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44 - The Exploitation of Aquatic Resources during the Quaternary

from Part IV: - Palaeoecology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 May 2017

Yehouda Enzel
Affiliation:
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Ofer Bar-Yosef
Affiliation:
Harvard University, Massachusetts
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Summary

Aquatic resources exploited by humans in the past are composed of, besides water, various fauna and flora. Within these, fish and mollusc remains are the best preserved and most studied. These were obtained beginning in the Lower Palaeolithic in freshwater sources along the Jordan Valley. The Middle Palaeolithic signals the beginning of marine resource exploitation, mostly of mollusks, and mainly as ornamental artifacts. Marine mollusc consumption, as well as that of marine fish seems to begin in the Levant towards the end of the Pleistocene, post-LGM. The economic changes brought about by the onset of agriculture, and especially the development of exchange networks, brought about shifts in aquatic resources exploitation as well.
Type
Chapter
Information
Quaternary of the Levant
Environments, Climate Change, and Humans
, pp. 377 - 380
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2017

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