Middle Palaeolithic and Neolithic Occupations around Mundafan Palaeolake,Saudi Arabia: Implications for Climate Change and Human Dispersals

The Arabian Peninsula is a key region for understanding climate change and human occupation history in a marginal environment. The Mundafan palaeolake is situated in southern Saudi Arabia, in the Rub’ al-Khali (the ‘Empty Quarter’), the world’s largest sand desert. Here we report the first discoveries of Middle Palaeolithic and Neolithic archaeological sites in association with the palaeolake. We associate the human occupations with new geochronological data, and suggest the archaeological sites date to the wet periods of Marine Isotope Stage 5 and the Early Holocene. The archaeological sites indicate that humans repeatedly penetrated the ameliorated environments of the Rub’ al-Khali. The sites probably represent short-term occupations, with the Neolithic sites focused on hunting, as indicated by points and weaponry. Middle Palaeolithic assemblages at Mundafan support a lacustrine adaptive focus in Arabia. Provenancing of obsidian artifacts indicates that Neolithic groups at Mundafan had a wide wandering range, with transport of artifacts from distant sources.     

Cape buffalo mitogenomics reveals a Holocene shift in the African human-megafauna dynamics

Africa is unique among the continents in having maintained an extraordinarily diverse and prolific megafauna spanning the Pleistocene-Holocene epochs. Little is known about the historical dynamics of this community and even less about the reasons for its unique persistence to modern times. We sequenced complete mitochondrial genomes from 43 Cape buffalo (Syncerus caffer caffer) to infer the demographic history of this large mammal. A combination of Bayesian skyline plots, simulations and Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC) were used to distinguish population size dynamics from the confounding effect of population structure and identify the most probable demographic scenario. Our analyses revealed a late Pleistocene expansion phase concurrent with the human expansion between 80 000 and 10 000 years ago, refuting an adverse ecological effect of Palaeolithic humans on this quarry species, but also showed that the buffalo subsequently declined during the Holocene. The distinct two-phased dynamic inferred here suggests that a major ecological transition occurred in the Holocene. The timing of this transition coincides with the onset of drier conditions throughout tropical Africa following the Holocene Optimum (～9000-5000 years ago), but also with the explosive growth in human population size associated with the transition from the Palaeolithic to the Neolithic cultural stage. We evaluate each of these possible causal factors and their potential impact on the African megafauna, providing the first systematic assessment of megafauna dynamics on the only continent where large mammals remain abundant.     

Climate change, humans, and the extinction of the woolly mammoth

Woolly mammoths inhabited Eurasia and North America from late Middle Pleistocene (300 ky BP [300,000 years before present]), surviving through different climatic cycles until they vanished in the Holocene (3.6 ky BP). The debate about why the Late Quaternary extinctions occurred has centred upon environmental and human-induced effects, or a combination of both. However, testing these two hypotheses—climatic and anthropogenic—has been hampered by the difficulty of generating quantitative estimates of the relationship between the contraction of the mammoth's geographical range and each of the two hypotheses. We combined climate envelope models and a population model with explicit treatment of woolly mammoth–human interactions to measure the extent to which a combination of climate changes and increased human pressures might have led to the extinction of the species in Eurasia. Climate conditions for woolly mammoths were measured across different time periods: 126 ky BP, 42 ky BP, 30 ky BP, 21 ky BP, and 6 ky BP. We show that suitable climate conditions for the mammoth reduced drastically between the Late Pleistocene and the Holocene, and 90% of its geographical range disappeared between 42 ky BP and 6 ky BP, with the remaining suitable areas in the mid-Holocene being mainly restricted to Arctic Siberia, which is where the latest records of woolly mammoths in continental Asia have been found. Results of the population models also show that the collapse of the climatic niche of the mammoth caused a significant drop in their population size, making woolly mammoths more vulnerable to the increasing hunting pressure from human populations. The coincidence of the disappearance of climatically suitable areas for woolly mammoths and the increase in anthropogenic impacts in the Holocene, the coup de grâce, likely set the place and time for the extinction of the woolly mammoth.     

