Project

The measurement of the elemental makeup of shells is an increasingly common method for obtaining high-resolution insights into paleoclimate and past seasonality. Several studies have shown significant correlations between the magnesium and calcium (Mg/Ca) ratios measured on shell carbonate and the seawater temperature within which the carbonate was formed. However, other investigations have reported large variability in this relationship, depending on the species. Therefore, further studies that include taxa previously not considered are essential for validating these new species as suitable climate proxies. Despite Patella depressa being one of the most common mollusc species found in Holocene archaeological assemblages along the Atlantic coast of Europe, Mg/Ca ratio values of this taxon have never been tested as a seawater palaeothermometer. 

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New study reveals that the limpet Patella depressa, frequently found in sites on the Iberian Atlantic coast during the Mesolithic period, is a high-resolution palaeothermometer, with significant implications for palaeoclimate and archaeological studies

More info at: https://www.shh.mpg.de/1864731/reconstructing-paleoclimate-from-mollusc-shells

The Palaeoshells project was present at the 10th International Conference on the Mesolithic in Europe (Meso 2020), organized by the University of Tolouse (France) and held between 7 and 11 September. Due to the current exceptional situation worldwide due to the COVID-19, the conference was held entirely online. The videos of the communications and the discussion of the sessions will be available until October 15 on the congress website and will be accessible by registering for the congress (https://meso2020.sciencesconf.org/).

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New study conducted in northern Iberia reveals that molluscs contributed significantly more to the diet of Mesolithic peoples living in Atlantic Europe than previously hypothesized.

During the Mesolithic period in Spain, as in other regions of Atlantic Europe, humans increasingly turned to the coasts for sources of food and left behind mounds of discarded mollusc shells, termed ‘shell middens’ by archaeologists. Previous studies have used shell middens to examine the relationship between foraging strategies and climate change, but the role of shellfish in the diets of the last hunter-fisher-gatherers is still little understood.

The current study, published in Quaternary International and led by archaeologists from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and the University of Cantabria, reconstructs the meat yield of the four main mollusc species recovered at the El Mazo cave shell midden in northern Spain. They find that mollusc meat contributed at least 20 Percent of the meat obtained from hoofed mammals, revealing a much larger role in Mesolithic diets than previously suggested.

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Between October 22 and 25 our colleague David Cuenca Solana traveled to the Autonomous University of Madrid, to develop, together with Laura Manca (National Museum of Natural History of Paris) and Francesca Romagnoli (Autonomous University of Madrid) various activities related to the execution of the ArchaeoENHANCE project (Archeomalacology research: Effects of Natural and Human Agents in Contexts). The project aims to conduct a 4-year experimental protocol with the objective of determining and documenting the impact of different taphonomic processes on archaeological shells, especially those that have been used as tools by human groups during Prehistory. The project is funded by the international research network IRN-TAPHEN.