Communicated by Erik Trinkaus, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, June 16, 2008 (received for review April 22, 2008)
Two coastal sites in Gibraltar, Vanguard and Gorham's Caves, located at Governor's Beach on the eastern side of the Rock, are especially relevant to the study of Neanderthals. Vanguard Cave provides evidence of marine food supply (mollusks, seal, dolphin, and fish). Further evidence of marine mammal remains was also found in the occupation levels at Gorham's Cave associated with Upper Paleolithic and Mousterian technologies [Finlayson C, et al. (2006) Nature 443:850–853]. The stratigraphic sequence of Gibraltar sites allows us to compare behaviors and subsistence strategies of Neanderthals during the Middle Paleolithic observed at Vanguard and Gorham's Cave sites. This evidence suggests that such use of marine resources was not a rare behavior and represents focused visits to the coast and estuaries.
Author contributions: C.B.S., J.C.F., R.N.E.B., Y.F.-J., and F.G.-P. designed research; C.B.S., J.C.F., R.N.E.B., Y.F.-J., and I.C. performed research; Y.F.-J., I.C., R.C.S., E.J.R., A.P.C., J.R.-V., and J.A.R.-C. analyzed data; and C.B.S., J.C.F., Y.F.-J., and I.C. wrote the paper.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
See Commentary on page 14241.
