From The Fish Middens to the Herring:Medieval and Post-Medieval Fishing in the Northern Isles of Scotland
The heyday of Viking Age and medieval fishing in the Northern Isles of Scotland can be traced in the huge deposits of fish bones that appear circa AD 1000. This "fish event horizon" is a phenomenon clearly recognised in the British Isles and linked to numerous factors, including the growin...
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ftamad:oai:www.amad.org:123456789/66386 2023-05-15T17:34:11+02:00 From The Fish Middens to the Herring:Medieval and Post-Medieval Fishing in the Northern Isles of Scotland Harland, Jennifer Gabriel, Sónia Reitz, Elizabeth 2016-09-30 application/pdf https://www.amad.org/jspui/handle/123456789/66386 https://pure.uhi.ac.uk/admin/ws/files/2254552/Harland_FRWG_publication_Revised_17.pdf https://pure.uhi.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/from-the-fish-middens-to-the-herring(4e765578-601f-4bf4-88d5-08c4b86b6935).html http://18frwg.wixsite.com/18frwglisboa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XK0oz6hls_A eng eng https://pure.uhi.ac.uk/admin/ws/files/2254552/Harland_FRWG_publication_Revised_17.pdf https://pure.uhi.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/from-the-fish-middens-to-the-herring(4e765578-601f-4bf4-88d5-08c4b86b6935).html http://18frwg.wixsite.com/18frwglisboa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XK0oz6hls_A https://www.amad.org/jspui/handle/123456789/66386 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess fish bones herring early modern late medieval 940 other 2016 ftamad 2021-09-30T20:02:23Z The heyday of Viking Age and medieval fishing in the Northern Isles of Scotland can be traced in the huge deposits of fish bones that appear circa AD 1000. This "fish event horizon" is a phenomenon clearly recognised in the British Isles and linked to numerous factors, including the growing commercialisation of sea fishing in the North Sea and North Atlantic region. However, a few hundred years after the fish midden first appear, fishing in the Northern Isles took a dramatic downturn. Small-scale, subsistence fishing in relatively safe coastal waters became the norm. Early modern writers deplored the state of fishing in the islands in the late 18th century, while repeated attempts to develop commercial fisheries floundered due to lack of knowledge and investment. This paper discusses the archaeological evidence for the period between the 15th to the 19th centuries. Using estimates of fish sizes, species abundance and historical sources, it reconstructs fishing methods and likely fishing grounds, and asks why there was such a striking decline in fishing fortunes in the Northern Isles. The curious absence of herring bones from the archaeological record will also be discussed, a particularly relevant and perplexing question given that the herring industry became so important to the Northern Isles in recent centuries. Other/Unknown Material North Atlantic AMAD - "Archivum Medii Aevi Digitale - Specialized open access repository for research in the middle ages" |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
AMAD - "Archivum Medii Aevi Digitale - Specialized open access repository for research in the middle ages" |
op_collection_id |
ftamad |
language |
English |
topic |
fish bones herring early modern late medieval 940 |
spellingShingle |
fish bones herring early modern late medieval 940 Harland, Jennifer From The Fish Middens to the Herring:Medieval and Post-Medieval Fishing in the Northern Isles of Scotland |
topic_facet |
fish bones herring early modern late medieval 940 |
description |
The heyday of Viking Age and medieval fishing in the Northern Isles of Scotland can be traced in the huge deposits of fish bones that appear circa AD 1000. This "fish event horizon" is a phenomenon clearly recognised in the British Isles and linked to numerous factors, including the growing commercialisation of sea fishing in the North Sea and North Atlantic region. However, a few hundred years after the fish midden first appear, fishing in the Northern Isles took a dramatic downturn. Small-scale, subsistence fishing in relatively safe coastal waters became the norm. Early modern writers deplored the state of fishing in the islands in the late 18th century, while repeated attempts to develop commercial fisheries floundered due to lack of knowledge and investment. This paper discusses the archaeological evidence for the period between the 15th to the 19th centuries. Using estimates of fish sizes, species abundance and historical sources, it reconstructs fishing methods and likely fishing grounds, and asks why there was such a striking decline in fishing fortunes in the Northern Isles. The curious absence of herring bones from the archaeological record will also be discussed, a particularly relevant and perplexing question given that the herring industry became so important to the Northern Isles in recent centuries. |
author2 |
Gabriel, Sónia Reitz, Elizabeth |
format |
Other/Unknown Material |
author |
Harland, Jennifer |
author_facet |
Harland, Jennifer |
author_sort |
Harland, Jennifer |
title |
From The Fish Middens to the Herring:Medieval and Post-Medieval Fishing in the Northern Isles of Scotland |
title_short |
From The Fish Middens to the Herring:Medieval and Post-Medieval Fishing in the Northern Isles of Scotland |
title_full |
From The Fish Middens to the Herring:Medieval and Post-Medieval Fishing in the Northern Isles of Scotland |
title_fullStr |
From The Fish Middens to the Herring:Medieval and Post-Medieval Fishing in the Northern Isles of Scotland |
title_full_unstemmed |
From The Fish Middens to the Herring:Medieval and Post-Medieval Fishing in the Northern Isles of Scotland |
title_sort |
from the fish middens to the herring:medieval and post-medieval fishing in the northern isles of scotland |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://www.amad.org/jspui/handle/123456789/66386 https://pure.uhi.ac.uk/admin/ws/files/2254552/Harland_FRWG_publication_Revised_17.pdf https://pure.uhi.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/from-the-fish-middens-to-the-herring(4e765578-601f-4bf4-88d5-08c4b86b6935).html http://18frwg.wixsite.com/18frwglisboa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XK0oz6hls_A |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_relation |
https://pure.uhi.ac.uk/admin/ws/files/2254552/Harland_FRWG_publication_Revised_17.pdf https://pure.uhi.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/from-the-fish-middens-to-the-herring(4e765578-601f-4bf4-88d5-08c4b86b6935).html http://18frwg.wixsite.com/18frwglisboa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XK0oz6hls_A https://www.amad.org/jspui/handle/123456789/66386 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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1766132936889860096 |