Biometric analysis of the stalked barnacle Pollicipes pollicipes, at a Holocene archaeological site in Jaizkibel (Basque Country, northern Spain).

In recent decades the biometric analysis of shellfish resources (mainly marine mollusc shells) has been used by many researchers to support the hypothesis of their more intensive human use and to estimate the increase in human populations. This paper studies the plates of the crustacean Pollicipes pollicipes found in three Holocene archaeological levels at the Jaizkibel 3 shell-midden (Gipuzkoa, Basque Country, Northern Spain). First, by analysing a sample from each level, the Minimum Number of Individuals (MNI) was calculated from the Number of Remains (NR). Second, by using one of the plates (right scutum), the biometry of P. pollicipes in the three levels was reconstructed. The measurements are compared with a sample of P. pollicipes, collected a few kilometres away from the site of J3. The results indicate that the barnacles were not overexploited by the human groups. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]