Abstract
During the Upper Paleolithic, marine resources have traditionally been considered to be low-efficiency resources. However, in recent years, new data have emerged to demonstrate that their importance for human utilization was probably greater than previously thought. The assessment of their value has generally been from the perspective of their nutritional or ornamental value, not from the technological potential that these resources might have. A use-wear analysis of shells from the Gravettian levels of Fuente del Salin, a cave in northern Spain, has documented their use for a diverse range of production activities, most notably the processing of the red pigments used in artistic representations on the cave walls, as well as for tanning hide. This technological use of shells demonstrates that marine resources were of greater importance to the hunters and gatherers of the Upper Paleolithic and that their utility was more diverse than previously understood.
Highlights
The shell ornaments (Alvarez-Fernandez and Joris 2007; d’Errico et al 2005, 2008; Vanhaeren and d’Errico 2006; White 2007) and the representations of fish figures in the rock art (Citerne 1998; Citerne and Delluc 2004, Cleyet 1990; Dams 1987) have generally been the basis for describing the relationship between marine resources and the symbolic expressions of hunters and gatherers
A second perforator (#96.2) of Patella vulgata was recovered from square K6; there is a rounding of the tip, it does not show deliberate modification
The identification of shell tools in the Gravettian levels of Fuente del Salın represents a new example of utilization of marine resources during the Upper Paleolithic
Summary
The shell ornaments (Alvarez-Fernandez and Joris 2007; d’Errico et al 2005, 2008; Vanhaeren and d’Errico 2006; White 2007) and the representations of fish figures in the rock art (Citerne 1998; Citerne and Delluc 2004, Cleyet 1990; Dams 1987) have generally been the basis for describing the relationship between marine resources and the symbolic expressions of hunters and gatherers. With the objective of verifying the existence of a subsurface archaeological deposit that would serve as an indication of the occupation of the cave by Paleolithic artists, excavations of the cave took place over three short field seasons in 1990, 1991, and 2000. These excavations documented three stratigraphic levels in squares K6 and L6. The characteristics of the settlement, the abundance of ochre stains inside the hearth, and the stylistic homogeneity in the set of hands reflect a short occupation at a site that falls well within the Gravettian Following this the site was practically fossilized because natural processes blocked the original cave entrance. The sea level during the occupation of the cave would have been about 100 m below today’s sea level, which suggests that the distance to the coastline would have been 9–10 km
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