Accretionary Wedge #46 geology, Life and Civilization

The Accretionary Wedge #46 is  here with this call: accretionary-wedge-46-geology-life-and  .  The host is Cat at Knowledge Flocs.

Here is the actual call:
From these two observations sprang the topic for this month’s Accretionary Wedge; Geology, Life and Civilization. How has life or civilisation been affected by geology or how has geology been affected by life? Do not feel restricted to human-centric themes. This topic can range from global scale events such as the Great Oxidation Event to the fortunes of small mining communities. 

I just got back from a trip to Spain, Gibraltar and Morocco. Needless to say that's what been on my mind.  I've been trying to do a post on Gibraltar.   As I was working on that post I realize that Gibraltar is a perfect place for his call.

The east - northeast view of the Rock of Gibraltar

 The whole community lives there for one reason only and that is because the Rock of Gibraltar controls the entrance into the Mediterranean Sea. By watching the Strait of Gibraltar they know what Mediterranean states are trading with other countries in the world.  If they wanted to they can keep a country from getting supplies by sea.  It is a very stagetistic place to control especially back before airplanes were invented and most places depended on ships to get their goods that they couldn't manufacture themselves.
    The Rock is so important its always been a place were human's have inhabited.  They've even found Neanderthal skulls there.  Which doesn't surprise me since its a very temperate climate.  Being on the sea/ ocean there was always plenty of seafood available for them.

 Caves on the Eastern side of the Rock of Gibraltar

  The natural caves in the area provided good shelter. The caves also had enough water percolating through them to give them a fresh source of water.

Stalactites forming in Saint Michael's cave, Gibraltar

 There was enough vegetation growing on the western side so there was always a source of fuel for cooking things.  

Western side of the Rock of Gibraltar

Since the Rock was connected to Spain they could migrate to other areas to hunt for other food.

View from the Queens road at the bay of Gibraltar

 Yet by its nature it was easy to defend.  In other words you could always see when strangers were approaching and set traps for them if you needed to.
   Although out history its been an important place.  The ancients used to call it the Pillars of Hercules and it was considered the end of the world.  People just didn't go past them and hope to survive.  

  So now I'll just connect you to my posts on Gibraltar so you can see some of the things I'm talking about  Gibraltar, St. Michael's cave, Barbary Macaques (Monkeys)  Gibraltar by Sea .


That's it for this wedge.  Thank you Cat for hosting.