The acquisition and consumption of small prey in the pre-Upper Palaeolithic is a highly debated topic at present. For some authors, the systematic obtaining of these animals is only part of the subsistence strategies used by anatomically modern Humans. Several researches consider that the systematic capturing of small prey is more related to the gathering that with the hunting and therefore, the technology required for their obtaining should be more complex and sophisticated (traps, etc.).
The scientific research was carried out by Ruth Blasco, collaborator of Area de Prehistoria Universitat Rovira i Virgili of Tarragona (URV) and Institut de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES). The results were published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, 35 (2008): 2839-2848.
This research show patterns in the tortoise consumption sequence from Level IV of Bolomor Cave and improves data on the butchery process and tortoise consumption in the Late Middle Pleistocene.
Bolomor Cave, apart from providing human fossils, has revealed important discoveries related to the discovery and use of fire. The site provides a stratigraphical sequence of approximately 250,000 years of levels with and without fire and document the evidence oldest of anthropogenic structures of combustion in the Iberian Peninsula and therefore, in the Southern Europe.
For more information
Article “Human consumption of tortoises at Lever IV of Bolomor Cave (Valencia, Spain)”, R. Blasco
Journal of Archaeological Science, 35 (2008): 2839-2848.
Contact
Ruth Blasco
Area de Prehistoria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili de Tarragona - Institut Català Paleocologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES)
rblasco@prehistoria.urv.cat