Neanderthal retouched shell tools and Quina economic and technical strategies: An integrated behaviour

Abstract Neanderthal shell tools have been discovered in several coastal sites along the Mediterranean Sea in the past 50 years. These technological artefacts have rarely been investigated, and only typological considerations have been published. Recent studies have investigated retouched shell tools at Grotta del Cavallo with a new multidisciplinary methodology, and they have found that the use of Callista chione valves was not related to subsistence strategies but rather to the search for a specific cutting edge, reconstructing the whole chaine operatoire . In this paper, we focus on some technical aspects of shell tool production that have not been investigated to date: (i) the technical reaction of the shell to retouching on the basis of its microstructural and physical properties, (ii) the identification of technical gestures used during production and (iii) the economic value of shell technology from a technical perspective. The experiments were conducted along with the analysis of the whole lithic assemblage and the economic, technological and technical characteristics of the lithic techno-complex are presented. The results of shell analysis and shell integration within the stone tool techno-economical strategies clearly show that at Grotta del Cavallo, this Neanderthal technical adaptation to coastal resources could be considered an expression of the Quina system. The data presented in this study are discussed in relation to Middle Palaeolithic behavioural variability, and we emphasise four primary, strictly interdependent concepts: mobility strategies, flexibility of the Quina techno-economic system, social organisation and cognitive features of human groups. The Quina shell technology is the result of a complex modality of adaptation to environmental diversity, and it is related to the Neanderthal capacity for innovation. In this paper, we discuss how and why the innovation of shell technology might have occurred within the Quina system. The data presented in this study represent the first investigation of the technical modalities of Neanderthal adaptation to the seashore.