Fish Bone Assemblages Research Articles

Mangareva Fishing Strategies in Regional Context: an Analysis of Fish Bones from Five Sites Excavated in 1959

In 1959, Roger Green conducted pioneering excavations in Mangareva (or Gambier Islands), French Polynesia, at five rockshelters on three islands (Kamaka, Aukena and Mangareva) totalling ~86 m2 (~99 m3). We report the analysis of 11,340 fish bones yielding 1738 number of identified specimens (NISP) and 421 minimal numbers of individual fish (MNI) dominated by inshore species including parrotfishes (Scaridae), groupers and rockcods (Serranidae), wrasses (Labridae) and surgeonfishes (Acanthuridae). Some 13 fish families (and Elasmobranchii or sharks and rays) were identified. Comparisons with 16 other Oceanic fish bone studies, which report an average of 24 ± 4 families, suggests that larger excavated samples in Mangareva using fine sieving should document additional fish families. Specific comparisons with fish bone assemblages from Reao Atoll, Tuamotus and the makatea island of Henderson (Pitcairn Group) – all within ~500 km of Mangareva – demonstrates the unique composition of the Mangareva archaeo-fauna which is dominated by inshore fish families that could have been captured by a range of hook techniques and, secondarily, netting. The lower pharyngeals of parrotfish were measured to examine spatial (between sites) and temporal changes in fish size. A decrease in fish bone density in one rockshelter tentatively suggests that fishing diminished in later prehistory.

Does technology make a difference? Aboriginal and colonial fishing in Port Jackson, New South Wales

AbstractOver 580 fish species are known for Port Jackson, site of the first British colony of New South Wales. When the British arrived in January 1788 they encountered Aboriginal people who gained a substantial part of their diet from fish. Aboriginal fishing technologies (e.g. spears, shell fishhooks and small canoes) were documented by colonial writers. The British brought metal fishhooks, seine nets and larger boats, and after AD1788 fishing was important to both Aboriginal people and colonists. Given the diversity of fish in Port Jackson, and differences between Aboriginal and colonial fishing technologies, our paper discusses archaeological and documentary evidence for the impact of technology on the types of fish caught by Aboriginal people and colonists before and after AD1788. We compare archaeological fish bones from Aboriginal sites in coastal Sydney with those from the Quadrant historical site in Broadway, Sydney, and discuss methodological challenges raised by these kinds of analyses for Sydney regional archaeology. Technology explains some fish bone assemblage variability but colonisation, cultural attitudes, commercialisation and urbanism are also important.

Prehistoric fishing strategies on themakateaisland of Rurutu

ABSTRACTRecent observations of fishing, the ethnohistoric literature, the archaeological fishing tool kit, marine environments adjacent to the site, and the fish bone assemblage were considered to understand fishing strategies on themakateaisland of Rurutu, Austral Islands, French Polynesia. Excavations totalling 53.5 m2at the Peva dune site (ON1) were conducted in 2003. The sandy, calcareous deposits from Area 2 (33 m2) were dry sieved through 3.2 mm mesh and 5,011 fish bones weighing 2,229.7 g were retained for analysis. Two distinct cultural layers were identified. Archaic period layer D had 20 fish families inventoried from a total of 141 minimum numbers of individuals (MNI) and 1,081 numbers of identified specimens (NISP). Average bone weight was 0.42 g and median vertebra width between 5–6 mm (n=747). The Classic period layer A, associated with amaraecomplex, contained only seven fish families, a MNI of 24 and NISP of 403. Average bone weight was 0.63 g and median vertebra width between 10–11 mm (n=107). While a broad spectrum fish capture strategy is inferred for the Archaic, selective larger fish, including an order of magnitude increase in shark, were likely prestige items used in ritual offerings during the Classic period. Comparisons of the archaeological assemblages from fivemakateaislands show that in all but one case, sites are dominated by groupers, unlike many other Pacific island sites where parrotfish are most frequent. This, alone, might be the unique signature ofmakateaassemblages.

