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Quaternary International 244 (2011) 5e14

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Quaternary International

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The Epipalaeolithic (Iberomaurusian) at Grotte des Pigeons (Taforalt), Morocco: Apreliminary study of the land Mollusca

V.K. Taylor a,*, R.N.E. Barton b, M. Bell a, A. Bouzouggar c, S. Collcutt d, S. Black a, J.T. Hogue b

aDepartment of Archaeology, School of Human and Environmental Sciences, University of Reading, Whiteknights, PO Box 227, Reading Berks RG6 6AB, UKb Institute of Archaeology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 2PG, UKc Institut National des Sciences de l’Archéologie et du Patrimoine, Rabat (Morocco), Hay Riad, Madinat Al Irfane Angle rues 5 et 7, Rabat-Instituts,10 000 Rabat-Morocco and Max Planck Institute, Department of Human Evolution, Leipzig, GermanydOxford Archaeological Associates Ltd, Oxford OX4 1LH, UK

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:Available online 13 May 2011

* Corresponding author.E-mail address: v.k.taylor@pgr.reading.ac.uk (V.K.

1040-6182/$ e see front matter � 2011 Elsevier Ltd adoi:10.1016/j.quaint.2011.04.041

a b s t r a c t

Land snail middens occur widely throughout the circum-Mediterranean, particularly in the Maghreb andLibya, but are relatively understudied when compared with the better known coastal marine middens.The site of Taforalt (Grotte des Pigeons) in north east Morocco contains thick ashy deposits withconsiderable numbers of land snails, dating between 13,000 and 11,000 BP. The site has been excavatedperiodically since its discovery in 1908, but little attention has been paid to the land snail component.Recent excavations at the site as part of the Cemeteries and Sedentism Project has facilitated reinves-tigation of the Iberomaurusian layers, including the upper ashy midden unit. This investigation addressesquestions surrounding chronological variation in the lithic assemblage, subsistence strategies, populationhealth and mortuary practices. Preliminary work on the land snails has identified a low species diversityin the grey series midden layers, characterised by the large edible species Alabastrina alabastrites, Helix cfaspersa, Dupotetia dupotetiana, Otala punctata and Cernuella sp, which appear to represent an abruptintensification in the use of land snails as a food source. Significant quantities of associated plant materialand animal bone suggest that land snails are part of a broader based diet which is adopted from around13,000 BP.

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1. Introduction

Shell middens, whether composed of terrestrial or marinespecies (or both), often provide well stratified sequences, with anabundance of cultural material associated with a wide range ofbiological evidence for subsistence and environment. This muchhas been evident since the discovery of coastal middens inDenmark led to establishment of the Kitchen Midden Commissionin 1848. The Commission pioneered an interdisciplinary approachwhich helped lay the foundations of environmental archaeology.Since then, coastal shell middens have been investigated in manyareas on the Atlantic fringe of Europe, around the Mediterraneanand in other parts of the world (Claassen, 1998; Milner et al., 2007;Gutiérrez-Zugasti et al., 2011). The scale of shell deposition andassociated material culture, on some sites of later Mesolithic date,has led to the inference that they represent sedentary, or semi-sedentary, hunter-gatherer communities (Andersen, 2000). It has

Taylor).

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often been argued that the hypothesis of sedentism is strengthenedby the occurrence on coastal sites of burials sometimes associatedwith middens. Since biological evidence is frequently abundant onmidden sites they provide an opportunity to examine hypothesesrelating to seasonality, sedentism and the dietary spectrum. Thereis in particular the question of whether the Mollusca reflecta narrowly focused diet or are simply the highly visible componentsof a more broadly based diet. These debates, long rehearsed for thecoastal middens of NorthWest Europe, need also to be addressed inthe very different context of Mediterranean middens of terrestrialMollusca. Such middens are an important category of archaeolog-ical site especially for studies of hunter-gatherer subsistencestrategies and settlement patterns.

Land snail middens are a widespread phenomenon occurringthroughout SouthernEurope, theNearEast andNorthAfricayet theyhave been little studied (Lubell, 2004b; Rabett et al., 2011). They areoften found inland but also in coastal locationswhere terrestrial andmarine/freshwatermolluscsmayall be present. Lubell has produceda broad overviewof the current distribution of these sites (2004a,b),synthesizing the available data and highlighting potential researchdirections. Although there are issues with the current terminology

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(Widmer,1989; Rabett et al., 2011), the termmiddenwill, for ease ofdiscussion and comparison, be used throughout this paper whendescribing sites with concentrations of edible molluscs. Tradition-ally, in areas of the Circum-Mediterranean and the Near East tech-nologies of the Latest Palaeolithic are often referred to under thegeneric term ‘Epipalaeolithic’which can be further sub-divided intoregional cultural variants (Finlayson andWarren, 2010). Formuch ofNorth West Africa including Morocco the equivalent phase of theLatest Upper Palaeolithic (sensu Linstädter, 2008) or Epipalaeolithic(sensu Lubell et al.,1984; Bouzouggaret al., 2008) is representedverywidely by a technology known as the Iberomaurusian. Throughoutthis paper, the terms Iberomaurusian and Epipalaeolithic are usedinterchangeably.

