AbstractPeople who exploit marine resources choose among them according to technological, economic, and social considerations. Prehistoric selectivity in their exploitation has often been postulated, but can be established only by comparing the archaeological record with an estimate of the kinds and quantities available in the environments of the time. Only then can those factors be considered that might have influenced their choice, a subject which is the domain of the archaeologist.In Franchthi Cave, a thick Upper Paleolithic through Neolithic sequence (ca. 23,000–5000 yrs B.P.) of occupational deposits has been excavated. As might be expected at a site now only a few meters from the sea, this sequence has yielded ample evidence for the use of marine resources, though only from ca. 11,000 B.P. onward. Moreover, the marine molluscan record exhibits drastic changes in composition over time, implying either major variation in availability or selective collecting.A marine geophysical study supplemented by an examination of present shore environments in the area has permitted the reconstruction of the changing coastal environments since ca. 20,000 B.P., thus providing an estimate of the probably available shellfish resources. Comparison with the molluscan assemblages found in the cave demonstrates that only during the latest Paleolithic and most of the Neolithic were the collected shellfish reasonably representative of what should have been available in the area. At other times the inhabitants made highly specialized, seemingly idiosyncratic choices from the spectrum of available specie
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