Abstract
Past fish provenance, exploitation and trade patterns were studied by analyzing phosphate oxygen isotope compositions (δ18OPO4) of gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) tooth enameloid from archaeological sites across the southern Levant, spanning the entire Holocene. We report the earliest evidence for extensive fish exploitation from the hypersaline Bardawil lagoon on Egypt’s northern Sinai coast, as indicated by distinctively high δ18OPO4 values, which became abundant in the southern Levant, both along the coast and further inland, at least from the Late Bronze Age (3,550–3,200 BP). A period of global, postglacial sea-level stabilization triggered the formation of the Bardawil lagoon, which was intensively exploited and supported a widespread fish trade. This represents the earliest roots of marine proto-aquaculture in Late Holocene coastal domains of the Mediterranean. We demonstrate the potential of large-scale δ18OPO4 analysis of fish teeth to reveal cultural phenomena in antiquity, providing unprecedented insights into past trade patterns.
Highlights
Fishing was an essential economic component of many ancient societies, as evidenced by the presence of fish remains, fishing gears, and fish-associated artifacts in numerous archaeological sites world-wide[1,2,3,4,5]
The δ18OPO4 of fish teeth from the archaeological sites in the southern Levant indicate that S. aurata were caught in two distinct habitats: the southeast Mediterranean littoral characterised by low δ18OPO4 values (21.5– 23.5‰) and a hypersaline environment reflected by higher δ18OPO4 values (>23.5‰ measured value and >24.2‰ according to the predicted range; see text below for details) (1-Way ANOVA: F = 7.0978, p < 0.001; Table S1, Fig. 4)
We note that the few hypersaline fish dated to the PPN-Early Bronze Age (EBA) period, were likely caught off the southern Levantine shore, and were not exported from the Bardawil, as proposed for the Late Bronze Age (LBA) and onward (Late Holocene)
Summary
Sisma-Ventura Guy[1,2,3], Tütken Thomas[2], Zohar Irit[4,5], Pack Andreas[3], Sivan Dorit[6,7], Lernau Omri[5], Gilboa Ayelet5,8 & Bar-Oz Guy[5,8]. We analysed the oxygen isotope ratio (18O/16O in the PO4 group, expressed as δ18OPO4 value; see Methods) of enameloid phosphate of the first molariform teeth (n = 100; Table S1) and jawbones (n = 24, Table S1) of this species from a broad range of 12 coastal and inland archaeological sites spanning the Pre-Pottery Neolithic to the Islamic period: ~9,700 BCE to 600 CE (~11,700–1,400 years BP; Fig. 2) During this time span, southern Levantine societies evolved from hunting-gathering, to sedentary ways of lives, to complex societies, to territorial states, and were intermittently subsumed under the aegis of vast or lesser. The main question we asked is whether the distribution of these fish to the Levant was a historically-unique and context-dependant phenomenon or rather of more sustainable nature
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