The role of fish bone studies in economic archaeology : with special reference to the Orkney Isles
The role of fish bone studies in economic archaeology : with special reference to the Orkney Isles
The growth of archaeological interest in fishing over the last 100 years, and the development of fish bone studies are outlined. A number of methodological problems of current concern to archaeozoologists are discussed in detail, with particular reference to the study of fish remains excavated from archaeological sites. Attention is given to the effects that sampling and excavation procedures, methods of bone recording and quantification, taphonomic factors and site formation processes (both human and non-human) can have on the interpretation of archaeological fish bone assemblages. Least-cost and risk-minimization models, which have often been used by archaeologists and anthropologists to explain man's use of food resources, are subjected to a critical appraisal. An ethnohistorical study of fishing in 16-19th century Orkney and Shetland is used-to suggest that such models may have only limited value in contributing towards an understanding of fishing in prehistoric and early historic Orkney. While the analysis of fishing in terms of costs, risks and returns can have great heuristic value, it may be unrealistic to measure these factors solely in units of time and energy, when social and cultural factors are also important in shaping fishing activity. Results from the analysis of fish remains from eight sites in Orkney are presented and discussed. An attempt is made to assess the value of each fish bone assemblage in informing about past fishing, taking into account the sampling and retrieval system employed at each site, the effects of differential preservation and other site-formation processes. Information from the ethnohistorical case study is used to interpret variability observed in the archaeological data in terms of past fishing strategies. The importance of the results of the analysis of fish remains from these sites to the archaeology of Orkney as a whole is discussed.
University of Southampton
Colley, Sarah Muriel
639e118f-91c4-4240-a4e5-098b1705419f
1983
Colley, Sarah Muriel
639e118f-91c4-4240-a4e5-098b1705419f
Colley, Sarah Muriel
(1983)
The role of fish bone studies in economic archaeology : with special reference to the Orkney Isles.
University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.
Record type:
Thesis
(Doctoral)
Abstract
The growth of archaeological interest in fishing over the last 100 years, and the development of fish bone studies are outlined. A number of methodological problems of current concern to archaeozoologists are discussed in detail, with particular reference to the study of fish remains excavated from archaeological sites. Attention is given to the effects that sampling and excavation procedures, methods of bone recording and quantification, taphonomic factors and site formation processes (both human and non-human) can have on the interpretation of archaeological fish bone assemblages. Least-cost and risk-minimization models, which have often been used by archaeologists and anthropologists to explain man's use of food resources, are subjected to a critical appraisal. An ethnohistorical study of fishing in 16-19th century Orkney and Shetland is used-to suggest that such models may have only limited value in contributing towards an understanding of fishing in prehistoric and early historic Orkney. While the analysis of fishing in terms of costs, risks and returns can have great heuristic value, it may be unrealistic to measure these factors solely in units of time and energy, when social and cultural factors are also important in shaping fishing activity. Results from the analysis of fish remains from eight sites in Orkney are presented and discussed. An attempt is made to assess the value of each fish bone assemblage in informing about past fishing, taking into account the sampling and retrieval system employed at each site, the effects of differential preservation and other site-formation processes. Information from the ethnohistorical case study is used to interpret variability observed in the archaeological data in terms of past fishing strategies. The importance of the results of the analysis of fish remains from these sites to the archaeology of Orkney as a whole is discussed.
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Published date: 1983
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Local EPrints ID: 460163
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/460163
PURE UUID: b21b06b7-b0e4-4c27-a236-d3e12cfcf50d
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Date deposited: 04 Jul 2022 18:05
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 18:36
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Author:
Sarah Muriel Colley
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