Subsistence activities at 19th-century shore whaling station sites in New Zealand and Australia: a zooarchaeological perspective

Abstract

This paper examines food subsistence activity patterns in five 19th-century shore whaling stations in New Zealand and Australia. Faunal data are categorised into indigenous and exotic classes and possible explanations behind differing patterns of subsistence activities between sites and their immediate local contexts are explored. Zooarchaeological analyses show that the communities of these whaling station communities supplemented their whaling rations with indigenous and exotic domestic species to varying degrees.