Oceans Past Northern Seas Synthesis

Fish bones recovered from archaeological excavations provide one of the most direct windows onto past human use of marine resources, and how aquatic ecosystems have changed through time. They illuminate environmental and economic history, and can guide contemporary fisheries and conservation decisions. Hitherto, this evidence base has been informative but dispersed, in diverse (including unpublished) reports and many languages. The Oceans Past Northern Seas Synthesis aims to transform the value of this resource, the result of decades of meticulous specialist laboratory work, through quantitative meta-analysis and systematic data publication.

The project covers finds from around the Baltic, North, Irish, Celtic, Norwegian and Barents Seas, over the last two thousand years.听 Pilot research, under the auspices of the听听(the European Cooperation in Science and Technology), already draws on c.1000 archaeological assemblages including approximately one million identified fish bones.

The data are proxies for environmental change. They reveal human impacts on aquatic ecosystems, including potential habitat changes and overfishing. They indicate economic and demographic developments, such as rising (and falling) urban demand, changing long-range trade and episodes of ecological globalization. They illuminate differing foodways, within and between social groups, which influenced the practices of both fishing and aquaculture.

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The research will culminate in an atlas of changing human use of aquatic resources over the last two millennia, from Estonia to Ireland, Arctic Norway to the Rhineland 鈥� a resource for all who value the denizens of rivers, lakes and seas.

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Project Partners

Rachel Ballantyne听1, Monica D眉tting听2, Anton Ervynck听3,听听4,听听5,听听6听听7, Hans Christian K眉chelmann听8, Alison Locker听9,听Lembi L玫ugas听10,听11,听听6, Rebecca Nicholson听12,听听13,听Inge van der Jagt听14,听听2,听听2

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1-听McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Department of 91探花视频, 91探花视频, Cambridge, UK

2-听, Brussels, Belgium

3-听, Brussels, Belgium

4-听, Southampton, UK

5-听, Kirkwall, UK

6-听, Dublin, Ireland

7-听, Bergen, Norway

8-听, Bremerhaven, Germany

9-听Escaldes-Engordany, Andorra

10-听, Tallinn, Estonia

11-听Laboratory for Natural Environment Reconstruction,听, Toru艅, Poland

12-听, Oxford, UK

13-听, York, UK

14-听, Amersfoort, Netherlands

Funder

European Cooperation in Science and Technology

91探花视频

Department of 91探花视频