Meta-analysis of Queensland’s coastal Indigenous fisheries: Examining the archaeological evidence for geographic and temporal patterning

Lambrides, Ariana B. J.; McNiven, Ian J.; Ulm, Sean

doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.102057

Cited by 9 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…Nonetheless, speculation about the extent to which locally observed sustainability or unsustainability characterizes the wider pre-contact Caribbean is premature. Instead, there is a real need to evaluate this issue at the archipelagic level through meta-analyses integrating regional datasets, following the recent example of Grouard et al [9] for the northern Lesser Antilles and of archaeologists in regions beyond the Caribbean [77,78].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainable Indigenous Fishing in the Pre-Contact Caribbean: Evidence and Critical Considerations from Carriacou, Grenada

Giovas

2021

Sustainability

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Multiple studies reveal pre-1492 anthropogenic impacts on Caribbean fisheries that are consistent with overfishing, including changes in targeted prey, shifts in marine habitats exploited, and decreases in the average body size of taxa. At the Indigenous Caribbean village of Sabazan (AD 400–1400) on Carriacou, Lesser Antilles, post-AD 800 declines in fishing, increased mollusk collection, and changes in resource patch emphasis accord with the archaeological correlates of resource depression predicted by foraging theory models from behavioral ecology. Here, I apply foraging theory logic and abundance indices incorporating body size and fish habitat to test the predictions of expanded diet breadth, declining prey body size, and shifts to more distant fishing patches that are typically associated with overfishing. Results uphold a significant decrease in overall fishing, which may be due to habitat change associated with the Medieval Warm Period. Indices of fish size and resource patch use do not meet foraging theory expectations for resource depression, however. Instead, they suggest an absence of resource depression in the Sabazan fishery and at least 600 years of sustainable fishing. I review similar findings for other Caribbean archaeological sites with either negative evidence for fisheries’ declines or quantitatively demonstrated sustainable fishing. These sites collectively serve as a critical reminder of the heterogeneous trajectories of Indigenous social–ecological systems in the pre-contact Caribbean and the need for meta-level analyses of the region’s ancient fisheries. I discuss the application of the sustainability concept in archaeological studies of fishing and conclude that a more critical, explicit approach to defining and measuring sustainability in ancient fisheries is needed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainable Indigenous Fishing in the Pre-Contact Caribbean: Evidence and Critical Considerations from Carriacou, Grenada

Giovas

2021

Sustainability

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“…These outcomes may suggest, (1) that benthic habitat structure and fish species composition of the reefs adjacent to these sites were more similar in the past than they are today (assuming people fished in relative proximity to the sites), and/or (2) the important role of cultural preference on species selection and size (e.g. Lambrides et al ., 2019; Rogers & Weisler, 2021; Weisler & McNiven, 2016; Weisler & Rogers, 2021), whereby a similar range of culturally preferred species were being selected for consumption across sites.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing foraging variability on small islands in Manu‘a (American Samoa) during the first millennium BC

Lambrides

Weisler

Clark

et al. 2021

Archaeology in Oceania

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Small islands are important model systems for examining the role of people in shaping novel environments and modifying resources through time. Here we report on the vertebrate faunal assemblages recovered from two sites on Ofu and Olosega islands (American Samoa), which were occupied only a few centuries after the initial settlement of the islands. We assess forager decision-making both locally and regionally as well as changing subsistence regimes. Our results suggest foraging efforts were focused on the marine environment, particularly fish, but with concomitant evidence for interactions with terrestrial habitats (e.g. seabirds) including the introduction of commensal species (i.e. red junglefowl and Pacific rat). Notably we documented a high degree of similarity between the fish species reported archaeologically and those targeted by modern subsistence fishers in the region, which is despite the occurrence of wide scale coastal landscape changes over the past several thousand years. These preliminary outcomes may suggest fish resources have remained stable through initial occupation to the present-day, but future zooarchaeological research is required to comprehensively evaluate the sustainability of the marine fishery over the past several millennia.

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“…These schools can move across large areas of the reef in a day as they graze on benthic algae and coral (Marshall 1965;Randall et al 1997). Here we report the first archaeological record of green humphead parrotfish (Bolbometopon muricatum) exploitation from a Queensland coastal archaeological site (see Lambrides et al 2019). B. muricatum are the largest species of parrotfish growing to 130 cm (commonly 70 cm) in length, feeding in small aggregations on benthic algae and coral during the day, and sleeping at night in groups in caves or other sheltered areas.…”

Section: Vertebrate Remains Fishmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changing use of Lizard Island over the past 4000 years and implications for understanding Indigenous offshore island use on the Great Barrier Reef

Lambrides

McNiven

Aird

et al. 2020

QAR

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Archaeological records documenting the timing and use of northern Great Barrier Reef offshore islands by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples throughout the Holocene are limited when compared to the central and southern extents of the region. Excavations on Lizard Island, located 33 km from Cape Flattery on the mainland, provide high resolution evidence for periodic, yet sustained offshore island use over the past 4000 years, with focused exploitation of diverse marine resources and manufacture of quartz artefacts. An increase in island use occurs from around 2250 years ago, at a time when a hiatus or reduction in offshore island occupation has been documented for other Great Barrier Reef islands, but concurrent with demographic expansion across Torres Strait to the north. Archaeological evidence from Lizard Island provides a previously undocumented occupation pattern associated with Great Barrier Reef late Holocene island use. We suggest this trajectory of Lizard Island occupation was underwritten by its place within the Coral Sea Cultural Interaction Sphere, which may highlight its significance both locally and regionally across this vast seascape.

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Meta-analysis of Queensland’s coastal Indigenous fisheries: Examining the archaeological evidence for geographic and temporal patterning

Cited by 9 publications

References 60 publications

Sustainable Indigenous Fishing in the Pre-Contact Caribbean: Evidence and Critical Considerations from Carriacou, Grenada

Sustainable Indigenous Fishing in the Pre-Contact Caribbean: Evidence and Critical Considerations from Carriacou, Grenada

Assessing foraging variability on small islands in Manu‘a (American Samoa) during the first millennium BC

Changing use of Lizard Island over the past 4000 years and implications for understanding Indigenous offshore island use on the Great Barrier Reef

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