Occurrence of whale barnacles in Nerja Cave (Málaga, southern Spain): Indirect evidence of whale consumption by humans in the Upper Magdalenian

• Published in: Quaternary International
• Main Authors: Álvarez Fernández, Esteban, Carriol, René-Pierre, Jordá Pardo, Jesús F., Aura Tortosa, J. Emili, Avezuela Aristu, Bárbara, Carrión Marco, Yolanda, García Guinea, Javier, Morales Pérez, Juan Vicente, Badal, Ernestina, Maestro González, Adolfo, Pérez Jordà, Guillem, Pérez Ripoll, Manuel, Rodrigo García, María José, Scarff, James E., Villalba Currás, María Paz, Wood, Rachel
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: Paleolític; Antarctic; Antarc*; Sea ice; Southern Right Whale
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10550/36217; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2013.01.014

A total of 167 plates of two whale barnacle species (Tubicinella majorLamarck, 1802 and Cetopirus complanatusMörch, 1853) have been found in the Upper Magdalenian layers of Nerja Cave, Mina Chamber (Maro, Málaga, southern Spain). This is the first occurrence of these species in a prehistoric site. Both species are specific to the southern right whale Eubalena australis, today endemic in the Southern Hemisphere. Because of Antarctic sea-ice expansion during the Last Glacial Period, these whales could have migrated to the Northern Hemisphere, and reached southern Spain. Whale barnacles indicate that maritime-oriented forager human groups found stranded whales on the coast and, because of the size and weight of the large bones, transported only certain pieces (skin, blubber and meat) to the caves where they were consumed.