Upper palaeolithic and late stone age human diet

Undoubtedly modern mankind is an omnivorous species. Nevertheless, types of diet changed at the time of anthropogenesis. The Upper Palaeolithic period is the crucial time because of the appearance of anatomically modern humans in Europe. The main goal in this period investigation is to find the Neanderthal man-Upper Palaeolithic man diet distinction. A sharp early Holocene rise in humidity and temperature and melting of the permafrost resulted in the complete destruction of traditional migration routes, campsite losses, and the flora and fauna of inland territories changing. All these factors affected nutrition patterns, too. The comparison of the different Mesolithic and Neolithic groups' diet patterns allow us to discuss problems of the influence of cultural and ecological factors. The bone tissue chemical concentrations (Ca, Zn, Sr, Cu) from Upper Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic burials are considered to reconstruct individual and group patterns of nutrition. The results of the atomic absorption method were used.     

The molecular genetics of European ancestry

In an earlier paper we proposed, on the basis of mitochondrial control region variation, that the bulk of modern European mitochondrial DNA(mtDNA) diversity had its roots in the European Upper Palaeolithic. Refining the mtDNA phylogeny and enlarging the sample size both within Europe and the Middle East still support this interpretation and indicate three separate phases of colonization: (i) the Early Upper Palaeolithic about 50,000 BP; (ii) the Late Upper Palaeolithic 11,000-14,000 BP; and (iii) the Neolithic from 8500 BP.     

Searching for the Oldest Baobab of Madagascar: Radiocarbon Investigation of Large Adansonia rubrostipa Trees

We extended our research on the architecture, growth and age of trees belonging to the genus Adansonia, by starting to investigate large individuals of the most widespread Malagasy species. Our research also intends to identify the oldest baobabs of Madagascar. Here we present results of the radiocarbon investigation of the two most representative Adansonia rubrostipa (fony baobab) specimens, which are located in south-western Madagascar, in the Tsimanampetsotse National Park. We found that the fony baobab called “Grandmother” consists of 3 perfectly fused stems of different ages. The radiocarbon date of the oldest sample was found to be 1136 ± 16 BP. We estimated that the oldest part of this tree, which is mainly hollow, has an age close to 1,600 yr. This value is comparable to the age of the oldest Adansonia digitata (African baobab) specimens. By its age, the Grandmother is a major candidate for the oldest baobab of Madagascar. The second investigated specimen, called the “polygamous baobab”, consists of 6 partially fused stems of different ages. According to dating results, this fony baobab is 1,000 yr old. This research is the first investigation of the structure and age of Malagasy baobabs.     

Human dental microwear from Ohalo II (22,500-23,500 cal BP), southern Levant

Dietary hardness and abrasiveness are inferred from human dental microwear at Ohalo II, a late Upper Palaeolithic site (22,500-23,500 cal BP) in the southern Levant. Casts of molar grinding facets from two human skeletons were examined with a scanning electron microscope. The size and frequency of microwear was measured, counted, and compared to four prehistoric human groups from successive chronological periods in the same region: pre-pottery Neolithic A, Chalcolithic (this study); Natufian, pre-pottery Neolithic B (Mahoney: Am J Phys Anthropol 130 (2006) 308-319). The Ohalo molars had a high frequency of long narrow scratches, and a few small pits, suggesting a tough abrasive diet that required more shearing rather than compressive force while chewing. These results imply that the diet of the two late Upper Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers did not focus on very hard foods. Aquatic foods with adherent contaminants, as well as grit from plant grinding tools seemed likely causal agents. The size of the pits and scratches on the Ohalo molars were most similar to microwear from the pre-pottery Neolithic A period, though they also compared well to the Chalcolithic period. These results contrasted with the larger pits and scratches from the Natufian hunter-gatherers and pre-pottery Neolithic B farmers, implying that there is no simple increase or decrease in dietary hardness and abrasiveness across the late Upper Palaeolithic to Chalcolithic development in the Southern Levant.     

Quantifying the Extent of North American Mammal Extinction Relative to the Pre-Anthropogenic Baseline

