A matter of taste? Mode and periodicity of marine mollusc exploitation on the Mediterranean island of Favignana (Ègadi Islands, Italy) during its isolation in the early Holocene

Abstract

The exploitation of marine molluscs by Mediterranean hunter-gatherers increased from the Upper Palaeolithic onwards, although their role in subsistence has rarely been investigated fully. An ideal area to address this issue is the archipelago of the Ègadi Islands, most of which were isolated by Post-Glacial sea level rise. Here we report on the results of the study of the mollusc assemblage recovered during the 1972 excavations at Grotta d’Oriente, a cave on Favignana, occupied from the Late Pleistocene to the middle Holocene. Marine molluscs, including principally rocky shore intertidal gastropods (Patella and Osilinus), were taken to the cave for consumption throughout its occupation, sporadically in the early Mesolithic, but more frequently and throughout the year in the late Mesolithic and early Neolithic. Progressive isolation resulted in intensification of shellfish exploitation, but not, however, in long-term overexploitation of all intertidal marine gastropods, despite their vulnerability to human predation. The archaeozoological and isotopic data suggest that shellfish were a useful source of protein for the occupants of Grotta d’Oriente, but that the main role of marine molluscs was probably to provide nutrients not readily available in the terrestrial foods which constituted the bulk of the diet.