Tuesday, May 19, 2026

Neanderthals gathered shellfish using the same strategies as modern humans

Seasonal shellfish exploitation by Neanderthals 115,000 years ago

Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona

Lab — image:
Asier García-Escárzaga sampling specimens of the topshell Phorcus lineatus.
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Credit: ICTA-UAB

Neanderthal populations in southern Europe collected shellfish throughout the year, with a marked preference for the colder months, according to a new international study led by researchers from the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB), the IsoTOPIK Lab at the University of Burgos (UBU), and the Instituto Internacional de Investigaciones Prehistóricas de Cantabria at the University of Cantabria (UC).

The research, recently published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), shows that 115,000 years ago Neanderthal groups from Los Aviones Cave (Cartagena, Region of Murcia, Spain) were already consuming molluscs following a clearly seasonal pattern, particularly during the colder months of the year, from November to April.

For decades, the ability of Neanderthal populations to adapt to coastal environments and exploit marine resources in an organised manner has been the subject of intense debate in archaeology and human evolution. Traditionally, the regular consumption of shellfish and seasonal planning were considered traits exclusive to our species, Homo sapiens. However, this recent finding challenges that paradigm.

The study analysed marine mollusc remains (including small gastropods and limpets) recovered from Los Aviones Cave at an unprecedented resolution. The results show that these populations not only collected shellfish sporadically but also possessed a deep understanding of marine ecological cycles, anticipating by thousands of years behaviours later documented in modern humans from the region.

But how is it possible to determine the season in which a mollusc was consumed thousands of years ago? The key lies in the oxygen isotopic signal preserved in the carbonate of their shells, as the incorporation of heavier or lighter oxygen isotopes depends primarily on seawater temperature. “By reconstructing variation during shell growth, these values act as a prehistoric thermometer. This makes it possible to infer temperature changes as well as the exact time of year when a mollusc was collected, revealing new details about seasonal consumption patterns,” explains Asier García-Escárzaga, lead author of the study.

The results represent a milestone, as they are the first obtained for such early stages of human evolution. “They consumed marine resources throughout the year, but with a very clear preference for winter and autumn months. This pattern, very similar to that developed by more recent populations of modern humans in Europe and other regions, cannot be coincidental,” García-Escárzaga explains.

Winter collection coincides with periods when certain mollusc species have higher meat yield and improved sensory qualities (flavour and texture) due to their reproductive cycles. In addition, Neanderthal populations may have avoided collecting shellfish in summer to minimise health risks, such as the proliferation of toxic algae (red tides) or the rapid decomposition of shellfish due to heat, demonstrating a conscious and safe management of marine resources.

These findings suggest that Neanderthals and modern humans may have been more similar than previously thought. The study highlights that this behaviour reflects a diversified diet incorporating high-quality marine proteins (rich in Omega-3 and zinc), which are essential for brain development and reproductive health. “What we see at Los Aviones is a fully modern subsistence strategy,” the authors state. This discovery reinforces the idea that Neanderthals possessed cognitive, social and economic capacities comparable to our own, establishing the Iberian Peninsula as a key region for understanding the complexity of our closest ancestors.

Cueva de los Aviones, Cartagena, Region of Murcia, Spain.

Cueva de los Aviones, Cartagena, Region of Murcia, Spain, and specimens of limpets Patella ferruginea and gastropod Phorcus lineatus.

Asier García-Escárzaga in the laboratory.

Laboratory analysis of a specimen of the gastropod Phorcus turbinatus.

Specimen of the gastropod Phorcus lineatus

Specimens of limpets Patella ferruginea and gastropod Phorcus lineatus.

Credit

ICTA-UAB

Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI

10.1073/pnas.2531880123

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Animal tissue samples

Article Title

Seasonal shellfish exploitation by Neanderthals 115,000 years ago.

Even after adopting cattle, early herders kept hunting and gathering

University of British Columbia

Eastern Africa’s earliest livestock herders continued fishing, hunting and gathering for centuries after livestock were first brought to the region. The strategy may have helped them adapt to a harsh, changing climate.

The first pastoralists in eastern Africa didn’t suddenly switch to a diet centered only on cows, sheep and goats. Instead, they kept eating a wide mix of foods—fish, wild animals and plants—alongside livestock for at least 1,000 years.

That’s the key finding from new University of British Columbia-led research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It challenges a long‑held idea that once people begin producing their own food, they quickly narrow down what they eat.