Earth has experienced five major extinction events in the past 450 million years. Many scientists suggest we are now witnessing a sixth, driven by human impacts. However, it has been difficult to quantify the real extent of the current extinction episode, either for a given taxonomic group at the continental scale or for the worldwide biota, largely because comparisons of pre-anthropogenic and anthropogenic biodiversity baselines have been unavailable. Here, we compute those baselines for mammals of temperate North America, using a sampling-standardized rich fossil record to reconstruct species-area relationships for a series of time slices ranging from 30 million to 500 years ago. We show that shortly after humans first arrived in North America, mammalian diversity dropped to become at least 15%–42% too low compared to the “normal” diversity baseline that had existed for millions of years. While the Holocene reduction in North American mammal diversity has long been recognized qualitatively, our results provide a quantitative measure that clarifies how significant the diversity reduction actually was. If mass extinctions are defined as loss of at least 75% of species on a global scale, our data suggest that North American mammals had already progressed one-fifth to more than halfway (depending on biogeographic province) towards that benchmark, even before industrialized society began to affect them. Data currently are not available to make similar quantitative estimates for other continents, but qualitative declines in Holocene mammal diversity are also widely recognized in South America, Eurasia, and Australia. Extending our methodology to mammals in these areas, as well as to other taxa where possible, would provide a reasonable way to assess the magnitude of global extinction, the biodiversity impact of extinctions of currently threatened species, and the efficacy of conservation efforts into the future.     

Partners with Bad Temper: Reject or Cure? A Study of Chronic Pain and Aggression in Horses

Background

Experiencing acute pain can affect the social behaviour of both humans and animals and can increase the risk that they exhibit aggressive or violent behaviour. However, studies have focused mainly on the impact of acute rather than chronic painful experiences. As recent results suggest that chronic pain or chronic discomfort could increase aggressiveness in humans and other mammals, we tested here the hypothesis that, in horses, aggression towards humans (a common source of accidents for professionals) could be linked to regularly reported vertebral problems of riding horses.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Vertebral examination and standardized behavioural tests were made independently on the same horses. Here we showed that most horses severely affected by vertebral problems were prone to react aggressively towards humans (33/43 horses, chi-square test, df = 1, χ² = 12.30, p<0.001), which was not the case for unaffected or slightly affected horses (9/16 horses, chi-square test, df = 1, χ² = 0.25, p>0.05). The more affected they were, the fewer positive reactions they exhibited (rs = −0.31, p = 0.02).

Conclusions/Significance

This is to our knowledge the first experimental evidence of such a link between chronic discomfort/potential pain (inferred from the presence of vertebral problems) and aggression, suggesting that chronic painful experiences may act in ways similar to those of acute experiences. Chronic discomfort or pain may often be overlooked when facing “bad tempered” individuals, whether humans or animals. This experimental study confirms the importance of including chronic discomfort or pain as a major factor in interpersonal relations and models of aggression.     

Ancient collagen reveals evolutionary history of the endemic South American ‘ungulates’

Since the late eighteenth century, fossils of bizarre extinct creatures have been described from the Americas, revealing a previously unimagined chapter in the history of mammals. The most bizarre of these are the ‘native’ South American ungulates thought to represent a group of mammals that evolved in relative isolation on South America, but with an uncertain affinity to any particular placental lineage. Many authors have considered them descended from Laurasian ‘condylarths’, which also includes the probable ancestors of perissodactyls and artiodactyls, whereas others have placed them either closer to the uniquely South American xenarthrans (anteaters, armadillos and sloths) or the basal afrotherians (e.g. elephants and hyraxes). These hypotheses have been debated owing to conflicting morphological characteristics and the hitherto inability to retrieve molecular information. Of the ‘native’ South American mammals, only the toxodonts and litopterns persisted until the Late Pleistocene–Early Holocene. Owing to known difficulties in retrieving ancient DNA (aDNA) from specimens from warm climates, this research presents a molecular phylogeny for both Macrauchenia patachonica (Litopterna) and Toxodon platensis (Notoungulata) recovered using proteomics-based (liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry) sequencing analyses of bone collagen. The results place both taxa in a clade that is monophyletic with the perissodactyls, which today are represented by horses, rhinoceroses and tapirs.     

Molecular Paleoclimate Reconstructions over the Last 9 ka from a Peat Sequence in South China

