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Fish otoliths and their relevance to archaeology: an analysis of medieval, post-medieval and recent material of plaice, cod and haddock from the North Sea
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The growth increments were investigated of late medieval, post-medieval and modern otoliths of plaice, cod and haddock from the North Sea. Thin-sectioned otoliths were used to age all the analysed individuals and to reconstruct their growth patterns. In addition, fish lengths of the archaeological specimens were calculated after the relation between otolith width and fish length was established using modern material. The age and fish length distribution, and the growth patterns obtained on the archaeological material allow inferences about fish trade, market strategies and consumption behaviour on producer sites (coastal sites) and consumer sites. Differences in growth patterns were observed between the archaeological and recent populations of the three demersal species analysed which may be related to a change in fishing pressure through time. However, diachronic changes in species distribution, temperature, food availability and selection of catch in function of market strategies may have played a role as well. Age and body size data allow some inferences about the exploited fishing grounds, but the growth patterns are of limited use in this respect.
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RBINS Staff Publications
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Fish otoliths from the Early and Middle Miocene of the Penedès (Catalunya, Spain)
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RBINS Staff Publications 2017
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Fish otoliths from the Rupelian (Early Oligocene) of Bad Freienwalde (NE Germany)
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RBINS Staff Publications 2016
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Fish processing and consumption at the ancient city of Chersonesos (Crimean peninsula, Ukraine)
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RBINS Staff Publications
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Fish remains from a latrine in Colonia Ulpia Traiana
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RBINS Staff Publications
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Fish remains from archaeological sites as indicators of former trade connections in the Eastern Mediterranean
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The archaeozoological evidence that is available for the trade of fish in the Eastern Mediterranean area is summarized. This overview covers the Chalcolithic to the Crusader period and is based on data from 76 sites compiled from the literature and from as yet unpublished material under study by the authors. Remains of fish from the Nile, the Mediterranean and the Red Sea are regularly found in archaeological sites that are located outside the natural distribution of the fish species and thus indicate that they were transported as items of trade or exchange. Evidence for trade of Anatolian freshwater fish is also documented. The fish bone finds are discussed according to their provenance and the regions to which they were transported, and an attempt is made, on the basis of archaeological, artefactual and - if available - textual evidence, to understand the diachronic changes in the distribution within the broader economic and political contexts of the areas involved in the production and the consumption of fish.
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Fish remains from Bronze Age to Byzantine levels
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RBINS Staff Publications
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Fish remains from the late Predynastic site of Maadi, Egypt
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RBINS Staff Publications
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Fish remains from three Upper Palaeolithic cave deposits in southern Belgium
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Fish remains are described that were excavated in the 19th century from Trou de Chaleux, Trou du Frontal and Trou du Sureau, three Upper Palaeolithic cave sites in the Meuse basin, Belgium. After a critical assessment of possible taphonomic agents acting in caves, it is concluded that the material — consisting mainly of medium-sized and large salmonids, burbot and cyprinids — is anthropogenic. Using present-day behavioural information on the identified fish species it is hypothesised that the exploited fish were an abundant and predictable food resource during the spawning season, when they occurred en masse in shallow, marginal waters. Finally the possible fishing techniques and the dietary role of freshwater fish in Palaeolithic times are discussed.
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RBINS Staff Publications
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Fishing at the Late Islamic settlement in Kharā’ib al-Dasht, Failaka Island, Kuwait
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The Kharā’ib al-Dasht settlement, located on the north-eastern coast of the island of Failaka in Kuwait, has been excavated systematically since 2013 by the Kuwaiti-Polish Archaeological Mission. The investigated area yielded remains dated to the Late Islamic period, from the late seventeenth to the nineteenth century. In the northernmost part of the site, a fish processing area was uncovered, while the remains of residential structures (houses 1 and 2), as well as a mosque, were discovered in the eastern part of the site. Concentrations of fireplaces, hearths and ovens were discovered inside the houses and courtyards of what seems to be the centre of the settlement as well as from the periphery of the site. Fishing was evidenced not only by the presence of fish bones but also by recovered fishing technologies, including the remains of stone fish traps that were discovered in the coastal waters near to the site. The excavations yielded 12,182 bones of marine fishes. Twenty eight families are represented, including six families of cartilaginous fishes. Ariidae bones were most numerous followed by Haemulidae,Sciaenidae and Carcharhinidae. The analysis of the assemblage shows that fishing could have been of great importance to the inhabitants of the settlement. Moreover, we attest different patterns in the fish assemblages between the two different parts of the village. The fish processing area can be seen as a workplace, while the daily activity took place in the village. These differences can also be used to shed light on the fishing techniques these people used.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2021
