Abstract
Fish represent a key economic, social and ecological group of species that humans have exploited for tens of thousands of years. However, as many fish stocks are going into decline and with little known about the anthropogenic impacts on the health of the marine ecosystem pre-Industrial Revolution, understanding historical and archaeological exploitation of fish species is key to accurately modelling these changes. Here, we explore the potential of collagen peptide mass fingerprinting (also known as Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry, or ZooMS) for identifying fish remains from the Medieval (fifteenth century) Newport ship wreck (Wales, UK), and in doing so we establish a set of biomarkers we consider useful in discriminating between European fish taxa through the inclusion of over 50 reference taxa. The archaeological results identified nine distinct taxonomic groups, dominated by ling (> 40%), and a substantial amount of cod (> 20%) and hake (~ 20%). The vast majority of samples (> 70%) were identified to species level, and the inability to identify the remaining taxonomic groups with confidence using ZooMS was due to the fact that the reference collection, despite being relatively large in comparison to those presented in mammalian studies, reflects only a small proportion of fish biodiversity from this region. Although the results clearly demonstrate the potential for ZooMS as a means of fish bone identification, the sheer number of different fish species that potentially make up ichthyoarchaeological assemblages leads to obvious requirements for the analysis on much greater numbers of modern reference specimens, or the acquisition of collagen sequences.
Highlights
With the health of modern day marine populations being of constant concern, it is important to have accurate information of the composition and diversity of species from the past (Costello et al 2010)
By accurately identifying securely dated fish remains from archaeological sites, we are more able to track population changes due to over-exploitation (Barrett 2019), such as those that occurred with the herring during the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries among other locally exploited species (Hoffman 2005)
Several collagen peptide peaks appeared potentially useful with discriminating at the taxonomic level of order or family search of Gadus morhua in comparison to that of Salmo salar
Summary
With the health of modern day marine populations being of constant concern, it is important to have accurate information of the composition and diversity of species from the past (Costello et al 2010). By accurately identifying securely dated fish remains from archaeological sites, we are more able to track population changes due to over-exploitation (Barrett 2019), such as those that occurred with the herring during the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries among other locally exploited species (Hoffman 2005). The Medieval period in Europe saw a dramatic change in the procurement, trade and consumption of marine fish, with the origins and expansion of the preserved cod and herring trade We could potentially be missing crucial information in the understanding of past environment, climate, fish populations and fishing practices due to limitations in the identification of fish remains
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