Oxygen Isotope Ratios in Cod Otoliths Used to Reveal Seasonality of Fishing at Late Mesolithic Sites in Denmark
Estimation of fish season of capture is fundamental to the study of mobility and resource exploitation patterns of ancient populations that relied heavily on piscine resources. In this study, we examined the contribution of a new isotopic method to further our ability to reconstruct the seasonality...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
2013
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| Online Access: | https://revistas.uam.es/archaeofauna/article/view/6374 |
| Summary: | Estimation of fish season of capture is fundamental to the study of mobility and resource exploitation patterns of ancient populations that relied heavily on piscine resources. In this study, we examined the contribution of a new isotopic method to further our ability to reconstruct the seasonality of ancient fisheries. Seven cod (Gadus morhua) sagittal otoliths were selected as a sample from two Late Mesolithic (Ertebølle) sites in Denmark (Asnæs Havnemark and Fårevejle) to examine cyclical patterns in relative water temperatures estimated by the ratio of oxygen stable isotopes. Our study demonstrated that isotopic analysis of sagittal otoliths has great potential for revealing these patterns and showing when fish were caught. Results indicated that fishing activity occurred during more periods of the year than had been previously estimated from the presence of migratory fishes in the assemblages. In all, our study suggests that fishing played a larger role in the annual subsistence cycle of Ertebølle groups than had been previously acknowledged. La estimación de la estación de captura es clave en el estudio de los patrones de movilidad y explotación de recursos de las poblaciones pretéritas que dependían de recursos piscícolas. En este estudio examinamos la aportación de un nuevo método isotópico para incrementar nuestra capacidad de inferencia de la estacionalidad en las antiguas pesquerías. Siete sagitas de bacalao (Gadus morhua) fueron seleccionados en dos yacimientos del mesolítico tardío (cultura Ertebølle) en Dinamarca (Asnæs Havnemark y Fårevejle) con el fin de examinar patrones cíclicos de la temperatura del agua estimados a través de la relación de los isótopos estables de oxígeno. Nuestro estudio demuestra que los análisis isotópicos de las sagitas poseen un alto potencial para evidenciar estos patrones y mostrar cuándo fueron capturados los peces. Los resultados indican que la actividad pesquera se produjo durante más periodos del año de los que habían sido previamente postulados a partir de la ... |
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