A new method in palaeoecology: fish community structure indicates environmental changes

A new method to reconstruct aquatic palaeoenvironments is presented. It is based on a non-metrical ‘fish environment reconstruction index’ (FERI), calculated for the total fish community recorded at an archaeological site. As an example, a FERI is generated for the Baltic Sea using the ecological requirements of northern European fish species. The present study evaluates the proposed method by using fish bone assemblages from a region (the middle Holocene Baltic Sea coast) with well-studied hydrographic history. The bones originate from consecutive human riparian and coastal settlements of hunter-gatherers. The results obtained for the parameters salinity and sediment structure correlate well with geological knowledge. The new method shows a successive change from freshwater to brackish and finally to nearly marine conditions before, during, and towards the end of the marine transgression that created the present Baltic Sea. Additionally, a shift in the sediment structure from muddy to sandy/rocky conditions is recognisable.

The living and the dead: How do taphonomic processes modify relative abundance and skeletal completeness of freshwater fish?

This study is designed to determine the extent to which taphonomic processes alter the taxonomic composition of fish remains in lacustrine sediments. We wish to explore information loss in a bone assemblage relative to the original, living community. We examined fish bone assemblages from lacustrine sediments along the southern shore of Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) and compared them to modern living communities. For this purpose we randomly selected 24 squares, each 0.5 m 2 in size, and excavated them to a depth of 30–50 cm. Three lithofacies were recovered, spanning the past 1500 years (unccorected for reservoir age). The fish remains include 5037 bones and 758 scales, of which 1566 bones were identified to taxonomic group. The list of identified species was compared with the list of indigenous species known to live in Lake Kinneret in general and in a similar sandy habitat in particular. The proportion of skeletal elements found was compared with the proportion known in a complete fish. Our study indicates that differences exist between the three lithofacies in species diversity and composition, skeletal element richness, completeness, and relative abundance. In addition, the bones exhibit a clumped distribution pattern, regardless of depositional depth. From a taphonomic and paleoecological perspective, our findings demonstrate that fish remains retrieved from lacustrine sediments do not represent the composition and diversity of species as in the recent fish community.

In piscibus diversis; the Bone Evidence for Fish Consumption in Roman Britain

Fish bone assemblages from 109 sites were analysed for evidence of Roman influence on fish consumption. Temporal divisions within the period were not informative, but sites were divided by region. Secondary evidence, including amphorae and fishing tackle, was also considered. Eel was most common overall but some species were regionally important, e.g. salmon. Towns and villas showed the greatest range of fish, from freshwater and inland marine fisheries and also imported salted fish and fish-sauce. Native sites continued to show restricted fish consumption from very local sources, while Roman sites suggested an increase in variety and some evidence for status, which may result from cultural change in culinary practices.

Sampling Fish Bones: A Consideration of the Importance of Screen Size and Disposal Context in the North Pacific

Abstract Archaeologists have long debated the importance of salmon resources in the development of large, semisedentary winter villages and ranked societies among native peoples of the eastern North Pacific. For the most part, this debate has occurred without adequately sampled fish assemblages. Two key types of faunal data useful in testing for salmon intensification in the archaeological record are taxonomic proportions data and skeletal parts data. Both types of data require systematic collection and are affected by screen size. In addition, disposal context (e.g., house floor versus exterior midden) can seriously affect taxonomic proportions data. At Settlement Point, a Koniag tradition site from Afognak Island, Alaska, salmon bone recovery was found to vary significantly by screen-size and disposal context. Systematic screening and house floor sampling (when possible) are recommended in generating fish bone assemblages adequate to evaluate models of the importance of salmon in prehistoric subsistence systems of the northeastern Pacific.

Salmon Exploitation in Jomon Archaeology from a Wetlands Point of View

The economic significance of salmon for a diversity of cultures worldwide, and throughout history, is well documented. This was no less true during the prehistory and history of the Japanese Islands. However, the problem of poor preservation and visibility of salmon bones required to clearly demonstrate that significance is a persistent one. This paper briefly reviews the history of salmon exploitation in the oldest cultural period in Japan following the Paleolithic era, the Jomon, and in later historical periods. Such a review must include reference to the now classic “salmon/trout theory” developed almost 60 years ago by the renowned archaeologist, Sugao Yamanouchi. However, in order to build systematically upon what has come before us – the hallmark of sound research – this discussion focuses on salmon within a taphonomic framework listing the potential biases for recovery and identification that plague Jomon archaeology. Furthermore, the proper excavation of important wetland sites will help to better address the important issues of resource exploitation, ecological adaptation, and settlement and subsistence change that are paramount to understanding the nature of the diverse and lengthy Jomon period. To this end, a four-fold site classification scheme is created from specific archaeological contexts based on preservation factors for salmon remains. This scheme can be used by future researchers to clarify the nature of prehistoric and historic wetlands sites containing or lacking fish or salmon remains. The results of such a classification can: 1) provide one approach to inventorying such sites, and 2) can aid in understanding the validity of interpretations of fish bone assemblages based on preservation quality.

