On the left the combustion structure found in Spain, on the right the snail shells
It had been assumed so far that snails had entered human nutrition no earlier than 10,000 years ago, but a recent discovery archaeological in Spain it would seem to force scholars to backdate the event a lot.
At the Cova de la Barriada site in fact, inside prehistoric combustion structures and next to various animal remains roasted, shells of land snails were found dating back no less than 30,000 years ago; this is, for the moment, the oldest known evidence of the fact that these small and nice molluscs were used as a food resource already in such a remote age (Photo from:www.therevolution.it).