Archaeologists led by Dr Alfred Sanchis Serra from the Museu de Prehistòria de València have reported evidence of land snail consumption from the archaeological site of Cova de la Barriada near Benidorm, Spain, dated to around 30,000 years ago.
Paleolithic inhabitants of modern-day Spain began eating land snails about 10,000 years earlier than their Mediterranean neighbors. Image credit: Tyler B. Tretsven.
Snails were widespread in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene, but it is still unknown when and how they were incorporated into the diet of Homo sapiens.
While excavating at the Cova de la Barriada, Dr Serra and his colleagues found large amounts of shells of the mount snail (Iberus alonensis).
To better understand if the Paleolithic inhabitants of the site may have eaten snails, the scientists investigated patterns of snail selection, consumption, and accumulation. They then analyzed the shells’ decay, fossilization process, their age and composition.
The adult snails were close to prehistoric human-constructed structures that may have been used to cook the snails, along with stone tools, and other animal remains that were likely roasted in ambers of pine (Pinus nigra, P. sylvestris) and juniper (Juniperus sp.).
The results are published in the open-access journal PLoS ONE.
“These results point to previously undiscovered patterns of invertebrate use and may highlight a broadening of the human diet in the Upper Paleolithic in the Mediterranean basin,” said the archaeologists.
In neighboring Mediterranean areas, eating land snails didn’t appear until about 20,000 years ago, which may make the newly discovered shells of Iberus alonensis the oldest known evidence of snail consumption in Europe.
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Fernández-López de Pablo J et al. 2014. Land Snails as a Diet Diversification Proxy during the Early Upper Palaeolithic in Europe. PLoS ONE 9 (8): e104898; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0104898
