Shell middens and soil terraces as archives of human-littoral interactions since the first settlement of northwestern Tenerife, the Canary Islands

Shell middens on the coasts of the Canary Islands attest to past indigenous lifeways. However, their potential as records of local environmental conditions in coastal areas, where sediment deposits are rare, remains to be assessed. Here we use a multi-proxy approach (malacology, pollen, NPPs, phytoliths and microcharcoal quantification) in two shell middens and one associated soil terrace deposit in the coastal area of the Isla Baja (Buenavista del Norte, Tenerife), to show human-littoral interactions and coastal adaptations since the island’s first settlement. The archives, dated c. 200–1200 cal yr CE, show continuity in mollusc gathering strategies by indigenous communities through almost a millennium, focusing on two limpet species ( Patella crenata and P. ulyssiponensis ). Microfossils preserved in sediments within limpet shells inform of littoral vegetation shifts, including the local decline of thermophilous vegetation, such as Canarian palm ( Phoenix canariensis ), endemic shrub Justicia hyssopifolia and Euphorbia shrubs. These were substituted by coastal scrub and nitrophilous communities present today. We document negligible impact on mollusc size, which was previously documented and suggests a sustainable gathering strategy. We discuss the prospects and challenges of these coastal records to understand human-littoral interactions in Tenerife and point at the drivers of change during different stages of human settlement.