Coastal marine resource exploitation during the Late Pleistocene at Contrebandiers Cave (Temara, Morocco)

Summary

Increasingly, researchers have considered the role of coastal marine resource exploitation in influencing the trajectory of human behavioral and biological evolution, specifically relating to modern human origins. However, these models have focused almost exclusively on the relatively rich and well-documented record from the Middle Stone Age (MSA) of coastal South Africa. Here, we present data on coastal marine resource exploitation during the Late Pleistocene at Contrebandiers Cave [La Grotte des Contrebandiers, Smugglers’ Cave] (Temara, Morocco). Contrebandiers’ sequence includes the MSA, which spans ~126,000-95,000 years ago at the site, and the Iberomaurusian, which elsewhere is ~18,000-11,000 years ago. Today the site is only 270 m from the Atlantic shore; during the MSA and Iberomaurusian, inhabitants appeared to have had consistent access to a nearby rocky coast, where they gathered mainly limpets, mussels, and marine snails for subsistence. However, the relative proportions and sizes vary meaningfully through the sequence. The Contrebandiers occupants also collected shells for non-dietary reasons, including triton and tick (mostly Nassarius) shells. Some marine birds, fish, crabs, goose barnacles, and sea urchins are also preserved; no seal bones are present. In sum, when at the coast, marine resource exploitation was a typical component of MSA adaptations.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Fire, Food, Farms, and Fortifications: Recent Advances in the Archaeology of Africa

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