1.1. Shell middens in North Africa

An important group of land snail middens, ‘escargotières,’ arelocated in North Africa, mainly in theMaghreb (Morocco, Tunisia andAlgeria) and Cyrenaica (Libya). The middens are attributed to theIberomaurusian and the Capsian. Iberomaurusian sites aremost oftenfound in caves and rockshelters, usually near the coast, and datebetween20,000 and 10,000BP (Lubell,1984, 2001). Capsian sites tendto be open-air, predominantly inlandwith some exceptions in coastalregions (Mulazzani et al., 2010),mainly inAlgeriaandTunisia, anddatebetween 10,000 and 6000 BP (Lubell, 2001). The Capsian is generallynot known in Morocco although ongoing work in the Rif oriental hasidentifiedmaterialwhichmaybeattributable to this industry (MikdadandEiwanger, 2000). Lubell et al. (1975)estimated theaveragedensityof unbroken shell in one of thesemiddens to be approximately 25,000shells/m3. Pond et al. (1938, 109) described these sites as “a group ofrefuse heaps welded into a single mound.composed of snail shells,camp fire ashes, hearth stones, animal bones and tools of bones andflint”. They also note the presence of human bone at many Capsiansites, and some Iberomaurusian. The escargotières are also known as‘rammadiya’ (Balout, 1955; Lubell, 2001, Lubell et al., 2009) from theArabic ‘ramad’meaning ash, and referring to the large amounts of ashoften found in the deposits. Gobert (1937) andMorel (1974, 299) havealso referred to these sites as ‘cendrières’, highlighting the occurrenceof ash and burning.

The level of detail employed in land snail work varies consid-erably from site to site with some such as Tamar Hat (Saxon et al.,1974), Aïn Misteheyia and Kef Zoura D in Algeria (Lubell et al., 1975,1976, 1982e83; Jackes and Lubell, 2008) being studied in detail andothers, such as the earlier work at Haua Fteah in Cyrenaica, Libya(McBurney, 1967) and Grotte des Pigeons (Taforalt) in Morocco(Roche, 1963), being subject to only limited molluscan researchdespite large scale excavations having taken place at both sites.Haua Fteah was excavated extensively in the 1960’s by McBurneyand revealed evidence for a long, well-preserved archaeologicalsequence, which included land snail bearing midden layers (Hey,1967; McBurney, 1967). The main species reported were Helixmelanostoma and Helicella variabilis but the number of molluscs ineach deposit is not quantified, preventing any further analysis ofsubsistence strategies. A new investigation at Haua Fteah by Cam-bridge University includes work on the Mollusca (Barker et al.,2010; Hunt et al., 2011, this vol).

2. Grotte des Pigeons, Taforalt

Current research at Taforalt, in commonwith that at Haua Fteah,seeks to employ relatively small-scale excavation, accompanied bya battery of new techniques for dating, environmental and palae-oeconomic research to significantly advance understanding of siteswhich for decades have represented key archaeological sequences.

Grotte des Pigeons is a large dolomitic limestone cave located ataround 720 m asl in the Beni Snassen mountain range in north eastMorocco (34� 480 3800 N, 2� 240 3000 W; Fig. 1) approximately 40 kmfrom the Mediterranean Sea. It is situated in limestone cliffs ina narrow V-shaped valley of the river Zegzel at a point wherea minor stream valley meets the river, near the village of Taforalt.The cave is well above the river and two thirds of the way up thevalley side with steep, but relatively easy, access to the valley floorand the uplands above. The valley represents a natural routewayfrom the coastal plain to the north through the Beni Snassen. About3 kmwest of the site there are extensive panoramas across the low-lying coastal plain to the Mediterranean. Immediately west of thecave, water debouches from small caves and fissures in the lime-stone to create waterfalls which form a series of small ponds on thevalley floor. The cave is situated within the ’thermo-Mediterranean‘biozone with vegetation dominated by Tetraclinis articulata, Pinushalepensis and evergreen oaks (Wengler and Vernet, 1992;Bouzouggar et al., 2007). Climatically the area has a mean annualrainfall of 400 mm and a mean annual temperature of around 18 �C(Courty and Vallverdu, 2001, 471).