To achieve a better understanding of Holocene climate change in the monsoon regions of China, we investigated the molecular distributions and carbon and hydrogen isotope compositions (δ¹³C and δD values) of long-chain n-alkanes in a peat core from the Shiwangutian (SWGT) peatland, south China over the last 9 ka. By comparisons with other climate records, we found that the δ¹³C values of the long-chain n-alkanes can be a proxy for humidity, while the δD values of the long-chain n-alkanes primarily recorded the moisture source δD signal during 9–1.8 ka BP and responded to the dry climate during 1.8–0.3 ka BP. Together with the average chain length (ACL) and the carbon preference index (CPI) data, the climate evolution over last 9 ka in the SWGT peatland can be divided into three stages. During the first stage (9–5 ka BP), the δ¹³C values were depleted and CPI and P_aq values were low, while ACL values were high. They reveal a period of warm and wet climate, which is regarded as the Holocene optimum. The second stage (5–1.8 ka BP) witnessed a shift to relatively cool and dry climate, as indicated by the more positive δ¹³C values and lower ACL values. During the third stage (1.8–0.3 ka BP), the δ¹³C, δD, CPI and P_aq values showed marked increase and ACL values varied greatly, implying an abrupt change to cold and dry conditions. This climate pattern corresponds to the broad decline in Asian monsoon intensity through the latter part of the Holocene. Our results do not support a later Holocene optimum in south China as suggested by previous studies.     

Transgenic Mice Convert Carbohydrates to Essential Fatty Acids

Transgenic mice (named “Omega mice”) were engineered to carry both optimized fat-1 and fat-2 genes from the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans and are capable of producing essential omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids from saturated fats or carbohydrates. When maintained on a high-saturated fat diet lacking essential fatty acids or a high-carbohydrate, no-fat diet, the Omega mice exhibit high tissue levels of both omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids, with a ratio of ∼1∶1. This study thus presents an innovative technology for the production of both omega-6 and omega-3 essential fatty acids, as well as a new animal model for understanding the true impact of fat on human health.     

Faecal Microbiota of Forage-Fed Horses in New Zealand and the Population Dynamics of Microbial Communities following Dietary Change

The effects of abrupt dietary transition on the faecal microbiota of forage-fed horses over a 3-week period were investigated. Yearling Thoroughbred fillies reared as a cohort were exclusively fed on either an ensiled conserved forage-grain diet (“Group A”; n = 6) or pasture (“Group B”; n = 6) for three weeks prior to the study. After the Day 0 faecal samples were collected, horses of Group A were abruptly transitioned to pasture. Both groups continued to graze similar pasture for three weeks, with faecal samples collected at 4-day intervals. DNA was isolated from the faeces and microbial 16S and 18S rRNA gene amplicons were generated and analysed by pyrosequencing. The faecal bacterial communities of both groups of horses were highly diverse (Simpson’s index of diversity >0.8), with differences between the two groups on Day 0 (P<0.017 adjusted for multiple comparisons). There were differences between Groups A and B in the relative abundances of four genera, BF311 (family Bacteroidaceae; P = 0.003), CF231 (family Paraprevotellaceae; P = 0.004), and currently unclassified members within the order Clostridiales (P = 0.003) and within the family Lachnospiraceae (P = 0.006). The bacterial community of Group A horses became similar to Group B within four days of feeding on pasture, whereas the structure of the archaeal community remained constant pre- and post-dietary change. The community structure of the faecal microbiota (bacteria, archaea and ciliate protozoa) of pasture-fed horses was also identified. The initial differences observed appeared to be linked to recent dietary history, with the bacterial community of the forage-fed horses responding rapidly to abrupt dietary change.     

Origin and Diet of the Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherers on the Mediterranean Island of Favignana (ègadi Islands,Sicily)

Hunter-gatherers living in Europe during the transition from the late Pleistocene to the Holocene intensified food acquisition by broadening the range of resources exploited to include marine taxa. However, little is known on the nature of this dietary change in the Mediterranean Basin. A key area to investigate this issue is the archipelago of the Ègadi Islands, most of which were connected to Sicily until the early Holocene. The site of Grotta d’Oriente, on the present-day island of Favignana, was occupied by hunter-gatherers when Postglacial environmental changes were taking place (14,000-7,500 cal BP). Here we present the results of AMS radiocarbon dating, palaeogenetic and isotopic analyses undertaken on skeletal remains of the humans buried at Grotta d’Oriente. Analyses of the mitochondrial hypervariable first region of individual Oriente B, which belongs to the HV-1 haplogroup, suggest for the first time on genetic grounds that humans living in Sicily during the early Holocene could have originated from groups that migrated from the Italian Peninsula around the Last Glacial Maximum. Carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses show that the Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic hunter-gatherers of Favignana consumed almost exclusively protein from terrestrial game and that there was only a slight increase in marine food consumption from the late Pleistocene to the early Holocene. This dietary change was similar in scale to that at sites on mainland Sicily and in the rest of the Mediterranean, suggesting that the hunter-gatherers of Grotta d’Oriente did not modify their subsistence strategies specifically to adapt to the progressive isolation of Favignana. The limited development of technologies for intensively exploiting marine resources was probably a consequence both of Mediterranean oligotrophy and of the small effective population size of these increasingly isolated human groups, which made innovation less likely and prevented transmission of fitness-enhancing adaptations.     

