Archaeogenetic evidence for medieval occurrence of Atlantic sturgeon Acipenser oxyrinchus in the North Sea

Abstract

The sturgeon was an important dietary resource for people living in the eastern North Sea coastal area, especially in the 19th century but also in previous millennia. However, since the discovery in 2002 that not only the European sturgeon (A. sturio) but also the Atlantic sturgeon (A. oxyrinchus) occurred in northern European waters, we still do not know which of these species was dominant in the North Sea and hence of primary economic importance. The 800-year-old, well-preserved sturgeon remains presented in this paper, from the ringfort Itzehoe by the Stör River (which is a tributary of the Elbe in northern Germany), provides an opportunity to answer the question for the first time. The aDNA amplified and sequenced from seven bones of at least five different individuals derives from A. oxyrinchus exclusively. Moreover, morphological analyses of the whole assemblage of 15 bones provided no evidence for the presence of A. sturio. Even though the dataset is still too small for general reconstructions, this study demonstrates the occurrence and possibly the dominance of the Atlantic sturgeon in at least parts of the North Sea region 800 years ago. However, further research is necessary to prove if A. oxyrinchus was the only sturgeon species in the North Sea then.