The archaeological sequence at Taforalt (Figs. 2 and 3) is charac-terised by twodistinct units, the grey series and theyellowseries. Thegrey series (Munsell 10YR5/1 dry) is the upper unit, a 3e4 m thicksequence of deposits which are midden-like in appearance andcontain large quantities of ash, fire-cracked rocks, animal bone, plantremains, land snail shells and lithics, much of which shows evidencefor having been burnt. Although initially homogenous in appearancesome hearth features and layers offire-cracked rock are visible.Muchof this Iberomaurusian material was removed during excavations inthe 1950s, although some remains in sections on the south side of thecave where these deposits are more fully developed. Radiocarbondates obtainedon charcoal (Table 1 and Fig. 2) indicate the grey seriesdates from around 12,495 � 50 BP (OxA-13478) to 10,935 � 40 BP(OxA-13479) (Bouzouggar et al., 2008). A large number of burialswere recovered fromthe grey series layers by Ferembach et al. (1962).Further burials in Sector 10 at the rear of the cave (Fig. 1) have beenexcavated as partof the current project. At the topof the sequence thegrey series has been truncated and is capped with a thin patchymortarfloor related toprevioususeof thecaveasagunemplacement.Consequently there is no Holocene stratigraphy in the cave.

The yellow series deposits underlie those of the grey series andare of strongly contrasting appearance. The sediments areyellowish red in colour (Munsell 5YR5/8 dry) and are well stratifiedwith laminar and lenticular bedding and well separated occupationlayers. The upper layers of the yellow series in Sector 8 also containevidence for Iberomaurusian occupation with the oldest dateobtained for this period being 17,515 � 75 BP (OxA-16273) (Bartonet al., 2007; Bouzouggar et al., 2008). The yellow series depositscontinue for a considerable depth below this with layers in Sector 2(Fig. 1) producing evidence for Aterian occupation. Of particularsignificance from these layers are the large number of Nassariusgibbosulus shell beads which have been recovered from layersdated by OSL and TL dating to 82,500 BP (Bouzouggar et al., 2007).These beads represent some of the earliest expressively symbolicbehaviour and are therefore crucial to an understanding of theantiquity of earlymodern humans in North Africa. The yellow seriesdeposits continue below these Aterian levels with the base of thesequence not having been reached.

2.1. Early work at the site

The archaeological significance of Taforalt has been known sinceits discovery by Pinchon in 1908. Excavations were initially carriedout by Ruhlman from 1944 to1947 (Fig. 1) with themost significant,and largest scale, excavation being undertaken by Roche between

Fig. 1. Plan of excavations at Grotte des Pigeons (Taforalt) also showing site location and local topography (graphics M. Athanson).

V.K. Taylor et al. / Quaternary International 244 (2011) 5e14 7

1950 and 1955 (Roche, 1963) who recorded both Aterian andIberomaurusian occupations. He excavated a large part of theIberomaurusian necropolis which was divided into two areas(Necropolis I and II), the skeletons from which were analysed byFerembach et al. (1962) who calculated a total of around 180individuals, making it one of the largest Epipalaeolithic cemeteriesin North Africa. Of this work only the Iberomaurusian layers havebeen published in detail (Roche,1963). Excavations in the late 1970sand early 1980s included further work on the archaeology andgeology (Roche, 1976; Raynal, 1979), and analysis of the yellowseries sediments, particularly focusing on the use of micromor-phology (Courty et al., 1989; Courty and Vallverdu, 2001;Woodward and Goldberg, 2001).

2.2. Current work at the site

A new phase of excavations began in 2003 as part of the project‘The Middle-Upper Palaeolithic of Northern Morocco and contactswith southern Europe’. One of the key issues underpinning thiswork is the question of whether there was any contact, or move-ment, of Palaeolithic populations across the Strait of Gibraltar(Barton et al., 2001). The chronological record of Palaeolithicoccupation in Morocco is at present poorly understood. Numerouscave sites and rockshelters in the country have been identified ashaving archaeological potential, some of which have now beeninvestigated further. Key sites for this project include Hattab II(Barton et al., 2008), Kehf el Hammar, Ghar Cahal, Rhafas and

Fig. 2. Sector 8 stratigraphy showing location of mollusc column and associatedradiocarbon dates. The transition from the yellow to grey series is represented bya step in the sequence indicated by an arrow.

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Taforalt (Bouzouggar et al., 2008). A number of other importantsites in the region are also being investigated as part of a collabo-rative German-Moroccan project (Mikdad and Eiwanger, 2000;Linstädter, 2003, 2008; Nami, 2007).

