Stable Isotope Evidence for Late Medieval (14th–15th C) Origins of the Eastern Baltic Cod (Gadus morhua) Fishery

Abstract

Although recent historical ecology studies have extended quantitative knowledge of eastern Baltic cod (Gadus morhua) exploitation back as far as the 16th century, the historical origin of the modern fishery remains obscure. Widespread archaeological evidence for cod consumption around the eastern Baltic littoral emerges around the 13th century, three centuries before systematic documentation, but it is not clear whether this represents (1) development of a substantial eastern Baltic cod fishery, or (2) large-scale importation of preserved cod from elsewhere. To distinguish between these hypotheses we use stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis to determine likely catch regions of 74 cod vertebrae and cleithra from 19 Baltic archaeological sites dated from the 8th to the 16th centuries. δ13C and δ15N signatures for six possible catch regions were established using a larger sample of archaeological cod cranial bones (n = 249). The data strongly support the second hypothesis, revealing widespread importation of cod during the 13th to 14th centuries, most of it probably from Arctic Norway. By the 15th century, however, eastern Baltic cod dominate within our sample, indicating the development of a substantial late medieval fishery. Potential human impact on cod stocks in the eastern Baltic must thus be taken into account for at least the last 600 years.

Ancient DNA reveals the Arctic origin of Viking Age cod from Haithabu, Germany

“…For instance, in medieval and postmedieval Europe, the onset of urbanized market economies has been linked to the growth of longrange trade by historical and archaeological evidence (3,4). The exploitation of increasingly distant fish populations has proven to be one of the clearest demonstrations of this ecological globalization (5)(6)(7)(8)(9). Fisheries around the coastal regions of the Lofoten Archipelago in Norway have a particularly long history; in this region, the regular arrival of seasonal spawning aggregations of Atlantic cod-migrating southwards from the Arctic Barents Sea (10, 11)-coincides with those climatic conditions ideal for the freeze drying and long-term preservation of cod without the use of expensive salt.…”

“…Fourth, the cod finds from Haithabu occurred alongside species such as saithe (Pollachius virens), ling (Molva molva), and halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus), which is more consistent with fishing in the North Sea or North Atlantic than in the Kattegat or Baltic Sea (38)(39)(40). Finally, isotope analyses using bone collagen (8,41) or bone carbonate (9) suggest that the Haithabu cod were not locally caught, although their origin remains ambiguous. This previous research pinpoints the fish bones from Haithabu as ideal material with which to test the hypothesis of Viking Age transport of cod from northern Norway by using genomic methods.…”

“…This previous research pinpoints the fish bones from Haithabu as ideal material with which to test the hypothesis of Viking Age transport of cod from northern Norway by using genomic methods. Without definitive interpretation of the Haithabu cod, the earliest secure historical and archaeological evidence for dried cod imports to towns around the North and Baltic Seas dates to the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries (7,8,37,42,43). Fishing in Arctic Norway occurred long before the Viking Age (44), but most arguments for pre-12th-century longrange exports have had to rely on historical sources such as Icelandic sagas that postdate the events that they nominally described (43,45).…”

Stable-Isotope Bone Chemistry and Human/Animal Interactions in Historical Archaeology

“…For instance, stable carbon-, nitrogen-, and sulfurisotope analyses of cod bone collagen have been used to reconstruct the expansion of the historical European salt-fish trade in the North Atlantic (Barrett et al 2008(Barrett et al , 2011Orton et al 2011;Nehlich, Barrett, and Richards 2013). Stable carbon-and oxygen-isotope analyses of tooth enamel apatite can be used to assess seasonality of birth and slaughter of livestock (Balasse et al 2003;Towers et al 2011;Frémondeau et al 2012).…”

Tracking Change in the Illinois River using Stable Isotopes in Modern and Ancient Fishes

“…Stable isotopes from archaeological bone have been used by archaeologists to reconstruct paleodiets of ancient people and animals (Ambrose, 1990). Barrett et al (2008) and Orton et al (2011) used collagen from cod bones found in medieaval trash heaps in central Europe to trace the fisheries that supported this long-distance trade. They found the source of fish to be the southern North Sea using nitrogen and carbon isotopes.…”