Comment on “Size matters: 3-mm sieves do not increase richness in a fishbone assemblage from Arrawarra I, an Aboriginal Australian shell midden on the mid-north coast of New South Wales, Australia” by Vale and Gargett

In this comment, the author argues that the conclusions reached by Vale and Gargett [Size matters: 3-mm sieves do not increase richness in a fishbone assemblage from Arrawarra I, an Aboriginal Australian shell midden on the mid-north coast of New South Wales, Australia, Journal of Archaeological Science 29 (2002) 57–63] are based on questionable methods and the conclusions regarding the use of fine mesh screens are unsupported.

Size does matter: methodological comments on sieve size and species richness in fishbone assemblages

Vale and Gargett (J. Archaeol. Sci. 29 (2002) 57) discuss the finds from sieving experiments through 6 mm, 3 mm, and 1 mm mesh sizes from Arrawarra-I, a coastal midden site in Australia. They claimed that the relationship between sieve mesh size and both taxonomic richness and abundance is not straightforward. We reanalyzed Vale and Gargett's data to estimate species richness in larger sample sizes. By fitting logarithmic series to the data, we calculated the alpha diversity, and used that statistics to predict number of species expected at a given sample size. This statistical method is called “the equivalent alpha diversity method for abundifaction”. We demonstrate that taxonomic diversity would have been higher (14 species rather then 10) for an NISP of 2000 bones, sieved through a 1 mm mesh. We also demonstrate that Vale and Gargett's conclusion is flawed due to their small sample size (432 identified bones out of 60,000), inadequate sampling methods and poor analytical methodology. By using Vale and Gargett's data, we reach the opposite conclusion, and show that the use of 3 and 1 mm mesh sieves is indeed important in measuring diversity of archaeological assemblages in general, and of fish assemblages in particular.

Eastern Polynesia--Introduction

AT THE END OF NOVEMBER 2000, a group of 25 archaeologists convened at the Richard Gump Research Station of the University of California, Berkeley, for an international conference on Archaeology of Eastern Polynesia: Retrospect and Prospect. The conference was co-organized by us, with financial support from the France-Berkeley Fund of the University of California, and from the Ministry of Culture, Territory of French Polynesia. (1) The participants were a truly international group, with representatives from Australia, Chile, France, French Polynesia, Hawai'i, New Caledonia, New Zealand, and the continental United States. Over the course of a week, in the relaxed setting of the Gump Station, situated on the shores of Cook's Bay, Mo`orea Island, the conferees presented a series of papers reviewing past and present work throughout various islands and archipelagoes of Eastern Polynesia, and engaged in stimulating discussions of current theoretical and methodological issues. This issue of Asian Perspectives offers revised versions of seven papers presented at the Mo'orea conference, largely focusing on the results of new and often cutting-edge research in Eastern Polynesia. The nature of early Eastern Polynesian voyaging and interaction spheres has been a topic of considerable debate and discussion in recent years, in part stimulated by advances in geochemical sourcing of basalt artifacts, allowing archaeologists to track inter-island and inter-archipelago exchanges through direct material evidence. In his paper, Barry Rolett considers the processes that may have led to a subsequent decline in such voyaging after about A.D. 1450. Fishing is another aspect of Eastern Polynesian prehistory with a history of archaeological research, originally centered on the analysis of fishhooks and other fishing gear, and later expanded to include zooarchaeological analyses of fishbone assemblages. In her contribution, Melinda Allen builds upon these traditional approaches with the application of new methods such as sequencing of mtDNA from archaeological fishbones to develop fine-grained identifications. In particular, she examines a model of resource depression with respect to certain fish faunal assemblages from the Cook Islands. The Mangareva group of islands was one of the first to be investigated by modern archaeological techniques, in 1959 by Roger Green. Reanalyzing the Asian Perspectives, Vol. 41, No. 2 [c] 2002 by University of Hawai'i Press. materials uncovered in that pioneering study, Green and Weisler have produced a new culture-historical sequence for Mangareva, which they then proceed to integrate with Weisler's more recent work on the Pitcairn and Henderson Islands to the east. Bringing in as well considerations from historical linguistics, Green and Weisler argue that Mangareva was probably first settled ca. A.D. 700-800, and played a key role in the geographic expansion of Polynesians into the southeastern parts of the triangle. As readers familiar with recent debates in Polynesian prehistory will be aware, one of the most contentious issues has centered around the timing of early settlement--the so-called long vs. short chronology debate. Critical to resolving this debate are good series of well-controlled radiocarbon dates from key sites. …

