Conchylia y cocleae: transformaciones en la percepción culinaria de los moluscos durante la romanización del Noreste peninsular

Abstract

This paper focuses on the differences in the perception of mollusc cooking, land snails and shellfish, through Iberian (pre-Roman) and Roman periods in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula. Although the data are very scarce, a change between the two moments is observed. In the Iberian world exploitation of marine molluscs is limited to the coast and very little to precoastal areas. The most exploited taxa are Glycymeris and to a lesser extent Cardiidae and Donax. In the Roman world, the consumption of marine molluscs disclaims proximity to the coast and oysters (Ostrea edulis) becomes the most consumed species, but also increases the diversity of consumed species, usually Muricidae (Bolinus, Hexaplex, Stramonita). We also note the widespread consumption of land snails (Otala punctata). With the collapse of the Roman world, mollusc consumption will return to earlier traditions.