“These early herders didn’t put all their eggs in one basket,” said geochemist Dr. Kendra Chritz, lead author and assistant professor at the University of British Columbia’s Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences. “They were keeping livestock, but they were also still fishing and hunting and gathering. Their diets were incredibly varied.”

Instead, early herders around Lake Turkana, in what is now northern Kenya, hedged their bets. Even with domesticated animals at hand, they still fished the lake, hunted wild game and gathered plant-based foods.

This matters because food choices shape health, culture and survival. For most of human history, people lived in environments that changed fast. Understanding how our ancestors coped can shed light on how we can adapt to climate stress today. It also reminds us that human diets were never one-size-fits-all. Variety was the norm, not the exception.

To figure this out, the team analyzed chemical clues locked in ancient human teeth. These clues come from stable isotopes—natural markers in teeth that reflect what a person ate while the tooth was forming. In simple terms, teeth keep a long-term record of diet, like a fossilized food diary.

The researchers studied remains from more than 100 people who lived between about 9,500 and 200 years ago in Kenya and Tanzania. They compared fishers and foragers, early herders and later herders who lived after livestock had become central to daily life.

The biggest surprise came from the earliest herders, who lived around 5,000 years ago. Their tooth records showed huge variation from person to person. Some ate foods linked to grass-eating animals, such as cattle. Others relied much more on fish or wild animals. Many did both.

“This level of diversity looks a lot like what we see among hunter-gatherers,” said Dr. Chritz.

“The isotopic record is fascinating because it can reveal individual to individual variation, even among fisher foragers who lived at a single site,” said study co-author Dr. Elisabeth Hildebrand, an associate professor of anthropology at Stony Brook University, who has co-directed excavations at several sites on the west side of Lake Turkana. “This kind of information goes beyond what one can discern from the animal bones left at a site after human consumption.”

Previous populations of fisher-foragers who lived in the region during a moist climate interval known as the African Humid Period also showed striking dietary variation.

“It’s clear that fisher-foragers followed dietary strategies that were situationally specific, or even personalized,” said Dr. Hildebrand. “And the first pastoralists maintained this very individualized approach, even as they began constructing communal cemeteries that involved large social networks connecting hundreds of people.”

The team also looked at residues left behind in ancient ceramic cooking pots. These fatty traces—basically food stains locked into clay—reveal what was cooked long ago. Some pots from early herders contained fats from animals, but only rarely showed signs of dairy foods like milk. That suggests livestock were important, but not the mainstay of meals.

“Ceramic residue data are an incredible archive—we can see not only what people were cooking, but also the general types of plants, for example, that animals were eating,” explained co-author Dr. Katherine Grillo, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Florida. “Now that we have isotopic data from ancient human teeth as well, we have a remarkably holistic body of evidence for both ancient environmental changes and the complicated cultural decisions people were making, perhaps in response, about food.”

The arrival of herding around Lake Turkana coincided with major environmental upheaval. The region was drying fast, causing lake levels to drop. Grasslands were slow to spread. Relying only on animals in that unstable setting may have been risky.

“Livestock are valuable, but they’re also vulnerable,” said Dr. Chritz. “If rainfall is unpredictable and pasture is scarce, having multiple food options can make the difference between getting by and going hungry.”

Only later—more than a thousand years after herding began—did diets narrow. Herders in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania eventually relied much more heavily on livestock products. Their tooth records show less variation, suggesting more specialized diets linked to more stable environments.

“This research is a testament to what becomes possible when Kenyan institutions are genuine partners in global science—not just sites of data collection, but active contributors to knowledge production,” said Dr. Emmanuel Ndiema, co-author on the study and head of Earth Sciences at the National Museums of Kenya. “The findings illuminate the ingenuity and resilience of the people who shaped this landscape thousands of years ago, and we are proud that Kenya’s heritage is at the centre of this story.”

Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI

10.1073/pnas.2532741123

Article Title

Isotopic evidence for dietary variability among eastern Africa’s first pastoralists

Article Publication Date

18-May-2026

New evidence reveals a millennium-old dingo was ritually buried, and cared for, along the Darling (Baaka) River in Australia

Dingo burial site reveals deep connections between the animals and local First Nations people in Australia

University of Sydney

Articulated skeleton — image:
The skeleton of the dingo (garli) in the soil.
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Credit: Photo by Dr Amy Way, Australian Museum

Dingo burial site near Broken Hill, Australia, reveals deep Barkindji connection as custodians work with archaeologists.

A millennium-old dingo deliberately buried by Barkindji ancestors along the Baaka, or Darling River, is offering rare insight into the depth of relationships between First Nations people and dingoes in western New South Wales, Australia.