Within the Taforalt larger project is the Cemeteries and SedentismProject which is entirely focused on the Iberomaurusian levels. Many

Fig. 3. View inwards from the right side of the mouth of the cave showing exposuresof the grey series (sector 8) to the left.

of the key cave sites mentioned above, including Taforalt, demon-strate a major sedimentary boundary associated with a potentialchange in subsistence patterns at around 13,000 BP. In someinstances, as at Taforalt, this transition is also associated with largescale cemeteries. The deposits which occur after this transition arecharacterised by significant quantities of land snails, plant remains,animal bones, lithics and fire-cracked rocks. From a dietary perspec-tive the project aims to assess how the land snails accumulated andwhether they represent food refuse. If so, how did they contribute tothe diet as a whole? This also involves assessing the contribution ofplant remains, vertebrate and other dietary resources. The project isalso investigating changes in lithic technology across the transition.Work on Iberomaurusian burials in Sector 10 (Fig. 1) includesassessment of the health and nutritional behaviour and mortuarypractices of the population at Taforalt compared to other sites in theMaghreb, including later examples from both hunter-gatherers andpastoralists. The final aim of the project is to identify whether thesemidden layers represent an increasingly sedentary population andwhether this is linked to a broadening of the spectrum of dietaryresources. It is hoped to establish whether changes in subsistencestrategy and the associated behavioural changes can be correlatedwith the dramatic climatic oscillations which characterise the latePleistocene and early Holocene.

3. Land snail analysis

Land snail analysis is focused on two main topics: possiblecontributions to Iberomaurusian diet and subsistence and palae-oenvironmental reconstruction. As previously discussed, one of thekey questions addressed by the project is whether the majorsediment boundary represented by the onset of thick deposits ofash, molluscs and heat-fractured stone around 13,000 BP, repre-sents a shift in subsistence patterns. A similar pattern is suggestedin other sites in North Eastern Morocco such as Kehf el Hammar(Barton et al., 2005), Rhafas and Ifri N’Ammar (Moser, 2003; Namiand Moser, 2010). The presence of these land snail middens acrossthe circum-Mediterranean has been suggested by Lubell (2004a,b)to represent the large scale consumption of terrestrial molluscs.

The molluscs recovered during Roche’s excavations (1963) wereidentified but not quantified. The new study aims to producea quantified, high resolution mollusc sequence which will enableidentification of any changes inmolluscan fauna between the yellowand grey series and within the grey series itself. This will enableassessment of the origin of the Mollusca and their association withlithic, faunal and botanical assemblages. A geoarchaeologicalapproach is being adopted to investigate the origins of sedimentsand formation processes of the Iberomaurusian deposits includingsedimentary analysis of grain size and micromorphology.

Table 1Sector 8 radiocarbon dates as shown in Fig. 2 (after Bouzouggar et al., 2008 andBarton et al., 2007). Calibrated AMS dates corrected using IntCal09 calibration curve(Reimer et al., 2009) and the OxCal 4.0 calibration software (Bronk Ramsey, 2001).

Unit Lab code Charcoal species AMS date BP(Uncalibrated)

AMS cal BP(95.4%)

Grey OxA�13479 Pinus sp. 10,935 � 40 12,942e12,649OxA�13480 Pinus sp. 10,950 � 45 13,051e12,646OxA�13516 Pinus sp. 11,065 � 45 13,108e12,747OxA�13517 Dicotyledonous 10,990 � 45 13,070e12,684OxA�13477 Conifer 12,675 � 50 15,447e14,606OxA�13478 Juniperus/Tetraclinus 12,495 � 50 15,057e14,201

Yellow OxA�13519 Juniperus/Tetraclinus 13,905 � 55 17,179e16,785OxA�13518 Quercus sp. 17,085 � 65 20,505e19,955OxA�13607 Taxus sp. 22,200 � 90 27,501e26,173OxA�13556 Quercus sp. 25,700 � 40 30,923e30,289

V.K. Taylor et al. / Quaternary International 244 (2011) 5e14 9

The molluscan evidence will contribute to investigation ofchanges in climate, environment and human activity at Taforaltduring the late Pleistocene. One of the most common uses of landsnails from archaeological sites is as an indicator of past environ-ments based upon the fact many species are habitat specific (Evans,1972; Goodfriend, 1991, 1992; Davies, 2008). If molluscs werecollected as food then a key issue is the extent to which thoseselected reflect local ecology andwhether collectionwas close to thecave, or more distant. If the shells were collected by people, thena study of today’smolluscan ecology in the areamay contribute to anunderstanding of the contexts in which collection took place facili-tating comparison with past and present assemblages.