Les principales étapes de l’occupation humaine en bordure de l’Himalaya occidentale

Lithic industries attest that Western Himalayas, Hindu Kush and Pamir as well as the sub-Himalayan belt that is the Siwalik range, were inhabited during the prehistoric times. However, in thin transition zone between plains and high mountains, distinction is to be kept between low-middle altitude regions and high altitude regions (above 2000 m). In the former regions, the first human occupation tenuously appears around 2 Ma. In the Middle Pleistocene, the Lower Palaeolithic industries belong to two technological facies, the Acheulian and the Early Soanian. In the North-Western Siwaliks, the Soanian occurs in plenty on the river terraces, which were all built after 0.4 Ma, and the Acheulian appears between 0.5 and 0.7 Ma. The Middle Palaeolithic is still rich in cobble tools and therefore named Late Soanian. The Upper Palaeolithic is missing, perhaps due to climatic factors and the Neolithic is characterised by polished axes/adzes, but actually many of the cobble tools usually considered as Early Soanian may well belong to the cobble tool technical tradition common in South-East Asia during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene. In the north of the mountain range, the entire Palaeolithic sequence yielded by the loess in Southern Tajikistan is characterised, right from the late Lower Pleistocene, by lithic industries mainly compose of flakes, sometimes with cobble tools. In the high altitude zones, prehistoric sites are unknown before the Holocene and therefore they are contemporaneous with the Neolithic but some technological facies display particular features. The question is to know whether the originality of the industries, observed at different periods of time, is linked to techno-cultural adaptations to particular environments or to the isolation of the mountain populations.     

A Sequence Polymorphism in MSTN Predicts Sprinting Ability and Racing Stamina in Thoroughbred Horses

Variants of the MSTN gene encoding myostatin are associated with muscle hypertrophy phenotypes in a range of mammalian species, most notably cattle, dogs, mice, and humans. Using a sample of registered Thoroughbred horses (n = 148), we have identified a novel MSTN sequence polymorphism that is strongly associated (g.66493737C>T, P = 4.85×10⁻⁸) with best race distance among elite racehorses (n = 79). This observation was independently validated (P = 1.91×10⁻⁶) in a resampled group of Thoroughbreds (n = 62) and in a cohort of Thoroughbreds (n = 37, P = 0.0047) produced by the same trainer. We observed that C/C horses are suited to fast, short-distance races; C/T horses compete favorably in middle-distance races; and T/T horses have greater stamina. Evaluation of retrospective racecourse performance (n = 142) and stallion progeny performance predict that C/C and C/T horses are more likely to be successful two-year-old racehorses than T/T animals. Here we describe for the first time the identification of a gene variant in Thoroughbred racehorses that is predictive of genetic potential for an athletic phenotype.     

Modelling Mediterranean oak palaeolandscapes using the MaxEnt model algorithm: The case of the NE Iberia under the Middle Holocene climatic scenario

The Mediterranean Basin is a global biodiversity hotspot, and oak tree species play an important role in it. Since the beginning of the Holocene (∼11.4 kyr BP), the distribution of forests has not occurred uniformly, resulting in diverse types of vegetation landscapes. In this study, we used a maximum entropy algorithm (MaxEnt) to obtain the ecological niche model (ENM) of two sub-Mediterranean oak species, Quercus pubescens Willd. (pubescent oak) and Quercus ilex subsp. ilex (holm oak), both in the present day in the Iberian Peninsula and within a Middle Holocene (8.2–4.2 kyr BP) climatic scenario in the NE Iberian Peninsula. Moreover, we used the locations of Neolithic archaeological sites containing anthracological data to analyze the relationship between human occupations and oak habitats. Our results suggest that the two oaks have responded differently to the climatic conditions that have occurred, and show changes in both potential distributions. The palaeolandscape vegetation map shows a denser vegetation cover in the lowlands and a more open landscape in the highlands, with a higher dominance of Quercus pubescens in the septentrional areas, while Quercus ilex was more restricted to certain coastal areas. Temperature and precipitation factors, mainly seasonal climatic conditions, have had a greater impact on the distribution of vegetation than other factors. We found a good overlap between the ENM of the two oaks and the locations of the Neolithic sites analysed, and determined that the distribution of Neolithic archaeological sites is not random. The Neolithic populations in the study area depended heavily on the resources of the deciduous and evergreen sub- Mediterranean forest, although they also exploited the resources of the mountain pine forest. Neolithic sites distribution suggests that Neolithic human groups were aware of the potential of forests and probably gathered woody resources in their surroundings.     