The dingo appears to have been buried with great care in a purpose‑built midden, which continued to be tended and “fed” with river mussel shells for centuries, suggesting an ongoing relationship between the buried dingo and local people. This is believed to be the first time this “feeding” practice has been observed archaeologically anywhere in the world.

Project lead Dr Amy Way said: “While Barkindji people have always known about this cultural practice, this discovery is really powerful because it provides new details on the depth of that relationship between Barkindji people and dingoes.”

Dr Way, who holds a joint position as archaeologist at the Australian Museum and lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Sydney, has been working closely with Barkindji custodians over the past five years, dating and recording Barkindji cultural heritage in Kinchega National Park, New South Wales.

The dingo, known as garli in Barkindji language, was discovered in a road cutting, its skeleton emerging due to erosion at a site in Kinchega National Park. The site is near the Menindee Lakes along the Darling River, about 100 kilometres south‑east of Broken Hill. The male dingo was deliberately buried between 963-916 years ago within a riverside midden, as determined by radiocarbon dating.

“If garli were buried with the same care and respect we see for human ancestors, including mothers and elders, it tells us these animals were profoundly valued and loved,” Dr Way said.

Lead author and dingo specialist Dr Loukas Koungoulos from University of Western Australia said: “We know dingoes were tamed and lived alongside people as part of the community. This analysis details the depth of this relationship.”

First direct dating

Working alongside Barkindji custodians, archaeologists from the University of Sydney, the Australian Museum, the Australian National University and the University of Western Australia have revealed new evidence of millennium‑old ritual dingo burial practices along the Baaka.

The research includes the first direct dating of a dingo from the Baaka (Darling) River system, extending known burial traditions far beyond southeastern Australia.

Funded by the Australian Museum Foundation, the research is published in Australian Archaeology today.

Analysis of the garli’s remains shows that he was male and lived to an advanced age for a dingo (4-7 years). His teeth were heavily worn, suggesting a long life and extensive use, and he had healed traumatic injuries, including broken ribs and a broken lower leg, indicating prolonged care. The researchers believe the garli may have been out hunting and sustained severe injuries, consistent with being kicked by a kangaroo. He survived due to the care of the Barkindji people.

At the time of his death, the garli was buried in a midden that appears to have been newly initiated either shortly before or alongside the burial. The site continued to be added to for centuries after his death.

Barkindji Elders propose that these ongoing additions formed part of a “feeding” ritual that honoured garli as an ancestor and was maintained across multiple generations.

Evidence of long life and care

“What stands out about Garli is that he was old and well cared for,” Dr Koungoulos said.

“The healed injuries, worn teeth and careful burial tell us this animal lived a long life alongside people, and that his death was marked intentionally and with respect.”

Analysis of the garli provides new evidence that ancestral dingo burial practices extended further north and west along the Baaka system than previously documented.

“This confirms these traditions were much more widespread than we once thought,” Dr Koungoulos said. “Dingoes like this garli weren’t simply tolerated around camps. They were tamed, lived with people and were embedded in daily life.”

The burial was first identified by Barkindji Elder Uncle Badger Bates and National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) archaeologist Dan Witter several years ago as erosion exposed Garli’s remains. Excavation and analysis were carried out at the request of the Menindee Aboriginal Elders Council, which has guided the care of the garli throughout the research.

From the outset, Barkindji Elders emphasised the importance of ceremonial care. Earlier stages of the work included smoking ceremonies and earlier this year garli was returned to Country.

“This research reinforces what Barkindji people have always known,” Dr Way said. “These relationships with animals, ancestors and Country were deep, deliberate and ongoing.”

Media: note to please try and acknowledge:

Uncle Badger Bates who first identified the garli in 2000 with NPWS ranger Dan Witters.
The Menindee Aboriginal Elders Council for its cultural guidance and for its partnership in the field and beyond.
Dave Doyle (Barkindji custodian) and Barb Quayle (Barkindji Elder) who has partnered on this project since and co-excavated the garli.
National Parks and Wildlife Service (West Darling Area) for their support of the project.

Download photos, illustration of skeleton and video here. Paper on request.

Research: Author, N. et al ‘Garli: A millennium-old dingo burial on the Baaka (Darling River), Kinchega National Park, Menindee Lakes, Western New South Wales’ (Australian Archaeology 2026) DOI: 10.1080/03122417.2026.2650909

Declaration: This research was funded by the Australian Museum Foundation. The authors declare no competing interests. Open access funding provided by the University of Western Australia.

Layout of the bones unearthed.