The invisible whale

Smith, Andrew B.; Kinahan, John

doi:10.1080/00438243.1984.9979918

Cited by 42 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 5 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Similarly, at Qajaa, two narwhal bones were found along with a single bone from an unidentified cetacean out of ∼15,000 bones (0.02%)8. The underrepresentation of whale bones in archaeological sites is a well-known phenomenon, typically ascribed to difficulties in transporting large carcasses from shore to the settlement3435 in combination with the higher value of blubber or meat compared with bones36. In the arctic, several studies have suggested that the fossil record may underestimate the importance of whales to ancient Arctic cultures459, however, the lack of suitable methods to detect remains of tissue like blubber and meat in sediment have prevented further investigations on this matter.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

DNA evidence of bowhead whale exploitation by Greenlandic Paleo-Inuit 4,000 years ago

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The demographic history of Greenland is characterized by recurrent migrations and extinctions since the first humans arrived 4,500 years ago. Our current understanding of these extinct cultures relies primarily on preserved fossils found in their archaeological deposits, which hold valuable information on past subsistence practices. However, some exploited taxa, though economically important, comprise only a small fraction of these sub-fossil assemblages. Here we reconstruct a comprehensive record of past subsistence economies in Greenland by sequencing ancient DNA from four well-described midden deposits. Our results confirm that the species found in the fossil record, like harp seal and ringed seal, were a vital part of Inuit subsistence, but also add a new dimension with evidence that caribou, walrus and whale species played a more prominent role for the survival of Paleo-Inuit cultures than previously reported. Most notably, we report evidence of bowhead whale exploitation by the Saqqaq culture 4,000 years ago.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As opposed to whale hunting, scavenging of stranded cetacean carcases was common in pre-historic times and has been described across multiple sites in Europe43, North America44 and Africa34. Hence, the relative abundance of bowhead whale DNA in the Saqqaq sediment layers could be explained by scavenging whale carcasses.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

DNA evidence of bowhead whale exploitation by Greenlandic Paleo-Inuit 4,000 years ago

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…McCartney, 1979b), other large baleen or sperm whales (e.g. Smith & Kinahan, 1984), mammoths (e.g. Klein, 1973;Soffer, 1985Soffer, , 1993Haynes, 1991;Abramova, 1993), and caribou (e.g.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Architectural Utility in the Formation of Zooarchaeological Whale Bone Assemblages

Savelle

1997

Journal of Archaeological Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…In the same sense, the earliest archaeological evidence of whale bones in various Mesolithic European sites, in many of the earliest North Pacific and Bering Sea and in pre-colonial sites in other parts of the world are traditionally viewed as result of the scavenging of stranded whales (Clark 1947;Smith and Kinahan 1984;Savelle 2005). Thus, the use of beached whales was already of some importance for medieval maritime societies (Clark 1947;Barthelmess 2003) as an Anglo-Saxon inscription on a whale bone casket from about 700 AD tells us.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The use of sperm whale ivory in Chalcolithic Portugal

Schuhmacher¹,

Banerjee²,

Dindorf³

et al. 2013

Trab. prehist.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Scientific analysis were undertaken within a research project concerning ivory objects from the Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age of the Iberian Peninsula. In several of the analyses of objects from Portuguese Estremadura, especially V-perforated buttons, we could detect for the first time the presence of sperm whale ivory. This highlights the advantage and necessity of scientific analysis of ivory. It also clearly demonstrates that not all ivory used was ivory from African or Asian elephants, but we also did find ivory from the extinct Elephas antiquus, the hippopotamus and in this case sperm-whale. Thus, already in the Chalcolithic the raw material provenience was highly diverse, which in the absence of scientific analysis might lead to an erroneous interpretation of prehistoric exchange networks. Different methods, including optical microscopy, measurement of hardness and specific gravity, Micro-Raman Spectroscopy, elemental analysis and Isotopic Ratio Mass Spectrometry have been applied. In this paper we present these methods and the results, and we discuss about the implications of these results for the reconstruction of prehistoric economy and life in this region. Finally, taking into account the natural conditions as well as prehistoric and historic data of whale hunting and scavenging of beached animals, we conclude that the most plausible explanation for the presence of sperm whale ivory in Chalcolithic Portugal is the use of the teeth obtained from stranded animals. This interpretation is possible because of the human populations using this ivory are those living close to the sea and exploiting – among others– marine resources.

En el marco de un proyecto de investigación sobre objetos de marfil del Calcolítico al Bronce Antiguo en la Península Ibérica efectuamos análisis científicos. En varios de los objetos de la Estremadura portuguesa, en especial en los botones con perforación en V, detectamos por primera vez la presencia de marfil de cachalote. Así se demuestra claramente la ventaja y la necesidad de efectuar análisis científicos del marfil. No todo el marfil utilizado provenía de los elefantes africanos y asiáticos. Además encontramos marfil del desaparecido Elephas antiquus, de hipopótamo, y en este caso de cachalote. Así ya en el Calcolítico el origen de la materia prima era muy diverso, lo que en ausencia de análisis científicos puede conducir a una errónea interpretación de las redes prehistóricas de intercambio. Los métodos empleados fueron la microscopia óptica, la medición de la dureza y del peso específico, la espectroscopía Micro-Raman, el análisis elemental y la espectrometría isotópica de masas. En este trabajo presentamos estos métodos y los resultados. Además discutimos sus consecuencias para la reconstrucción de la economía y la vida de las sociedades prehistóricas de la región. Teniendo en cuenta las condiciones naturales y los datos prehistóricos e históricos sobre la caza de ballenas y el aprovechamiento de animales varados consideramos que la explicación más plausible de la ...

show abstract

The invisible whale

Cited by 42 publications

References 5 publications

DNA evidence of bowhead whale exploitation by Greenlandic Paleo-Inuit 4,000 years ago

DNA evidence of bowhead whale exploitation by Greenlandic Paleo-Inuit 4,000 years ago

The Role of Architectural Utility in the Formation of Zooarchaeological Whale Bone Assemblages

The use of sperm whale ivory in Chalcolithic Portugal

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About