Veinticinco años después de que nuestro recientemente fallecido colega, Emiliano Jiménez Fuentes, publicara un trabajo sobre las tortugas recuperadas en el yacimiento arqueológico del Paleolítico Medio de Gruta Nova da Columbeira (Bombarral, Portugal), se ha publicado un nuevo estudio desde una perspectiva sistemática y arqueozoológica.
Este nuevo trabajo, que forma parte del volumen especial homenaje a Emiliano que está siendo publicado en la revista The Anatomical Record, ha permitido identificar la presencia de dos especies de quelonios, uno terrestre (Chersine hermanni) y un galápago (Emys orbicularis). Además, en él se aborda la hipótesis del consumo humano de estas tortugas, estudiando las posibles alteraciones producidas durante su cocinado. Asimismo, la identificación de marcas de carnívoros ha llevado a la conclusión de que las tortugas fueron consumidas por ambos agentes.
El resumen del trabajo es el siguiente:
Twenty-five years after the preliminary systematic study of the turtle remains (Agrionemys (=Testudo) hermanni and Emys or Mauremys) recovered from Gruta Nova da Columbeira site (Bombarral, Portugal), the results of its review from systematic and archaeozoological perspectives are presented here. Tortoise remains studies from pre-Upper Palaeolithic sites worldwide have provided relevant data confirming its role as a dietary supply for hominid populations and informing about their ability to adapt to local environmental resources. The Iberian Peninsula record in general, and specifically, that from Portugal, have yielded substantial evidence to this highly debated topic. In this sense, turtle remains recovered in Gruta Nova da Columbeira site, discovered in the 1960s and the main ensemble chronologically ascribed to the MIS-5 (87.1 ± 6.3 ka BP), offer new information to this debate. Its detailed restudy, has allowed us the identification, justification, and figuration of remains attributed to two Iberian turtle taxa, Chersine hermanni and Emys orbicularis. Therefore, this update on the data concerning the turtle record from Gruta Nova da Columbeira provides new justified taxonomic evidence regarding the Iberian turtle taxa distribution during the Upper Pleistocene. The previously suggested hypothesis about the tortoise human consumption on the site is here evaluated through the development of an archaeozoological and taphonomical analysis, as well as considering the potential documentation of anthropic alterations (e.g., burning, cutmarks, percussion marks). In this sense, this hypothesis is confirmed. In addition, the presence of carnivore activity evidence indicates the engagement of other agents in the deposit formation.
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Más información:
- Referencia: Boneta Jiménez, I., Cardoso, J. L., Pérez-García, A. (2023). The turtles from the middle Paleolithic site of Gruta Nova da Columbeira (Bombarral, Portugal): Update through an archaeozoological perspective. The Anatomical Record, 1–15. doi: 10.1002/ar.25229
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