Logbooks and Antarctic sealing. Approaching early- and late-19th-century exploitation strategies and their archaeological footprint
Abstract In the 19th century, sealing vessels visited the South Shetland Islands to exploit animal resources for the global skin and oil markets. The captains or mates of these vessels were responsible for keeping a logbook in which they recorded daily observations of weather conditions, hunting act...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247423000293 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247423000293 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0032247423000293 2024-03-03T08:37:58+00:00 Logbooks and Antarctic sealing. Approaching early- and late-19th-century exploitation strategies and their archaeological footprint Salerno, Melisa A. Cruz, María Jimena 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247423000293 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247423000293 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Polar Record volume 59 ISSN 0032-2474 1475-3057 General Earth and Planetary Sciences Ecology Geography, Planning and Development journal-article 2023 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0032247423000293 2024-02-08T08:41:42Z Abstract In the 19th century, sealing vessels visited the South Shetland Islands to exploit animal resources for the global skin and oil markets. The captains or mates of these vessels were responsible for keeping a logbook in which they recorded daily observations of weather conditions, hunting activities, etc. Despite the value of these documents as a source of information, archaeologists studying Antarctic sealing have not always relied on them. This paper examines the potential of logbooks for providing information that is relevant to the archaeological study of sealing in the South Shetland Islands. In particular, it discusses how documentary analysis of exploitation strategies can provide insight into the dynamics that influenced the configuration of sealers’ sites. To this end, we propose a methodology for investigating exploitation strategies, taking into account several archaeologically sensitive variables, including the number, location and duration of landings, as well as the activities carried out during these events. We have taken four logbooks dating from the early and late 19th century – specifically those of the Aurora (1820–1821), the Huron (1820–1822), the Thomas Hunt (1873–1874) and the Sarah W. Hunt (1887–1888) – as case studies to test the proposed methodology. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Polar Record South Shetland Islands Cambridge University Press Antarctic South Shetland Islands Polar Record 59 |
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Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
op_collection_id |
crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
topic |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences Ecology Geography, Planning and Development |
spellingShingle |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences Ecology Geography, Planning and Development Salerno, Melisa A. Cruz, María Jimena Logbooks and Antarctic sealing. Approaching early- and late-19th-century exploitation strategies and their archaeological footprint |
topic_facet |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences Ecology Geography, Planning and Development |
description |
Abstract In the 19th century, sealing vessels visited the South Shetland Islands to exploit animal resources for the global skin and oil markets. The captains or mates of these vessels were responsible for keeping a logbook in which they recorded daily observations of weather conditions, hunting activities, etc. Despite the value of these documents as a source of information, archaeologists studying Antarctic sealing have not always relied on them. This paper examines the potential of logbooks for providing information that is relevant to the archaeological study of sealing in the South Shetland Islands. In particular, it discusses how documentary analysis of exploitation strategies can provide insight into the dynamics that influenced the configuration of sealers’ sites. To this end, we propose a methodology for investigating exploitation strategies, taking into account several archaeologically sensitive variables, including the number, location and duration of landings, as well as the activities carried out during these events. We have taken four logbooks dating from the early and late 19th century – specifically those of the Aurora (1820–1821), the Huron (1820–1822), the Thomas Hunt (1873–1874) and the Sarah W. Hunt (1887–1888) – as case studies to test the proposed methodology. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Salerno, Melisa A. Cruz, María Jimena |
author_facet |
Salerno, Melisa A. Cruz, María Jimena |
author_sort |
Salerno, Melisa A. |
title |
Logbooks and Antarctic sealing. Approaching early- and late-19th-century exploitation strategies and their archaeological footprint |
title_short |
Logbooks and Antarctic sealing. Approaching early- and late-19th-century exploitation strategies and their archaeological footprint |
title_full |
Logbooks and Antarctic sealing. Approaching early- and late-19th-century exploitation strategies and their archaeological footprint |
title_fullStr |
Logbooks and Antarctic sealing. Approaching early- and late-19th-century exploitation strategies and their archaeological footprint |
title_full_unstemmed |
Logbooks and Antarctic sealing. Approaching early- and late-19th-century exploitation strategies and their archaeological footprint |
title_sort |
logbooks and antarctic sealing. approaching early- and late-19th-century exploitation strategies and their archaeological footprint |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247423000293 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247423000293 |
geographic |
Antarctic South Shetland Islands |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic South Shetland Islands |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Polar Record South Shetland Islands |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Polar Record South Shetland Islands |
op_source |
Polar Record volume 59 ISSN 0032-2474 1475-3057 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0032247423000293 |
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Polar Record |
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59 |
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1792503193884688384 |