The prelude to industrial whaling: identifying the targets of ancient European whaling using zooarchaeology and collagen mass-peptide fingerprinting.
Taxonomic identification of whale bones found during archaeological excavations is problematic due to their typically fragmented state. This difficulty limits understanding of both the past spatio-temporal distributions of whale populations and of possible early whaling activities. To overcome this...
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
The Royal Society
2023
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/357464 |
id |
ftunivcam:oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/357464 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftunivcam:oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/357464 2024-01-28T10:05:33+01:00 The prelude to industrial whaling: identifying the targets of ancient European whaling using zooarchaeology and collagen mass-peptide fingerprinting. van den Hurk, Youri Sikström, Fanny Amkreutz, Luc Bleasdale, Madeleine Borvon, Aurélia Ephrem, Brice Fernández-Rodríguez, Carlos Gibbs, Hannah MB Jonsson, Leif Lehouck, Alexander Cedeira, Jose Martínez Meng, Stefan Monge, Rui Moreno, Marta Nabais, Mariana Nores, Carlos Pis-Millán, José Antonio Riddler, Ian Schmölcke, Ulrich Segschneider, Martin Speller, Camilla Vretemark, Maria Wickler, Stephen Collins, Matthew Nadeau, Marie-Josée Barrett, James H 2023-09-23T01:46:39Z application/pdf https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/357464 eng eng The Royal Society http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.230741 R Soc Open Sci https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/357464 Attribution 4.0 International https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ essn: 2054-5703 nlmid: 101647528 historical ecology whales zooarchaeology zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry Article 2023 ftunivcam 2024-01-04T23:19:37Z Taxonomic identification of whale bones found during archaeological excavations is problematic due to their typically fragmented state. This difficulty limits understanding of both the past spatio-temporal distributions of whale populations and of possible early whaling activities. To overcome this challenge, we performed zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry on an unprecedented 719 archaeological and palaeontological specimens of probable whale bone from Atlantic European contexts, predominantly dating from ca 3500 BCE to the eighteenth century CE. The results show high numbers of Balaenidae (many probably North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis)) and grey whale (Eschrichtius robustus) specimens, two taxa no longer present in the eastern North Atlantic. This discovery matches expectations regarding the past utilization of North Atlantic right whales, but was unanticipated for grey whales, which have hitherto rarely been identified in the European zooarchaeological record. Many of these specimens derive from contexts associated with mediaeval cultures frequently linked to whaling: the Basques, northern Spaniards, Normans, Flemish, Frisians, Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavians. This association raises the likelihood that early whaling impacted these taxa, contributing to their extirpation and extinction. Much lower numbers of other large cetacean taxa were identified, suggesting that what are now the most depleted whales were once those most frequently used. Article in Journal/Newspaper Eubalaena glacialis North Atlantic North Atlantic right whale Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository |
op_collection_id |
ftunivcam |
language |
English |
topic |
historical ecology whales zooarchaeology zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry |
spellingShingle |
historical ecology whales zooarchaeology zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry van den Hurk, Youri Sikström, Fanny Amkreutz, Luc Bleasdale, Madeleine Borvon, Aurélia Ephrem, Brice Fernández-Rodríguez, Carlos Gibbs, Hannah MB Jonsson, Leif Lehouck, Alexander Cedeira, Jose Martínez Meng, Stefan Monge, Rui Moreno, Marta Nabais, Mariana Nores, Carlos Pis-Millán, José Antonio Riddler, Ian Schmölcke, Ulrich Segschneider, Martin Speller, Camilla Vretemark, Maria Wickler, Stephen Collins, Matthew Nadeau, Marie-Josée Barrett, James H The prelude to industrial whaling: identifying the targets of ancient European whaling using zooarchaeology and collagen mass-peptide fingerprinting. |
topic_facet |
historical ecology whales zooarchaeology zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry |
description |
Taxonomic identification of whale bones found during archaeological excavations is problematic due to their typically fragmented state. This difficulty limits understanding of both the past spatio-temporal distributions of whale populations and of possible early whaling activities. To overcome this challenge, we performed zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry on an unprecedented 719 archaeological and palaeontological specimens of probable whale bone from Atlantic European contexts, predominantly dating from ca 3500 BCE to the eighteenth century CE. The results show high numbers of Balaenidae (many probably North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis)) and grey whale (Eschrichtius robustus) specimens, two taxa no longer present in the eastern North Atlantic. This discovery matches expectations regarding the past utilization of North Atlantic right whales, but was unanticipated for grey whales, which have hitherto rarely been identified in the European zooarchaeological record. Many of these specimens derive from contexts associated with mediaeval cultures frequently linked to whaling: the Basques, northern Spaniards, Normans, Flemish, Frisians, Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavians. This association raises the likelihood that early whaling impacted these taxa, contributing to their extirpation and extinction. Much lower numbers of other large cetacean taxa were identified, suggesting that what are now the most depleted whales were once those most frequently used. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
van den Hurk, Youri Sikström, Fanny Amkreutz, Luc Bleasdale, Madeleine Borvon, Aurélia Ephrem, Brice Fernández-Rodríguez, Carlos Gibbs, Hannah MB Jonsson, Leif Lehouck, Alexander Cedeira, Jose Martínez Meng, Stefan Monge, Rui Moreno, Marta Nabais, Mariana Nores, Carlos Pis-Millán, José Antonio Riddler, Ian Schmölcke, Ulrich Segschneider, Martin Speller, Camilla Vretemark, Maria Wickler, Stephen Collins, Matthew Nadeau, Marie-Josée Barrett, James H |
author_facet |
van den Hurk, Youri Sikström, Fanny Amkreutz, Luc Bleasdale, Madeleine Borvon, Aurélia Ephrem, Brice Fernández-Rodríguez, Carlos Gibbs, Hannah MB Jonsson, Leif Lehouck, Alexander Cedeira, Jose Martínez Meng, Stefan Monge, Rui Moreno, Marta Nabais, Mariana Nores, Carlos Pis-Millán, José Antonio Riddler, Ian Schmölcke, Ulrich Segschneider, Martin Speller, Camilla Vretemark, Maria Wickler, Stephen Collins, Matthew Nadeau, Marie-Josée Barrett, James H |
author_sort |
van den Hurk, Youri |
title |
The prelude to industrial whaling: identifying the targets of ancient European whaling using zooarchaeology and collagen mass-peptide fingerprinting. |
title_short |
The prelude to industrial whaling: identifying the targets of ancient European whaling using zooarchaeology and collagen mass-peptide fingerprinting. |
title_full |
The prelude to industrial whaling: identifying the targets of ancient European whaling using zooarchaeology and collagen mass-peptide fingerprinting. |
title_fullStr |
The prelude to industrial whaling: identifying the targets of ancient European whaling using zooarchaeology and collagen mass-peptide fingerprinting. |
title_full_unstemmed |
The prelude to industrial whaling: identifying the targets of ancient European whaling using zooarchaeology and collagen mass-peptide fingerprinting. |
title_sort |
prelude to industrial whaling: identifying the targets of ancient european whaling using zooarchaeology and collagen mass-peptide fingerprinting. |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/357464 |
genre |
Eubalaena glacialis North Atlantic North Atlantic right whale |
genre_facet |
Eubalaena glacialis North Atlantic North Atlantic right whale |
op_source |
essn: 2054-5703 nlmid: 101647528 |
op_relation |
https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/357464 |
op_rights |
Attribution 4.0 International https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
_version_ |
1789331921103224832 |