New Project Member Rosa Arniz-Mateos
Rosa is an archaeomalacologist whose research focuses on how prehistoric human groups exploited coastal marine resources.
Rosa Arniz-Mateos has just joined our research group as a postdoctoral researcher. Rosa is an archaeomalacologist whose research focuses on how prehistoric human groups exploited coastal marine resources, studying past climate conditions and their impact on human lifeways. Her specialization includes various methods such as stable oxygen isotopes (δ18O), Mg/Ca ratios, and biometrical analysis, among others. She recently completed her PhD dissertation at the University of Cantabria (Northern Spain) entitled “Intensification processes in the exploitation of marine resources during the Mesolithic on the Cantabrian coast: diachronic changes and causes.”
If you are interested about their research during her PhD, you can visit the article "Living in the shore: changes in coastal resource intensification during the Mesolithic in northern Iberia". This article combines information from different Mesolithic shell middens sites along the Cantabrian coast to determine the intensification processes of marine resource exploitation during the Mesolithic (10,700-6,700 cal BP) and identify their causes. The study employs a multidisciplinary approach, including traditional archaeomalacological analysis to evaluate the species representation, biometric analysis to identify or not size selection, trace an evolution of identified species and to determine the collection areas for different species. Besides, Bayesian modelling is used to establish chronology and different phases of occupations.