The use of fish vertebrae and otoliths for sclerochronological analysis of a Mesolithic Shell midden: advantages and limitations.

Summary

The onset of the Holocene in the Iberian Atlantic coast is associated with the appearance of the Mesolithic shell middens, which reflected new subsistence patterns that have been commonly characterized by the intensification of aquatic resources exploitation. Recently, sclerochronological analysis of shell midden faunal remains has been seen as fundamental to infer climatic and environmental changes, human settlement, resource exploitation and seasonal occupation.

However, fish bone and especially otoliths, as a consequence of their chemistry and ultrastructure, require certain conditions to survive. Methodological concerns and specific methods have to be used in archaeological sclerochronological analysis to address certain taphonomic and diagenetic processes and to ensure unbiased results.

Nevertheless, both structures offer a unique and valuable source of information to reconstruct human occupation patterns (season of capture) during the Mesolithic of shell middens in the Iberian Atlantic coast.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Shell Midden Microarchaeology Unraveled

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