Abstract

BLASCO, Ruth  and  FERNANDEZ PERIS, Josep. Meat diet at bolomor cave (Valencia, Spain): A diversification strategy in the european middle pleistocene (MIS 9-5E). Comechingonia [online]. 2014, vol.18, n.2, pp.17-40. ISSN 1851-0027.

The diversification of subsistence in pre-Upper Paleolithic periods has been the focus of one of the main topics of discussion in Europe over the past 40 years. In the middle of this debate, Bolomor Cave, dated between 350 and 100 kya BP, emerges as one of the clearest and earliest evidence of the systematic use of small prey (e.g., rabbits, birds, tortoises) in to Homo sapiens. Data from Bolomor indicate the need to reconsider aspects and interrelate factors to explain this diversification of subsistence in chronologies prior to the Upper Paleolithic. In this study, we present zooarchaeological data from three levels of the stratigraphic sequence of Bolomor Cave (XVII , XI, and IV) in order to provide a diachronic view of the meat diet at this site. Data provided by Bolomor allow us to establish that the changes in the human diet were not linear in time and space, but seem to have been conditioned by multiple factors -among them, the occupational pattern, behavioral diversity, and local environmental characteristics tahat could have played an important role in the diversifcation of subsistence.

Keywords : Broad Spectrum Diet; Small Game; Middle Pleistocene; Bolomor Cave.

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