Mesolithic fish and fishermen of the Lower Danube (Iron Gates)

Abstract

This study analyzes the importance of fishing as part of the survival strategies of the Mesolithic and Early Neolithic groups of the Danube Iron Gates. It considers the species of fish present in the archaeological record of the Iron Gates sites, ecology, and possible fishing tools and techniques, in order to determine if the quantities caught during favorable seasons could have also insured food reserves for the winter. The author concludes that the presence of large species like sturgeon may be misleading with regard to how intensively these fish were caught, and that besides common species such as carp and catfish, the bulk of the harvest was mainly of smaller species that had fewer chances of being well preserved in the archaeological record.

Last hunters–first farmers: new insight into subsistence strategies in the Central Balkans through multi-isotopic analysis

“…Individuals from the Late Mesolithic site of Schela Cladovei, located on the left bank of the Danube, had similar δ 13 C and δ 15 N values (Bonsall et al 1997) to those presented in this study. Stable isotope results are in accordance with archaeozoological data on fish remains in the Danube Gorges (Clason 1980;Bartosiewicz et al 1995Bartosiewicz et al , 2001Bartosiewicz et al , 2008Dinu 2010;Dimitrijević et al 2016;Živaljević 2017), suggesting that its inhabitants exploited a wide range of freshwater stationary, potamodromous as well as anadromous species, which were migrating from the Black Sea each year to spawn in the Danube. Apart from fish, Mesolithic humans also had a high input of red deer, roe deer and wild boar meat in their diet.…”

“…Bökönyi 1972Bökönyi , 1978Dimitrijević 2000Dimitrijević , 2008, and the river provided a reliable source of large fish species (e.g. freshwater carp and catfish, and sturgeon migrating from Black Sea) (Clason 1980;Bartosiewicz et al 1995Bartosiewicz et al , 2001Bartosiewicz et al , 2008Dinu 2010;Borić 2011;Živaljević 2017). On the Serbian side of the Danube Gorges, archaeological sites are located in two different landscape settings.…”

“…However, this hypothesis is not favoured as our new isotopic dataset indicates simultaneous isotopic modification of both carbon and nitrogen ratios (Online Resource 4). The hypothesis that fish (including anadromous and potamodromous species) became an important food source during the Late Mesolithic is attractive from a human ecology perspective, given the fact that fishing played a crucial role in the formation of the Danube Gorges prehistoric settlements, as it has been suggested in numerous publications, ever since the discovery of the sites (Jovanović 1969;Srejović 1969Srejović , 1972Bartosiewicz et al 1995;Radovanović 1996Radovanović , 1997Bartosiewicz et al 2001;Borić 2001;Jovanović 2008;Dinu 2010;Živaljević 2017). The development of more permanent settlements during the Late Mesolithic could be therefore related to a kind of fishing that allowed humans to catch more species of anadromous and potamodromous fish.…”

“…Most Starčevo communities living outside of the Gorges included fewer aquatic resources in their diet, which could be partially linked to the environment. Although some of those sites had access to the river, the Danube Gorges sites had excellent riverine positions and were located near many whirlpools which would have aided in specialised fishing (Bartosiewicz et al 2008;Dinu 2010;Živaljević 2017) and influenced the differences in dietary strategies of Early Neolithic communities in the Central Balkans.…”

Ancient DNA Research in Maritime and Underwater Archaeology: Pitfalls, Promise, and Future Directions

“…Evidence for human migration events by coastal navigation continues to build (Pedersen et al, 2016), giving us every reason to believe that some of the most important sites for understanding the peopling of the Americas, Australia, and Polynesia are currently underwater. Given the richness of marine resources, and the propensity for Mesolithic communities to include fish as a major part of their diet (Alexandru Dinu, 2010;Mcquade and O'Donnell, 2007;Moundrea-Agrafioti, 2003;Perri et al, 2018), it is more than likely that a significant number of Mesolithic sites are now underwater due to rising sea levels. This has already been demonstrated at Doggerland (Gaffney et al, 2009(Gaffney et al, , 2007.…”