What does it mean to be wild? Assessing human influence on the environments of nonhuman primate specimens in museum collections

ObjectivesNatural history collections are often thought to represent environments in a pristine natural state—free from human intervention—the so‐called “wild.” In this study, we aim to assess the level of human influence represented by natural history collections of wild‐collected primates over 120 years at the Smithsonian Institution''s National Museum of Natural History (NMNH).Materials and MethodsOur sample consisted of 875 catarrhine primate specimens in NMNH collections, representing 13 genera collected in 39 countries from 1882 to 2004. Using archival and accession information we determined the approximate locations from which specimens were collected. We then plotted location coordinates onto publicly available anthrome maps created by Ellis et al. (Global Ecology and Biogeography, 2010, 19, 589), which delineate terrestrial biomes of human population density and land use worldwide since the 1700s.ResultsWe found that among primates collected from their native ranges, 92% were from an environment that had some level of human impact, suggesting that the majority of presumed wild‐collected primate specimens lived in an environment influenced by humans during their lifetimes.DiscussionThe degree to which human‐modified environments may have impacted the lives of primates currently held in museum collections has been historically ignored, implicating unforeseen consequences for collection‐based research. While unique effects related to commensalism with humans remain understudied, effects currently attributed to natural phenomena may, in fact, be related to anthropogenic pressures on unmanaged populations of primates.     

Late Quaternary human settlement patterning in the Jebel Gharbi

This paper presents the latest results of geoarchaeological research on the Upper Pleistocene sequence in the Jebel Gharbi (previously called Jebel Nafusah), a mountain range located in Tripolitania, northwestern Libya. Numerous archaeological sites are found adjacent to springs that formed as a consequence of tectonic activities. The springs originated when Upper Pleistocene earthquakes produced ground displacements that created water outlets, some of which are still active. Springs are spread all along the massif and at the foot of the mountains in Jebel Gharbi. We suggest that they offered attractive resources to populations coming from drier parts of North Africa or the near-by Sahara. The earliest sites associated with the springs include Aterian lithic techno-complexes that have been dated between 80,000 and 40,000 BP. Since then, these springs have attracted many populations, as documented here by settlements belonging to the Later Stone Age (Upper Palaeolithic), Iberomaurusian (Late Upper Palaeolithic or Epipalaeolithic), Neolithic, Roman period, and present time.     

Land Snails as a Diet Diversification Proxy during the Early Upper Palaeolithic in Europe

Despite the ubiquity of terrestrial gastropods in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene archaeological record, it is still unknown when and how this type of invertebrate resource was incorporated into human diets. In this paper, we report the oldest evidence of land snail exploitation as a food resource in Europe dated to 31.3-26.9 ka yr cal BP from the recently discovered site of Cova de la Barriada (eastern Iberian Peninsula). Mono-specific accumulations of large Iberus alonensis land snails (Ferussac 1821) were found in three different archaeological levels in association with combustion structures, along with lithic and faunal assemblages. Using a new analytical protocol based on taphonomic, microX-Ray Diffractometer (DXR) and biometric analyses, we investigated the patterns of selection, consumption and accumulation of land snails at the site. The results display a strong mono-specific gathering of adult individuals, most of them older than 55 weeks, which were roasted in ambers of pine and juniper under 375°C. This case study uncovers new patterns of invertebrate exploitation during the Gravettian in southwestern Europe without known precedents in the Middle Palaeolithic nor the Aurignacian. In the Mediterranean context, such an early occurrence contrasts with the neighbouring areas of Morocco, France, Italy and the Balkans, where the systematic nutritional use of land snails appears approximately 10,000 years later during the Iberomaurisian and the Late Epigravettian. The appearance of this new subsistence activity in the eastern and southern regions of Spain was coeval to other demographically driven transformations in the archaeological record, suggesting different chronological patterns of resource intensification and diet broadening along the Upper Palaeolithic in the Mediterranean basin.