Size Matters: 3-mm Sieves Do Not Increase Richness in a Fishbone Assemblage from Arrawarra I, an Aboriginal Australian Shell Midden on the Mid-north Coast of New South Wales, Australia

For 30 years the prevailing viewpoint regarding the retrieval of archaeological faunal material has been: smaller sieve mesh yields more identified taxa. We discuss the findings of sieving experiments from a coastal midden site, in which an assemblage of more than 60,000 fish-bone specimens was successively sieved through 6, 3, and 1-mm mesh sieves. Against expectations, we identified no more taxa in the 3-mm sieve fraction than were apparent in the 6-mm fraction. We discuss the probable causes of a result at odds with other researchers' results and attribute the difference to (a) idiosyncratic, inter-regional variability in the range of skeletal morphologies in fish communities; (b) the possibility that processing activities will differentially delete skeletal segments such as the head; and (c) destructive physical and chemical processes that may have rendered otoliths invisible, despite the use of small-mesh.

Fish Processing During the Early Holocene: A Taphonomic Case Study from Coastal Israel

Study of fish bones recovered from coastal archaeological sites requires careful taphonomic analysis in order to determine whether the fish bone assemblage is naturally or culturally derived, and how fish may have been processed by humans. We analysed a grey triggerfish (Balistes carolinensis) assemblage from Atlit-Yam, a submerged Pre-Pottery Neolithic site (8140–7550bp) off the Mediterranean coast of Israel, using multiple taphonomic criteria and quantitative analyses. The clumped distribution of remains, the high bone scatter frequency, the presence of a few burnt bones, the bones' state of fragmentation, the absence of a correlation between bone density and bone frequency, the low species diversity and wide range of body sizes represented, all point to a culturally derived assemblage. The high percentage of identifiable elements, the occurrence of most skeletal elements, and the virtual absence of branchial region bones, are compatible with fish gutted for immediate or later consumption, and incompatible with the expected of refuse. Cranial bones and first dorsal spines of large individuals were missing, apparently a result of size-dependent butchering methods. The emergent picture is of a pile of fish gutted and processed in a size-dependent manner, and then stored for future consumption or trade. This scenario suggests that technology for fish storage was already available, and that the Atlit-Yam inhabitants could enjoy the economic stability resulting from food storage and trade with mainland sites.

Prehistoric Marine Fishing Adaptation in Southern Taiwan

This paper discusses prehistoric fishing activities as seen through archaeological remains from the area of Eluanbi in southern Taiwan. The excavations of the coastal site of Eluanbi II in 1993 documented a continuous sequence of occupations beginning with an initial settlement around 4000 BP and continuing until 2500 BP. Analyses of the fish bone assemblages and fishing implements, as well as studies of the marine environment, provide new data for studying prehistoric fishing strategies. Fish provided the most abundant potential food resource in this area. Fifteen families of marine fish contributed to the ancient Eluanbi diet, and the most common taxa found in the fish assemblage were sail-fish, shark, mullet, and dolphinfish. In terms of assemblage composition, abundance, and density, a significant temporal pattern is shown with a gradual increase of remains from the initial occupation period onward, peaking in Stage 3, and thereafter declining in the late occupation. Fishing gear remains suggest that prehistoric Eluanbi II settlers developed very effective fishing strategies. Through time, increased remains of offshore fish indicate a refined fishing strategy and an intensification of fishing as a subsistence activity.

