Whilst modern avian distributions in Scandinavia are well studied, how past events and processes have shaped modern bird communities in the region remains poorly known. This is mainly due to the fact that work on post-glacial avian assemblages has been done mostly from an archaeological perspective, and on a site-specific basis. Therefore, in order to understand the history of bird species in Scandinavia, there is a clear need to collate data on the past occurrences and abundance of birds within the region. Here we present data on the presence of bird species within 21 Norwegian Medieval (1030-1537 CE) assemblages. Despite climatic fluctuations and the rise of urban centres, our re-examination and compilation of bird bone assemblages from Medieval Norway found no evidence to suggest that the Medieval bird fauna differed from the modern one. The most common birds in Medieval assemblages are Galliformes. In urban sites these are mostly domestic fowl, whereas on rural sites wild species are dominant. Our data indicates an introduction of domestic fowl in the early Medieval period and a slightly delayed introduction of domestic geese, with both species becoming more abundant during the mid to late Medieval period. This appears to be later than other Scandinavian countries. Interestingly, species that are now ubiquitous in urban areas, such as pigeons, corvids and gulls are mostly absent from Medieval urban centres. In addition, we found a bias towards the use of female Accipiter gentilis in falconry, while Falco species may have been exported. This is the first time that data on past avian occurrences for any period are reviewed and collated for Norway. In addition, our work highlights the importance of birds and bird exploitation in Medieval Norway.

Seabirds are one of the most at-risk groups, with many species in decline. In Scandinavia, seabirds are at a heightened risk of extinction due to accelerated global warming. Norway is home to significant portion of the European Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica) populations, but Norwegian populations have declined significantly during the last decades. In this paper we use biometric data from modern and archaeological F. arctica specimens to investigate patterns in body size variation over time of this iconic species. We aimed to set out a baseline for our archaeological comparison by firstly investigating whether modern subspecies of F. arctica are reflected in the osteological characters and are enough to distinguish subspecies from the bones alone. We then investigated if archaeological remains of F. arctica differ in size from the modern subspecies. Our results show that the subspecies Fratercula arctica naumanni was distinctly larger than the other subspecies. However, Fratercula arctica arctica and Fratercula arctica grabae were difficult to separate based on size. This generally supports ornithological observations. Post-Medieval F. arctica bones from Måsøy were similar to modern F. a. arctica populations. The mid-Holocene remains from Dollsteinhola overlaps with the modern size ranges of F. a. arctica and F. a. grabae but are generally shorter and more robust. Dollsteinhola is located close to the borders of the modern breeding ranges of both F. a. arctica and F. a. grabae. We consider it therefore likely that given the mid-Holocene climatic oscillations, breeding ranges of the two subspecies shifted north or south accordingly. However, this does not explain the different proportions of the Dollsteinhola specimens. Our data provide the first evidence for shifting distributions in ancient Atlantic Puffins and represent the first osteological analysis of Fratercula arctica subspecies.

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Domesticated chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) are a dominant part of the global human diet. Although the early domestication history of this species remains disputed, Mainland Southeast Asia (MSEA) is assumed to have been the initial domestication center. The eastward spread of chickens into Island Southeast Asia (ISEA) and the Pacific is typically attributed to human‐mediated dispersals. Chicken remains are relatively common at Pacific Neolithic sites but are extremely rare in the archaeological records of MSEA and ISEA. Therefore, the exact routes and timing of the human‐mediated spread of chickens from their native range in MSEA into the Pacific remain questions of interest. Here, we present the earliest evidence of Gallus on the Indonesian island of Flores at Liang Bua. This site has yielded an extensive stratigraphic sequence that spans from ~190,000 calendar years (ka) ago until the present and includes dense accumulations of faunal remains. Twelve bones from the cave's Holocene deposits have been identified as Gallus. The oldest remains, a right and left coracoid, were each directly dated to ~2,250 calibrated radiocarbon years before present (ka cal. BP), whereas the youngest Gallus elements are ~0.3 ka old. Although wild Green Junglefowl (Gallus varius) and Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus) are found on Flores today, the absence of either of these species in deposits at Liang Bua older than ~2.5 ka as well as the size and shape of the oldest coracoids suggests that these remains likely represent domesticated G. gallus. This is the first evidence for domesticated chickens in the Neolithic of Flores and the first directly dated Gallus remains in Wallacea. The absence of chickens in the fossil record of ISEA suggests that Red Junglefowl (and perhaps Green Junglefowl also) reached Wallacea via human‐mediated dispersal(s) at least ~2.25 ka cal. BP.

Changing climate and growing human impacts are resulting in globally rising temperatures and the widespread loss of habitats. How species will adapt to these changes is not well understood. The Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) can be found across the Holarctic but is coming under more intense pressure in many places. Studies of recent populations in Finland and Denmark have shown a marked decline in body size of Northern Goshawks over the past century. Here we investigate long-term changes to Norwegian populations of Northern Goshawk by including material from the Middle Ages and Viking Age. We measured 240 skeletons of modern Northern Goshawks from Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland, and 89 Medieval Goshawk bones. Our results show that Norwegian and Swedish female Goshawks have decreased in size over the past century, whilst males showed little decline. Medieval female Goshawks were larger than contemporary females. The Viking Age specimens showed little difference to modern populations but appeared smaller than specimens from the Medieval period. A decline in forest habitats and a concomitant shift towards smaller prey likely drove a shift to smaller body size in Northern Goshawks. Our study shows that significant body size changes in birds can occur over relatively short time spans in response to environmental factors, and that these effects can sometimes differ between sexes.