Overview
- The PNAS study analyzed mollusk shells from Los Aviones Cave near Cartagena, Spain, dating the Neanderthal meals to roughly 115,000 years ago.
- By tracking oxygen isotopes in shell carbonate as a proxy for seawater temperature, researchers identified when the animals were taken from the shore.
- The shells show year-round use with a strong preference for colder months, concentrated from November through April rather than steady, heavy intake across the year.
- The authors say this seasonal targeting resembles a modern subsistence strategy and challenges the idea that only Homo sapiens organized marine foraging in this way.
- They suggest winter collecting offered higher meat yield and better taste due to reproductive cycles and lowered the risk from summer algal toxins and rapid spoilage, with remains including small gastropods and limpets reported at the site.