Marine hunting and fishing on the coast of North Fennoscandia before Christ

Abstract

Archaeological evidence for marine hunting and fishing at the coast of the Barents Sea dates from 5000 cal BC to 0 cal BC/AD, encompassing the Neolithic, the Early Metal Period and the Early Iron Age. Among hunting and fishing equipment are bone and antler harpoon heads, fishhooks and leisters. Four periods of development of the tools were established on the basis of stable occurrence of the artefacts types in complexes (semi-subterranean houses, shell middens, burials). The chronological boundaries of the periods were defined by the radiocarbon dates of this complexes: A - 5000-2500 cal BC, B - 2500-1600 cal BC, C - 1500-1100 cal BC, D - 900 cal BC - 0 cal BC/AD. The primary marine taxa exploited were pinnipeds and cetacean. The marine hunting was supplemented by catching Atlantic Cod and codfishes. Percentage ratio of animal bones from dated complexes indicates that the role of the seal and whale hunting had increased considerably since about 2500 cal BC. This coincides with the appearance of toggling harpoons in hunting equipment. The exploitation of aquatic resources in the Early Iron Age (after 900 cal BC) remained important in the subsistence economy. The transition to a primary exploitation of terrestrial resources at coastal locations is not observed.