Go Fish!: Using Archaeological Fishbone To Investigate The Enigmatic Stone Structure At Arrawarra Beach, Nsw

An unnatural stone arrangement at Arrawarra Beach, on the mid-north coast of New South Wales, has been the subject of debate for at least two decades. Previous archaeological research has produced conflicting ethnographic and historical accounts of the origin and use of the structure. The excavation of a large quantity of fragmented, though well-preserved fishbone from a nearby shell midden has provided a unique opportunity to investigate the questions of age, origin and use of the stone structure. To obtain high quality data for investigating fishing strategies at Arrawarra Beach, particular attention has been paid to the retrieval and identification methodologies employed on the fishbone assemblage. Small-mesh sieving ensured the recovery of the optimum amount of fishbone from the deposit. Taxa previously unidentified from archaeological sites on the mid-north coast of New South Wales have been identified through increasing the number of diagnostic elements to include some post-cranial elements. The possible environments exploited for resource procurement were identified through an ecological study of the fish represented archaeologically. The Arrawarra 1 fishbone assemblage represents a fish 'catch' of primarily small- to medium-sized taxa, with both carnivorous and herbivorous species represented. A small number of larger, carnivorous fish are also represented. The identification of taxa and their habitats suggests a shallow-water environment, rich in food suiting both the herbivorous and carnivorous fish. The rocky platform on which the Arrawarra stone structure is constructed provides this environment. A number of other fishing methods could account for this assemblage, but the use of a large-scale fishing technology, such as a stone fishtrap, provides a single means of obtaining the resources represented by the archaeological assemblage.

Gear Selectivity Models, Mortality Profiles and the Interpretation of Archaeological Fish Remains: A Case Study from the Harney Basin, Oregon

Size selectivity of fishing gear and catastrophic mortality profiles have been used as models to test hypotheses regarding (1) the natural or cultural origin of archaeological fish assemblages, and (2) the types of fishing gear that may have been employed in harvesting fish. Although such models provide a useful framework within which to interpret archaeological fish remains, it is important that they be applied with careful attention to fish population structure and behaviour, and to archaeological and environmental factors. A case study from the Great Basin of North America is used to illustrate both the strengths and weaknesses of gear selectivity models and catastrophic mortality profiles in the interpretation of archaeological fish bone assemblages.

Fishing in the Northern Isles: a Case Study Based on Fish Bone Assemblages from Two Multi-period Sites on Sanday, Orkney

At Tofts Ness and Pool, Sanday, Orkney, fish bones dating from the Neolithic through to the 11th century have been excavated, providing an opportunity to examine the development of fishing through prehistory and through the critical period of Viking colonisation, when it has been argued that commercial fishing began on Orkney. It appears that even in the Neolithic some fishing may have been conducted away from the shore, and that fish may have provided more than just basic nutrition. Around the time of Viking colonisation fishing became more specialised, but so far there is no evidence of commercial fishing on Sanday.

Fishing in the Northern Isles: a Case Study Based on Fish Bone Assemblages from Two Multi-period Sites on Sanday, Orkney

Fishing in the Northern Isles: a Case Study Based on Fish Bone Assemblages from Two Multi-period Sites on Sanday, Orkney

Modern fishbone assemblages at Lake Turkana, Kenya: A methodology to aid in recognition of hominid fish utilization

Investigation of the role of fish in the hominid diet has been hindered by difficulty in recognizing hominid-altered fishbone assemblages. Lack of direct evidence of hominid modifications, such as cutmarks, means that anomalies in the composition of the assemblages themselves must be identified. Recognition of such hominid-created anomalies requires knowledge of the expected composition of naturally-derived assemblages. This study analysed over 5300 modern fishbones from 14 assemblages in lakeshore and channel-associated contexts at Lake Turkana, Kenya. Various measures including taxonomic abundance and skeletal element representation were calculated, giving an expected composition for fishbones in these contexts. These were then compared with the composition of fishbone assemblages from a fishing camp site at Lake Turkana. Distinctive patterns were found in the fishing camp composition, and provide the beginning of a data base on human modifications resulting from procurement and processing activities.

A method for the analysis of Pacific Island fishbone assemblages and an associated database management system

A method is described for the sorting and identification of archaeological fishbone assemblages from the tropical Pacific region using a comparative collection of about 300 species of Pacific fishes. This involves several stages of sorting and re-bagging to break down the task into manageable proportions. Bones identified routinely are the dentary, articular, quadrate, premaxilla, maxilla, and several “special” bones which are characteristic of certain fishes. The identification method is serviced by a computer database management system, which allows interactive and recursive analysis of results at several levels. At the lowest level it allows entry of new data into the system, and at the highest level permits comparative study of ancient fishing behaviour from selections of assemblages from various parts of the Pacific. About 17,000 identifications are at present on file from Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia.