A French fish event at the turn of the 10th century? Environment, economy, and ethnicity in maritime Flanders

Abstract

Recent excavations in Northern France shed light on new trends in fishing between the 9th and 11th centuries AD. This paper presents the data from two sites characterized by the fishing of large gadids. These finds are contextualized within the broader synchronic regional context and the diachronic local context from the pre‐Roman period to medieval times. From this analysis, it becomes apparent that the sites from Saint‐Georges‐sur‐l'Aa and the neighbouring site of Craywick present innovative fishing tackle and capture grounds along a new type of architecture of the buildings. The skeletal profiles of fish but also of cattle show that the excavated areas were activity zones where butchering was taking place rather than consumption. Some unusual finds such as chopped and burnt fin whale bones and also the manufacture of an object from a rib of whale underline the innovative character of the site. The period around the 10th century seems to be a turning point in the evolution of the occupation of the southern shore of the Channel and hints towards similar changes taking place in Great Britain within the scope of the so‐called fish event horizon.

Peptide mass fingerprinting of preserved collagen in archaeological fish bones for the identification of flatfish in European waters

“…Analysis through ZooMS resulted in species identifications for between 93.8% and 100% of the flatfish bones from each site, where only 10.9% to 15.7% of flatfish bones could be identified to species using traditional methods [7,8]. The ratio between P. platessa and P. flesus was similar for both ZooMS and the zooarchaeological report on Barreau Saint-George [8], while the amount of P. flesus found using ZooMS was higher than was reported from both York sites [7] (electronic supplementary material, table S10). Somewhat unexpectedly, the L. limanda and S. maximus that were identified through ZooMS were not reported in the previous morphological assessments.…”

“…From each context, one sample from each potentially different individual was selected, which was determined by the species identification, element representation and the estimated size of the individual fish. A substantial quantity of fish bones were uncovered at each of these sites which have been well reported in the literature: Oueslati [8] for Barreau Saint-George and Harland et al [7] for both York sites. Table 2 summarizes the reported flatfish remains from each of the three sites per taxon and period.…”

“…Given the small estimated size of these fish (see electronic supplementary material, information), this would suggest that the juvenile P. flesus were exploited in estuaries. As it is thought that flatfish were mostly targeted for local consumption in this site [8], a nearby exploitation of small flounder would be practical. Samples from P. platessa on the other hand, seem to have come from both small and larger individuals, which are more likely to have been captured in more coastal waters.…”

Elucidating historical fisheries’ networks in the Iberian Peninsula using stable isotopes

“…Traditionally, this approach has been used to examine relative changes in exploitation through time. From this source, it is evident that the exploitation of the European hake began in the Iberian Peninsula during the Late Iron Age (4th -3rd BCE) (Roselló Izquierdo and Morales Muñiz, 1991, 2018, 2019. The evidence shows that largescale exploitation of hake in Northwest Iberia started as early as the 8th century (i.e., Curiel Castle, Gijón) when hake is first recorded on an inland site.…”

“…Written sources refer to a burgeoning fishing industry in the Northern Christian kingdoms but mostly in the late half of the Middle Ages (i.e., from 11th CE) (Azevedo Pereira, 2012; Hoffmann, 2004; Morales‐Muñiz et al., 2009, 2011, 2018; Oueslati, 2019, Riera Melis, 2009) resulting in ca . 600‐800 years of documentary gap between Late Antiquity and the Late Middle Ages.…”