Άνθρωποι,
πριν 106.000 χρόνια,
έτρωγαν καρχαρίες, δελφίνια,
φώκιες, κ.ά.
στην Πορτογαλία…
Του Γιώργου Λεκάκη
Υπάρχουν ενδείξεις για την
εντατική και μακροχρόνια εκμετάλλευση των θαλάσσιων πόρων για διατροφή στην
Figueira Brava, κοντά στο Setubal, στην σημερινή Πορτογαλία.
Οι Νεάντερταλ έτρωγαν και ψάρια.
Μάλιστα οι εξελικτικοί συγγενείς μας μπορεί να βασίζονταν στην θάλασσα για
τρόφιμα, όπως ακριβώς και οι σύγχρονοι άνθρωποι.
Για δεκαετίες, η δυνατότητα
συλλογής τροφίμων από την θάλασσα και από τα ποτάμια θεωρείτο ως κάτι μοναδικό
για το δικό μας είδος, τους Σάπιενς.
Αλλά οι Νεάντερταλ, που
ζούσαν πριν από 106.000 έως 86.000 χρόνια σε σπήλαιο της Figueira Brava έτρωγαν
καβούρια, ψάρια, καρχαρίες, χέλια, τσιπούρες, φώκιες δελφίνια, μύδια
και οστρακοειδή. Ως γνωστόν, οι Νεάντερταλ "βουτούσαν στον ωκεανό" για οστρακοειδή, διότι ήξεραν κολύμπι - ΔΙΑΒΑΣΤΕ το και ΕΔΩ.
Η ερευνητική ομάδα, με επί κεφαλής
τον δρ. João Zilhão από το Πανεπιστήμιο της Βαρκελώνης της Ισπανίας, διαπίστωσε
ότι τα θαλάσσια τρόφιμα αποτελούσαν περίπου το 50% της διατροφής των
Neanderthals της Figueira Brava. Το άλλο μισό προερχόταν από χερσαία ζώα (ελάφια,
κατσίκες, άλογα, aurochs (αρχαία άγρια βοοειδή) και χελώνες….
Μερικά από τα πρώτα γνωστά
στοιχεία για την εκμετάλλευση των θαλάσσιων πόρων από τους σύγχρονους ανθρώπους
(Homo sapiens) χρονολογούνται περίπου πριν από 160.000 χρόνια στην νότια
Αφρική.
Μερικοί ερευνητές είχαν προτείνει
ήδη μια θεωρία ότι τα λιπαρά οξέα, που παράγουν εγκεφαλικά λιπαρά οξέα,
συνέβαλαν στην ενίσχυση της γνωσιακής ανάπτυξης στους πρόωρους σύγχρονους
ανθρώπους. Αυτή η θεωρία θα μπορούσε να συμβάλει στην ερμηνεία μιας περιόδου
αξιοσημείωτης εφευρετικότητας και δημιουργικότητας, που ξεκίνησε πριν από περίπου 200.000 χρόνια…
ΠΗΓΗ: J. Zilhão, D. E. Angelucci,
M. Araújo Igreja, L. J. Arnold, E. Badal, P. Callapez, J. L. Cardoso, F. d’Errico,
J. Daura, M. Demuro, M. Deschamps, C. Dupont, S. Gabriel, D. L. Hoffmann, P.
Legoinha, H. Matias, A. M. Monge Soares, M. Nabais, P. Portela, A. Queffelec,
F. Rodrigues, P. Souto «Last Interglacial Iberian Neandertals asfisher-hunter-gatherers» στο Science 27.3.2020, Vol. 367, Issue 6485, eaaz7943, DOI:
10.1126/science.aaz7943. BBC News, 26.3.2020. ΑΡΧΕΙΟΝ ΠΟΛΙΤΙΣΜΟΥ, 27.3.2020.
Fruits of the sea
The origins of marine resource consumption by humans have been much
debated. Zilhão et al. present evidence that, in Atlantic Iberia's coastal
settings, Middle Paleolithic Neanderthals exploited marine resources at a scale
on par with the modern human–associated Middle Stone Age of southern Africa
(see the Perspective by Will). Excavations at the Figueira Brava site on Portugal's
Atlantic coast reveal shell middens rich in the remains of mollusks, crabs, and
fish, as well as terrestrial food items. Familiarity with the sea and its
resources may thus have been widespread for residents there in the Middle
Paleolithic. The Figueira Brava Neanderthals also exploited stone pine nuts in
a way akin to that previously identified in the Holocene of Iberia. These
findings add broader dimensions to our understanding of the role of aquatic
resources in the subsistence of Paleolithic humans.
