| Summary: | Hunting for marine mammals, mainly the seal species found in the Baltic Sea has long been on Gotland. Much research has been done on how and when seals have been hunted, mainly in the cave Stora Förvar on Stora Karlsö off the west coast of Gotland and on Ajvide. Hunting for porpoises has also occurred, the only whale species that live in the Baltic sea, but not to the same extent as hunting for seals in the Baltic Sea. This master thesis aims to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between animals and humans by studying the hunting of marine mammals in the Baltic sea from a long-term perspective. The questions for this thesis is to understand how hunting methods have changed, evolved and the economic purpose of hunting marine mammals. For this thesis, six case-studies have been chosen to enable discussion about the hunting in more depth. These six case-studies are from different places and time periods on the island of Gotland were bones from seals and whales have been deposited. The result shows that four seal species and one whale species were hunted during different time periods on the island of Gotland and these were the harp seal, ringed seal, harbour seal, grey seal and the porpoise. These mammals have been an important source for food especially during the stone age but also throughout the later time periods.
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