An important line of research is investigation of palaeoclimaticchange. The period covered by the Iberomaurusian occupation ofthe Maghreb, approximately 20,000e10,000 BP is one of dramaticclimate change characterised by sharp oscillations in temperatureand rainfall (COHMAP members, 1988; Wengler and Vernet, 1992;Penaud et al., 2010). A fundamental question is therefore howhumans adapted and reacted to such variability in climate, in somecases in a short enough timescale to be experienced within anindividual’s lifetime. Reconstructing the climate and environmentof the area surrounding Taforalt allows reconstruction of theavailability of key resources such as plant foods, animals and birds,fuel and water. Any change in diet and subsistence, such as thatsuggested for the transition from the yellow to grey series, can thenbe analysed within the wider context of resource availability. It isalso important to consider how changes in climate may haveaffected sediment supply within cave sites. Reconstruction ofclimate and environment around the time of the transition from theyellow to grey series provides an understanding of site formationprocesses and therefore evaluate the role of climatic and environ-mental processes in this dramatic change in sedimentation. Inorder to investigate this rapid climate change at a local level,analysis of the oxygen isotopes in the land snail shells will beundertaken. This will enable identification of any fluctuations inpalaeotemperature and linking these to any of the well-knownlarge scale climatic events of this period, such as Heinrich Event 1and the Younger Dryas (Bell andWalker, 2005; Penaud et al., 2010).

A series of radiocarbon dates on charcoal from both the grey andyellow series has already been published (Fig. 2 and Table 1)(Barton et al., 2007; Bouzouggar et al., 2008). A further sequence ofdates is being obtained as well as Uranium series dates on land snailshells from both the grey and the yellow series.

4. Sampling and processing

Samples were obtained by excavating a mollusc column inSector 8 (Figs. 1, 2 and 3) during the 2009 and 2010 field seasons.This column was 20 cm wide, 4.80 m long and covered the entiregrey series and the uppermost 84 cm of the yellow series. Sampleswere taken down to the lowest levels which produced Iber-omaurusian artefacts and just into the top of the underlying stra-tigraphy characterised by Middle Palaeolithic artefacts. TheIberomaurusian-Middle Palaeolithic transition lies within theyellow series about 0.6 m from its top, so the Iberomaurusianoccurs in the top 0.6 m of the yellow series and the whole of thegrey series. Excavation of the column followed natural stratigraphywhere possible and resulted in the collection of 111 samples formolluscan analysis, each of whichwas sub-sampled for particle sizeand phytolith analysis. A minimum of 2 litres of sediment wascollected for each sample and processed by wet sieving in Moroccousing a minimum sieve size of 0.5 mm in order to retain allmolluscan material during the sieving process. The residue wasreturned to the University of Reading, where analytical work is inprocess.

5. Preliminary results

Although this paper focuses on the molluscan component it isimportant to note the range of other material recovered from thesamples. Most samples from the grey series contained significantquantities of rocks, knapped stone, animal bone, charcoal and plantmaterial in addition to the large number of mollusc shells. Much ofthis material showed signs of being burnt, particularly the animalbone, rocks and lithic artefacts. The plant material includes pinecone bracts which may represent the consumption of pine nuts orthe use of pine cones as fuel, something which will be investigatedfurther. Other important finds recovered during sieving includea decorated bone fragment and a dentalium bead. The yellow seriesdeposits contained less abundant cultural material of a narrowerrange, and plant material has yet to be identified in these layers.The frequency of burning is also significantly lower.

Fig. 4 shows the apical count for land snail shell samples sortedfrom the grey and yellow series. The upper grey series displays highnumbers of molluscs, averaging around 90 per litre of sediment.This decreases towards the base of the grey series to around 21 perlitre. The molluscan count in the yellow series currently averagesaround 18 apices per litre of sediment, and these frequencies aresimilar to those in the lower grey series suggesting continuityacross the sedimentary transition. Identification of species presentin the yellow and grey series is necessary to establish whether, ornot, this continuity in apical count reflects a continuity in speciespresent and therefore in the nature of the assemblages.

Initial results of the molluscan work show the grey series to becharacterised by low species diversity with almost all of themolluscan material being identifiable as Cornu cf aspersum, Dupo-tetia dupotetiana, Alabastrina alabastrites, Otala punctata or Theba sp(Fig. 5aee). Complete shells appear to be at a consistent stage ofmaturity, although it is important to note that a high percentage ofmaterial is in a fragmented state, possibly as a result of trampling.Although the species within the yellow series have yet to be fullyidentified, it is clear that the assemblage is more diverse in naturethan that of the grey series, containing different and smaller speciesunlikely to have been eaten. The exception is a small number of O.punctata which were visible in section and in layers dating toaround 60e80,000 BP in another sector of the cave. It is thereforeevident that, despite the apparent continuity in apical count acrossthe transition from the yellow to the grey series, assessment of thespecies present actually indicates a marked change in assemblagecomposition.

