Prying New Meaning from Limpet Harvesting at Vale Boi During the Upper Paleolithic

Abstract

The late Pleistocene record for human exploitation of marine resources is generally accepted as being underrepresented world-wide. The global lowering of sea levels during the last glacial maximum (LGM) extended coastlines, presumably causing much of the evidence for coastal living from that period to be inundated today. The southern coast of Iberia is no exception, having a gently sloping, submerged continental shelf along much of its coastline. During the LGM, this continental shelf would have been partially exposed, with the coastal shore lying a considerable distance south of where it is today. This set of circumstances has no doubt contributed to the lack of known Upper Paleolithic coastal sites in southern Iberia containing records of marine exploitation. However, two key southern Iberian sites provide evidence of long-term marine resource use in this region: Cueva de Nerja and Vale Boi. The southeastern Spanish site of Cueva de Nerja is known for its record of marine fish and shellfish exploitation beginning in the Solutrean (Cortés-Sánchez et al. 2008; Jorda 1986; Morales and Rosello 2008; Serrano et al. 1995). Now the Portuguese site of Vale Boi significantly adds to the evidence of long-term utilization of coastal resources, with its record of marine resource exploitation beginning in the Gravettian.