The Use of Echinoids and Crustaceans as Food During the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition in Northern Spain: Methodological Contribution and Dietary Assessment

Until now, little attention has been paid to the detailed analysis of certain kinds of marine resources found in archaeological deposits, particularly in shell middens. The importance of these resources, including sea urchins, goose barnacles and crabs, in the prehistoric diet should be assessed from a rigorous and reliable data corpus. With this goal in mind, remains of Paracentrotus lividus (Lamarck, 1816), Pollicipes pollicipes (Leach, 1817) and Brachyura sp. from nine prehistoric sites in the Spanish Cantabrian region have been studied and the information in the regional literature related to these species in archaeological sites have been compiled. The analyses produced quantitative data to assess the repeated presence and, in turn, the limited importance of such resources in the diet of hunter-gatherer groups during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, as well as to verify a slight increase in their exploitation during the Early Neolithic.