funded by the Archaeological and Paleontological Service of the Department of Culture of the Greneralitat de Catalunya. The Archaeological and Paleontological Museum of Moià (Barcelona, Spain) also helps the excavation with logistical and financial support. Our research is supported by HAR2008-00103 from the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICIN) in Spain and SGR2009-1145 from Generalitat de Catalunya. We are very grateful to David Lubell and Nick Barton, who have helped us very much to improve the paper. References Aguilera, G., Olària, C., Gusi, F., 1999. El jaciment prehistòric de la Cova dels Diablets (Alcalà de Xivert, Castelló). Quaderns de Prehistòria i Arqueologia de Castelló 20, 7e37. Alcalde, G., Saña, M., 2008. Procés d’ocupació de la Bauma del Serrat del Pont (La Garrotxa) entre 7400 i 5480 cal aC. Publicacions eventuals d’Arqueologia de la Garrotxa, Olot. Allué, E., Nadal, J., Estrada, A., García-Argüelles, P., 2007. los datos antracológicos de la Balma del Gai (Bages, Barcelona): una aproximación al conocimiento de la vegetación y la explotación de los recursos forestales durante el tardiglaciar en el NE peninsular. Trabajos de Prehistoria 64 (1), 87e97. Allué, E., Ibáñez, N., Salarié, P., Vaquero, M., 2010. Small prey and plant exploitation by late Pleistocene hunter-gatherers. A case study from the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula. Archaeological and Anthopological Sciences 2 (1), 11e24. Aura, J.E., Jordá, J.F., Montes, L., Utrilla, P., 2011. Human responses to Younger Dryas in the Ebro Valley and Mediterranean Watershed (Eastern Spain). Quaternary International 242, 348e359. Álvarez-Fernández, E., Carvajal-Contreras, D.R. (Eds.), 2010. Not Only Food. Marine, Terrestrial and Freshwater Molluscs in Archaeological Sites. Munibe suplemento, vol. 31. Sociedad de Ciencias Aranzadi, Donostia.
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