Marine resources in the Mesolithic and Neolithic at the Grotta Dell'Uzzo (Sicily) : evidence from isotope analyses of marine shells

Oxygen isotopes in shell carbonate samples from the marine rocky-shore intertidal gastropod Monodonta turbinata (Born) are investigated in both modern analogue specimens and in archaeological specimens from the Grotta dell'Uzzo (Sicily). Variations in shell edge values of δ18O in living specimens collected monthly over two years are closely correlated with monthly seawater temperatures measured at the time of collection, showing that the species can be used for palaeoseasonality studies. Analyses of shell edge δ18O values in archaeological specimens, from Mesolithic through to early Neolithic phases at the Grotta dell'Uzzo, enabled the inference of various seasons of collection of shellfish and how such seasonality varies between the different phases of occupation. Interesting similarities and differences exist between the seasons of marine shellfish exploitation and the seasons inferred from the vertebrate zooarchaeological assemblages. A major inference drawn from the analyses and discussion is that the exploitation of all marine resources (fish and shellfish) increased in the later Mesolithic and early Neolithic periods.