6. Discussion

Preliminary analysis of the molluscan assemblage providesa basis for evaluation of the various hypotheses which have beenput forward regarding Mediterranean terrestrial mollusc middens.

6.1. Natural Accumulation

Accumulations of shells have been identified as the result ofnatural processes or predation by other animals. Coulognes (1961)has also noted large accumulations of Cepaea nemoralis, seekingrefuge from inclement weather in dolmens in France. Yom-Tov(1970) has identified shell middens which have formed from theaccumulation of prey by rodents. Miracle has observed at Pupi�cinaCave (Istria) that “small land snails are most frequent at the sitewhen evidence of human occupation is sparsest” (Miracle, 1995,183), thus identifying the accumulation of natural death assem-blages when the site is unoccupied. The presence of significantquantities of land snails in archaeologically sterile layers is anindicator of natural accumulation. However, the grey series

Fig. 4. Preliminary analysis of mollusc numbers at Taforalt, in the grey series and the upper part of the yellow series.

V.K. Taylor et al. / Quaternary International 244 (2011) 5e1410

deposits at Taforalt are rich in cultural material making naturalaccumulation unlikely.

Another possible explanation for land snail accumulations is theoccupancy of damp sheltered cave sites by Mollusca, particularlythose with a carnivorous diet, plants being sparse in caves. Tinycarnivorous species characterise the rock rubble habitats of caves

and limestone screes (Evans and Jones, 1973). The carnivorousspecies Rumina decollata is very infrequent at Taforalt in the Iber-omaurusian levels, having only been identified in unstratifiedmaterial from the grey series.

Natural accumulation would be expected to produce a largerrange of species at varying stages of maturity. Bahn (1983) has

Fig. 5. Mollusca from Taforalt: (a) Theba sp, (b) Cornu cf aspersum, (c) Alabastrina alabastrites, (d) Dupotetia dupotetiana (burnt and unburnt), (e) Otala punctata from the grey seriessediments (a-e scale cm) (f) Modern A. alabastrites in microcaves in the limestone cliff face about 50m to the west of the cave entrance (scale cm) (g) .Ditto (scale 5 cm).

V.K. Taylor et al. / Quaternary International 244 (2011) 5e14 11

shown for the Pyreneanmiddens it is unusual for species-restrictedassemblages to occur naturally, the main species C. nemoralis nor-mally occurring with between 15 and 60 other species (Puisségur,1979, 121). If the Taforalt deposits had accumulated naturally,a variety of species of varying sizes would be seen, as in the yellowseries. This accords with Miracle’s (1995) observation of small landsnails being associated with sparse or episodic accumulation as isobserved in the yellow series.

The grey series deposits display a very different pattern sug-gesting an alternative method of accumulation. There are largenumbers of an extremely narrow range of five species, all ata similar stage inmaturity and of a size suitable for consumption. Sofar less than 1% of snails recovered from the grey series are not oneof themain five large species identified and it seems highly unlikelythat the accumulation was natural.

1 For a discussion of the effects of burning and heat on land snail shell, see Rizneret al., 2009.

6.2. Anthropogenic Accumulation

It is clear there is a difference in accumulation between theyellow and the grey series deposits. The molluscs in the yellowseries meet the criteria identified for an assemblage which is atleast partly natural. In contrast, the molluscs in the grey series donot fit this pattern, requiring consideration of alternatives such ascollection and consumption by humans. The grey series is

characterised by restricted species diversity with almost all speciespresent being at a similar stage of maturity and suitable forconsumption. These species are not known to occur together insuch large quantities, therefore implying that they had beenspecifically selected and brought to the cave. It is particularlynotable that the numbers of molluscs present increases part waythrough the sequence, reflecting a possible period of more inten-sive collection in the upper grey series (Fig. 4). This raises inter-esting questions about the onset of large scale land snail collectionand consumption and suggests that exploitation was not constantover time as was initially postulated based on the superficiallyhomogenous appearance of the grey series deposits.

Another indicator for anthropogenic accumulation is the asso-ciation of land snails with cultural material. The grey series depositsat Taforalt are rich in anthropogenic material including charcoaland large quantities of ash, both of which could be associated withcookingmolluscs. Significant numbers of shells are affected by heat,and a few were clearly associated with burnt hearth areas1. Theevidence from Taforalt is therefore in agreement with Lubell(2004b, 4) who states that for the land snail middens in the

V.K. Taylor et al. / Quaternary International 244 (2011) 5e1412

Maghreb: “the sheer quantities of shells found, and their consistentassociation with cultural materials, argues incontrovertibly fortheir anthropogenic origin and in most cases, for their interpreta-tion as food debris”. The working hypothesis is that molluscs werecollected and consumed at Taforalt during the Iberomaurusianperiod, significantly from the start of the grey series around13,000 BP with evidence for marked intensification part waythrough the grey series. Present evidence suggests that the topmetre of the yellow series assemblage accumulated largely natu-rally but with a few large shells of Otala indicating occasional small-scale use of Mollusca for food.

