The prelude to industrial whaling: identifying the targets of ancient European whaling using zooarchaeology and collagen mass-peptide fingerprinting

• Published in: Royal Society Open Science
• Main Authors: van den Hurk, Youri, Sikström, Fanny, Amkreutz, Luc, Bleasdale, Madeleine, Borvon, Aurélia, Ephrem, Brice, Fernández Rodriguez, Carlos, Gibbs, Hannah M B, Jönsson, Leif, Lehouck, Alexander, Martínez-Cedeira, José, 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
• Other Authors: Norwegian University of Science and Technology Trondheim (NTNU), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), University of Groningen Groningen, Universiteit Leiden = Leiden University, University of York York, UK, Archéologies et Sciences de l'Antiquité (ArScAn), Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis (UP8)-Université Paris Nanterre (UPN)-Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (MCC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), École nationale vétérinaire, agroalimentaire et de l'alimentation Nantes-Atlantique (ONIRIS), Centre de Recherche en Archéologie, Archéosciences, Histoire (CReAAH), Le Mans Université (UM)-Université de Rennes (UR)-Université de Rennes 2 (UR2)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Ministère de la Culture (MC)-Nantes Université - UFR Histoire, Histoire de l'Art et Archéologie (Nantes Univ - UFR HHAA), Nantes Université - pôle Humanités, Nantes Université (Nantes Univ)-Nantes Université (Nantes Univ)-Nantes Université - pôle Humanités, Nantes Université (Nantes Univ)-Nantes Université (Nantes Univ), Universidad de León León, University College of London London (UCL), Universität Greifswald - University of Greifswald, Universidade de Lisboa = University of Lisbon = Université de Lisbonne (ULISBOA), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas Spain (CSIC), Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Universidad de Oviedo Oviedo, Chercheur indépendant, University of British Columbia (UBC), University of Cambridge UK (CAM), University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (UCPH), This paper is funded by the MSCA-IF project Demise of the Atlantic Grey whale (DAG) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 101025598) and under the Ecology Grant of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) under grant agreement KNAWWF/747/ECO2021-13. The study received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) Synergy Project 4-OCEANS under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 951649). One sample was analysed using funding received from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no 834087 (COMMIOS). The samples from Galicia provided by CEMMA were collected as part of the ‘Galicia no Lombo da Balea II’ project, financed by the Grupo de Acción Costeria GAC-7 Ria de Vigo-A Guarda.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2023
• Subjects: historical ecology; whales; zooarchaeology; zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry; [SHS.ARCHEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Archaeology and Prehistory; [SDU.STU.PG]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Paleontology; [SDV.BA.ZV]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Animal biology/Vertebrate Zoology; [SDV.BID.EVO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biodiversity/Populations and Evolution [q-bio.PE]; Eubalaena glacialis; North Atlantic; North Atlantic right whale
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-04228568; https://hal.science/hal-04228568/document; https://hal.science/hal-04228568/file/van-den-hurk-et-al-2023-the-prelude-to-industrial-whaling-identifying-the-targets-of-ancient-european-whaling-using%20%281%29.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.230741

International audience 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.