Changes in the exploitation dynamics of small terrestrial vertebrates and fish during the Pleistocene–Holocene transition in the SW Iberian Peninsula: A review

Abstract

The Pleistocene–Holocene transition c. 11.5 ka cal. BP is associated with dramatic climatic changes. These events led to fundamental shifts in landscape and have, therefore, been seen as responsible for a major impact on the human ecological behavior of the last hunter–gatherers in the Western European territory. In the case of Iberian Peninsula, it is commonly assumed that these human ecological adaptations are reflected in the new settlement and subsistence patterns that characterized the Late Upper Paleolithic–Mesolithic transition. Following the argument, the main aim of this paper is to present the state-of-the-art and consider this theoretical model using zooarchaeological data of small terrestrial vertebrates and fish from SW Portugal. Archaeological data are reviewed and discussed in order to analyze the change in the exploitation of small game, birds, and aquatic resources during this period. In this paper, we reinforce the idea that in SW Iberia, subsistence intensification and diversification precede the transition itself and are more likely to be related to other long-term phenomena, cultural and/or demographical, than to the changes in settlement behavior. The state-of-the-art discussed here led to new research questions related to the role of small vertebrates on the changes in human subsistence behavior during the Pleistocene–Holocene from Western Iberia.