6.3. Snail farming

If the Iberomaurusian groups using Taforalt were collecting,preparing and consuming large numbers of terrestrial molluscs, thisraises the issue of how such large numberswere obtained. One of theproposals put forward is that the land snail middens of the latePleistocene and early Holocene represent snail farms (Bahn, 1983;Fernández-Armesto, 2001). Fernández-Armesto (2001) believesthat the size and scale of these middens must indicate systematicfood production and that it is only “scholarly inhibitions” whichprevent other researchers subscribing to this thesis (2001: 65).

An alternative hypothesis is that semi-herding or ‘part life-cyclefarming’ (Elmslie, 1982, 49) may have taken place. This hypothesishas been applied to a number of sites in the Pyrenees with Bahnstating that the site of Poeymaü presents “a potent argument infavour of a semi-herding of molluscs, a symbiosis where manprovided the snails with a habitat combining lime, humidity,shelter and rich food” (1982, 49).

Fernández-Armesto (2001) suggests that digging small enclo-sure ditches would have contained snails. Balout (1955) suggeststhat ash could have been as a barrier to snail movement. Bahn(1983) later suggested that the large amounts of ash commonlyfound in these shell middens might indicate the restriction of snailmovement within the cave and therefore some form of snailfarming. This ash can be more plausibly explained as the by-product of hearth related activities attested by abundant heat-fractured stones. If large numbers of snails were being cooked atthese sites, possibly by steaming between layers of vegetation onheated rocks (D. Lubell, 2011, pers. comm), then a correspondinglyhigh volume of ash would be expected. If, as these authors havesupposed, the presence of ash creates a desiccated environmentinimical to molluscan life, and this hypothesis will be testedexperimentally, then the occurrence of so much ash may explainwhy, in the grey series, there appears to be an almost entirelyanthropogenic, i.e. collected, assemblage. Subject to furtherexperimental testing, the presence of ash makes the hypothesis ofsnail farming less, rather than more, likely.

No evidence has been found at Taforalt to support the hypothesisof farming. Indeed the concept of farming, in this context, seemsanachronistic. If Iberomaurusian communities did contribute toincreasing the abundance, or spatial concentration, of mollusanresources then it is farmore likely to have been as a result of practicesakin to cultivation than farming. Communities which do not practisefarming can create conditions underwhich certain taxamay flourish,as is well-documented among the hunter-gatherers of the Americannorth-west coast both in relation to the encouragement of a range ofplant resources (Turner,1995) andmarineMollusca (Williams, 2006).Another example is the growing evidence for the manipulation ofvegetation by fire among Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in Britain(Simmons, 1996; Bell, 2007) and hunter-gatherer communities inAustralia (Kohen, 1995). It should be stressed, however, that there isno direct evidence for human strategies to increase or localise theabundance of molluscan resources at Taforalt and that as stated by

Lubell (2004a, 12) land snails may actually have been “an intensivelyharvested, rather than cultivated resource”. Molluscs are a nutritiousfood which could have provided an important source of protein,particularly in times when other resources were less available(Miracle, 1995) or when large amounts of food were required, forexample at large communal meals (for a review of the nutritionalvalue of snails see Lubell, 2004a; Appendix 1). Issues of snailhusbandry, together with the possible social significance and role ofland molluscs, highlight the value of gathering ethnohistoricalevidence for their role among contemporary Mediterranean pop-ulations (Galanidou and Chaloglou, 2011 this vol).

6.4. Modern mollusc survey

An initial survey of the local molluscan fauna offers a possibleexplanation of how large numbers of molluscs were collected.Molluscs are mainly found in small fissures and small-scale, cave-like hollows 2e10 cm in diameter (Fig. 5f and g) in the limestoneand on vegetated limestone surfaces surrounding the cave.Concentrations of the species A. alabastrites within these recessesmay have provided a convenient way to collect significant quanti-ties of molluscs in the past. It is also known that Cernuella aestivatesin large groups, again providing a potential source for collectingquantities of molluscs. Assuming that these species displayedsimilar behaviours in the past it is likely that people were able toexploit this resource and obtain molluscs in the large quantitiesdemonstrated in the grey series. The existence of natural locationsclose to the cave which are favourable for the collection of abun-dant snails is amore plausible explanation for their abundance thansnail farming. It may also be that, under the differing climaticregime of the late Pleistocene, molluscs were naturally moreabundant during certain episodes and this possibility will beexamined in the context of the palaeoclimatic investigations.

