Shellfish gathering in Cantabrian Spain during the Magdalenian: The cave of "Tito Bustillo" (Asturias, Northern Spain)

This paper presents the results obtained through the study of the marine malacological remains recovered during M.A. Garcia Guinea's and J.A. Moure Romanillo's archaeological excavations at Tito Bustillo Cave between 1970 and 1986. This research has been carried out mainly from the taxonomic, quantitative, taphonomic and biometric points of view. These include, at first, molluscs was gathered as food (Patella vulgata and Littorina littorea). Equally, a large number of shells of various species with no bromatological value were gathered and, in part, transformed into shellbeads. Finally, the information obtained has been compared with the results of other sites in Cantabrian Spain with levels dated in the Magdalenian period. (c) 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.