Prehistoric people in southern Spain wore tiny tubes that were already millions of years old when they picked them up. A 2025 study of tusk shells from two caves in Málaga asks why. The answer, so far, is that they chose very few kinds and ignored most of what was available. For Optional Paper I, it is a neat case of selection as evidence for symbolic behaviour.
Source: M. Carmen Lozano-Francisco et al., Quaternary 8(3), article 50 (15 September 2025). Full text read.
What the study examined
The authors reviewed fossil scaphopods, or tusk shells, from two sites in Málaga province: Cueva del Hoyo de la Mina and El Tesoro. They identified 37 fossil tusk shells used as ornaments, 26 from El Tesoro and 11 from Hoyo de la Mina. At El Tesoro they all belong to the Neolithic, while Hoyo de la Mina spans the Magdalenian to the Neolithic. The authors note that non-fossil tusk shells also occur at these sites, and they did not study them here.
All the pieces show human alteration and signs of use. Across eight Iberian sites from the Solutrean to the Bronze Age, the authors’ earlier work counted 258 fossil scaphopods.
Two species out of 24
The Neogene basins near the caves hold up to 24 species of tusk shell. Yet people used only two, Paradentalium sexangulum and Paradentalium inaequale. That mismatch is the study’s central point. If people had picked up whatever lay about, many species would show up. Their repeated choice of two suggests selection, and the authors link it to symbolic value.
Fossil age versus cultural age
The shells are Pliocene fossils, formed millions of years ago. The people who wore them lived much later, from the Magdalenian to the Neolithic. This gap matters in an answer. It shows that prehistoric people collected fossils, most likely from Pliocene beds on the Málaga coast, 10 to 20 km away. It does not show that they understood what a fossil was.
How far the evidence goes
Selection of two species is a firm observation. Aesthetic, symbolic or group-identity meanings are interpretations. Ritual use is possible, but it stays a suggestion. Treat “symbolic” as the likely reading, and say so.
Using it in UPSC Mains
Use the study when a question asks how archaeologists infer symbolic behaviour. Argue from the pattern: few species chosen from many, deliberate shaping, and use over a long span. Then compare it with cave art and burials. The 2026 Paper I question on the Magdalenian cultural tradition of Europe fits well, since Hoyo de la Mina has Magdalenian material. The 2019 question on Upper Palaeolithic traditions in Europe also applies.
More questions are under Prehistoric Archaeology PYQs. For another case on early symbolism, read the world’s oldest cave paintings. The syllabus map is in the Anthropology Optional complete guide.
Sources
Lozano-Francisco et al. (2025), Quaternary 8(3), 50, open access (MDPI).