7. Future work

This paper presents the preliminary results after the first year ofa three year research project. Further samples are being sorted andthose from the yellow series fully sorted and identified. Uraniumseries dating of molluscan material is currently underway and thiswill facilitate comparison with the existing sequence of radio-carbon dates from charcoal and additional radiocarbon dates fromthe adjacent lithics study column in Sector 8. This should refine thedating of the onset of more intensive mollusc use part way throughthe grey series. Isotopic analysis of molluscanmaterial and analysesof sedimentarymicromorphology and grain sizewill be undertakenin order to enhance the understanding of climate, vegetation andsite formation processes during the Iberomaurusian period.

8. Conclusions

This paper, in commonwithHaua Fteah (Hunt et al., 2011 this vol)demonstrates the value of revisiting classic archaeological sequencesusing targeted small-scale excavation and applying a range of newtechniques for scientific dating, environmental and palaeoeconomicanalysis. Recent work by Barton et al. (2007) and Bouzouggar et al.(2008) on the chronology of the deposits has already demonstratedthe importance of redating sequences, providing a new set of radio-carbon dates for the Iberomaurusian levels which are much moresecure than those obtained onbulkedmaterial by Roche in the 1960’s(Roche, 1963) and which, when combined with data from othercontemporary sites, suggest a later date for the Iberomaurusianoccupation of Morocco than previously thought.

The work of the Cemeteries and Sedentism project at Taforalthas adopted this approach to investigate the apparent change in

V.K. Taylor et al. / Quaternary International 244 (2011) 5e14 13

subsistence and mortuary practices noted around 13,000 BP.Molluscan analysis demonstrates a distinct change in speciesbetween the yellow and grey series which correlates with themarked sedimentary change. In the yellow series the Mollusca areconsidered to represent a predominantly natural accumulation.Even so, a small number of probably collected shells have beenobserved in the sections, notably large O. punctata. These evenoccur much lower in the sequence in Aterian levels where a fewlarge specimens are found in thin ash lenses. Thus, very small-scalemollusc exploitation is attested from around 80,000 BP witha marked intensification at the transition to the grey series ca.13,000 BP and further intensification in collection part way throughthe grey series at a date sometime between 13,000 and 11,000 BPwhich will be more precisely determined by the ongoing datingprogramme. Interestingly, preliminary observations indicate thatthe lithic artefacts differ between the grey and yellow seriesdeposits, with the proliferation of microburin technique and theoccurrence of La Mouillah points and Ouchtata bladelets in theyellow series. There is also a less marked change recorded withinthe grey series, with increases in pointed and straight backed bla-delets. It is tempting to speculate that the chronological variationrecorded in the exploitation of molluscs at the site, may also beassociated with broader cultural changes.

Modern molluscan analysis has raised the possibility thatcertain species, particularly A. alabastrites, may have been easilycollected in significant numbers from natural pockets in thelimestone surrounding the site. The abundant associatedevidence for the use of a range of faunal and botanical resourcesin the grey series indicates that the Mollusca are simply the mostvisible waste from a much more varied diet. Similar conclusionshave been drawn whenever detailed sieving and analytical pro-grammes have been carried out on the marine mollusc middensof Atlantic Europe; Denmark and other parts of the world (Bailey,1975; Mellars, 1987; Andersen, 2000). Thus, despite superficialappearances, in the Iberomaurusian at Taforalt land snails werenot a staple food but one component of a broad spectrum ofdietary resources. This broadening of the dietary spectrum is seenin many parts of the world in the Upper Palaeolithic (Barker,2006) and an association with sedentism has often beenargued. Intensification and sedentism is seen in some areaseventually to lay the foundations for domestication. It is hopedthat when complete this work will not only advance the under-standing of Iberomaurusian subsistence but will also providea framework for investigating other land snail middens and willbuild on the work of Lubell (2004a,b) in alerting the widerresearch community to the archaeological potential of theseimportant sites.

Acknowledgements

Funding for the Cemeteries and Sedentism project is providedby the Leverhulme Trust. Thanks are due to Ingrid Brack whoundertook fieldwork, sampling and sieving in the 2009 seasonand to the Moroccan National Institute of Archaeological Sciencesand Heritage (INSAP) who assisted us greatly with all aspects ofwork in Morocco. The assistance and support of many of the othermembers of the Taforalt team, particularly those directly involvedin the Cemeteries and Sedentism project, is also greatly appre-ciated. Thanks also to our fellow delegates at the Gastropodssession at MESO 2010, Santander for a stimulating series ofpapers and discussion at a very timely stage in our research.Particular thanks are due to Nick Barton and David Lubell fororganising the session. We would also like to thank MichaelAthanson for his help in producing Fig. 1 and Dr Mary Seddon forhelpful advice.

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