The consumption of molluscs in the first farming societies: the Neolithic settlement of La Draga (northeast of the Iberian Peninsula)

The consumption of wild resources, including molluscs, continued in the first farming societies together with the consumption of domestic resources. Remains of continental and marine molluscs have been found at the Neolithic site of La Draga (north-eastern Iberian Peninsula), dated in 5320–4800 cal BC, and about 35 or 40 km away from the Mediterranean coast (nowadays and when the site was occupied). The contact between the site and the coast has already been attested due to the presence of other remains like mineral raw materials that come from the coastal ranges. As the presence of continental molluscs must be due to natural processes, the marine molluscs have been studied more exhaustively. The most common species is Mytilus galloprovincialis, followed by Glycymeris sp. and Spondylus sp. These species were used in different ways, as food but also as tools and raw material for making ornaments. The presence of Mytilus galloprovincialis is not very common on the other Mediterranean contemporaneous sites where, in general, species from sandy bottoms are more abundant.All research has been funded by Projects HAR2009-13494-C02-01 and 02, HAR2012-38838-C02-01 and 02, HAR2014-60081-R, HAR2016-76534-C2-1 and 2 of the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness. The archaeological excavation was funded by the Departament de Cultura (Generalitat de Catalunya) (2014/100822). E.V.-C., A.P., R.P. and X.T. are members of the research Group AGREST (SGR 2014 1169) and M.S. is member of the research Group GRAMPO (2014 SGR 1248), both supported by AGAUR-Generalitat de Catalunya. The authors would like to thank Ajuntament de Banyoles, the Centre d’Arqueologia Subaquàtica, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spanish National Research Council–IMF and the Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya for supporting the work at La Draga site, and to the students, researchers and professionals who have participated in the excavation since the 1990s. We also thank Núria Morera and Igor Bogdanovic for making Fig. 2. Finally, we would like to thank Catherine Dupont and another anonymous reviewer for their comments and suggestions that significantly improved the quality of the manuscript. E.V.-C. is a beneficiary of a Beatriu de Pinós postdoctoral fellowship (AGAUR-Generalitat de Catalunya). The English translation of the original text written in Spanish was by Peter Smith.Peer reviewe