Mariana Nabais, João Zilhão,

The consumption of tortoise among Last Interglacial Iberian Neanderthals,

Quaternary Science Reviews,
Volume 217,
2019,
Pages 225-246,
ISSN 0277-3791,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.03.024.
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118310217)
Abstract: Optimal foraging theory and diet breadth models often place large mammals
in top-ranking positions due to their high-energy return. However, mass collection
of small prey can result in comparable return rates, and dietary diversity is
nutritionally beneficial on its own right. A growing body of evidence recovered
from several sites in the Mediterranean Basin confirms Neanderthal use of small
size prey. Slow-moving, tortoises are an easy catch, and human collection and
consumption is demonstrated by taphonomic analysis. In Portugal, two key Middle
Palaeolithic cave sites, Gruta da Oliveira and Gruta da Figueira Brava, provide
pertinent evidence. Based on an improved osteometric method, in which long bone
measurements are standardised and analysed together using the Logarithmic Size
Index (LSI), it is possible to better gauge the contribution of tortoises to the
diet and the human impact on the species’ populations. At inland Gruta da Oliveira,
a tendency towards the massive collection of tortoises, affecting the local
population more severely, is apparent. At coastal Gruta da Figueira Brava, the data
suggest opportunistic collection upon encounter, possibly due to the availability
of a more diverse range of resources.
Keywords: Tortoise; Testudo hermanni; Small game consumption; Diet breadth;
Neanderthal; Interglacial; Pleistocene; Portugal; Iberian peninsula