Science, this issue p. eaaz7943; see also p. 1422
Structured Abstract
INTRODUCTION
A record of the regular exploitation of aquatic foods has been lacking
in Neandertal Europe. By contrast, marine resources feature
prominently—alongside personal ornaments, body painting, and linear-geometric
drawings—in the archeology of Last Interglacial Africa. A competitive advantage
scenario of human origins is that the habitual consumption of aquatic foods and
the fatty acids they contain, which favor brain development, underpins the
acquisition of modernity in cognition and behavior. The resulting innovations
in technology, demographic growth, and enhanced prosociality would therefore
explain modern humans’ out-of-Africa expansion with regard to both dispersal
process (along coastal routes and to southern Asia first) and outcome (the
demise of coeval non-modern Eurasians). A corollary of this view is that the
paucity of marine foods at Neandertal coastal sites is a genuine reflection of
their subsistence behavior.
RATIONALE
Europe’s Atlantic façade boasts resource-rich coastal waters comparable
to those of South Africa. From Scandinavia to France, however, any evidence for
the Last Interglacial exploitation of marine resources would have been lost to
subsequent icecap advances and postglacial submersion of the wide continental
platform. Conversely, the very steep shelf off Arrábida, a littoral mountain
range 30 km south of Lisbon, Portugal, has enabled extant and submerged
shorelines to be preserved short distances apart. Gruta da Figueira Brava, one
of Arrábida’s erosion-protected, seaside cave sites, provides a singular
opportunity to investigate whether any considerable Last Interglacial
accumulations of marine food debris ever existed in Europe.
RESULTS
The Figueira Brava archeological sequence dates to ~86 to 106 thousand
years ago (kya). Throughout, there is evidence of a settlement-subsistence
system based on regular exploitation of all animal resources offered by the
coastal environment: large crabs, marine mollusks, fish, marine birds and
mammals, tortoise, waterfowl, and hoofed game. The composition of the food
basket and the structure of the deposit vary as a function of the following:
(i) sea-level oscillation, with implications for the ecosystems that were
preferentially targeted; (ii) frequency of human occupation; (iii)
site-formation process; and (iv) position of the archeological trenches
relative to the changing configuration of the inhabited space. The initial
occupations (phases FB1 and FB2), when the sea was closer to the cave (~750 m),
include shell-supported accumulations. These occupations were followed by a
period of infrequent use (phase FB3) and a final phase (FB4), when the
shoreline was ~2000 m away but shellfish were again discarded at the site in
substantial amounts. The density of marine food remains compares well to that seen
in the regional Mesolithic and the Last Interglacial of South Africa and the
Maghreb and exceeds the latter two in the case of crabs and fish. Figueira
Brava also documents a stone pine economy featuring seasonal harvesting and
on-site storage of the cones for deferred consumption of the nuts. The
stability of this subsistence system suggests successful long-term adaptation.
CONCLUSION
Figueira Brava provides the first record of significant marine resource
consumption among Europe’s Neandertals. Taphonomic and site-preservation biases
explain why this kind of record has not been previously found in Europe on the
scale seen among coeval African populations. Consistent with rapidly
accumulating evidence that Neandertals possessed a fully symbolic material culture,
the subsistence evidence reported here further questions the behavioral gap
once thought to separate them from modern humans.
Note the Mediterranean vegetation, like at the time of the Last
Interglacial occupation, the MIS 5e marine abrasion terrace, and, under the
overhang, the brecciated remnant dated to ~86 to 106 kya. Neandertal use of
this cave space, which is currently unroofed due to Holocene erosion, has left
an archeological record rich in fish, shellfish, and other coastal resources.
Abstract
Marine food–reliant subsistence systems such as those in the African
Middle Stone Age (MSA) were not thought to exist in Europe until the much later
Mesolithic. Whether this apparent lag reflects taphonomic biases or behavioral
distinctions between archaic and modern humans remains much debated. Figueira
Brava cave, in the Arrábida range (Portugal), provides an exceptionally well
preserved record of Neandertal coastal resource exploitation on a comparable
scale to the MSA and dated to ~86 to 106 thousand years ago. The breadth of the
subsistence base—pine nuts, marine invertebrates, fish, marine birds and mammals,
tortoises, waterfowl, and hoofed game—exceeds that of regional early Holocene
sites. Fisher-hunter-gatherer economies are not the preserve of anatomically
modern people; by the Last Interglacial, they were in place across the Old
World in the appropriate settings.
ΛΕΞΕΙΣ: ανθρωπος, 106.000 χρονια πριν, τροφη, καρχαριας, δελφινι, φωκια, Πορτογαλια, θαλασσα, διατροφη, Φιγκουειρα Μπραβα, Σετουμπαλ, Νεαντερταλ, ψαρι, συγχρονοι ανθρωποι, ποταμι, Χομο Σαπιενς, Νεαντερνταλ, 86.000 χρονια πριν, σπηλαιο, καβουρι, ψαρι, χελι, τσιπουρα, μυδια, οστρακοειδη, κολυμπι, Ζιλιαο, ζωο, ελαφι,
κατσικα, αλογο, βοοειδη, χελωνα, 160.000 χρονια πριν, νοτια
Αφρικη, λιπαρα οξεα, εγκεφαλικα λιπαρα οξεα, 200.000 χρονια πριν
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