Sea Fish and Sun Workshop - FINAL PROGRAM

Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios were measured in 157 fish bone collagen samples from 15 different archaeological sites in Belgium which ranged in ages from the 3 rd to the 18 th c. AD. Due to diagenetic contamination of the burial environment, only 63 specimens produced results with suitable C : N ratios (2.9-3.6). The selected bones encompass a wide spectrum of freshwater, brackish, and marine taxa (N ¼ 18), and this is reflected in the d 13 C results (À28.2& to À12.9%). The freshwater fish have d 13 C values that range from À28.2& to À20.2&, while the marine fish cluster between À15.4& and À13.0&. Eel, a catadromous species (mostly living in freshwater but migrating into the sea to spawn), plots between À24.1& and À17.7&, and the anadromous fish (living in marine environments but migrating into freshwater to spawn) show a mix of freshwater and marine isotopic signatures. The d 15 N results also have a large range (7.2& to 16.7&) indicating that these fish were feeding at many different trophic levels in these diverse aquatic environments. The aim of this research is the isotopic characterization of archaeological fish species (ecology, trophic level, migration patterns) and to determine intra-species variation within and between fish populations differing in time and location. Due to the previous lack of archaeological fish isotope data from Northern Europe and Belgium in particular, these results serve as an important ecological backdrop for the future isotopic reconstruction of the diet of human populations dating from the historical period (1 st and 2 nd millennium AD), where there is zooarchaeological and historical evidence for an increased consumption of marine fish.

Scientific Reprots 8, 2018

Past fish provenance, exploitation and trade patterns were studied by analyzing phosphate oxygen isotope compositions (δ 18 O PO4) of gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) tooth enameloid from archaeological sites across the southern Levant, spanning the entire Holocene. We report the earliest evidence for extensive fish exploitation from the hypersaline Bardawil lagoon on Egypt's northern Sinai coast, as indicated by distinctively high δ 18 O PO4 values, which became abundant in the southern Levant, both along the coast and further inland, at least from the Late Bronze Age (3,550–3,200 BP). A period of global, postglacial sea-level stabilization triggered the formation of the Bardawil lagoon, which was intensively exploited and supported a widespread fish trade. This represents the earliest roots of marine proto-aquaculture in Late Holocene coastal domains of the Mediterranean. We demonstrate the potential of large-scale δ 18 O PO4 analysis of fish teeth to reveal cultural phenomena in antiquity, providing unprecedented insights into past trade patterns. Fishing was an essential economic component of many ancient societies, as evidenced by the presence of fish remains, fishing gears, and fish-associated artifacts in numerous archaeological sites worldwide 1–5. In the southern Levant, past exploitation and trade of fish has been explored primarily based on the occurrences of fish bones in coastal, riverine and lake-side archaeological sites and through inference from the modern distribution patterns, habitat preferences and ecological niches of these fish species. In the Levant, this has mostly been done for fish that a priori were identified as 'exotic'. For example, the identification of key Nilotic species such as Lates niloticus (Nile perch) and Bagrus sp. (Bagrid catfish) in archeological sites of the southern Levant testified that long-range trade systems between Egypt and Canaan have emerged more than 5000 years ago (during the Early Bronze Age) 6–8. The gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata, Linnaeus, 1758) frequently appears in archaeological sites of the southern Levant, since prehistoric times (Late Pleistocene) 4–6. This species is characterised by thick-enamelled, molar-like teeth (Fig. S1), which are used for cracking shellfish (i.e., bivalves, gastropods and crustaceans) 9,10. Sparus aurata is an euryhaline and eurytherm marine fish which migrates between near-shore, inshore (lagoons) and open sea environments 11–13. Thus, while the appearance of S. aurata in inland sites clearly indicates long range trade systems 6,7 , remains of this species in Levantine coastal sites have so far been interpreted as reflecting local fishing activity 6–8. State of the art research methodologies provide multiple empirical ways to explore trade and maritime connections of desirable fish source marketing to distant places. For example, past provenance and long-range trade of fish from the North Atlantic have been studied using the C and N stable isotopes of bone collagen (Atlantic cod) 14–18 , and by aDNA analysis 18,19. However, fish bone C and N isotope analyses require the preservation of collagen, and they are limited to " young " fish because constant bone remodeling causes the isotopic signature to adjust to local conditions in adult fish 14,15. In the North Aegean (northeast Mediterranean), these analyses showed no clustering with locality or species, and for both isotopes they demonstrated a general overlap between

Newsletters on Stratigraphy, 2018

According to current hypotheses of Neogene paleoenvironmental evolution of the Mediterranean, during the terminal phase of the Messinian salinity crisis about 5.5 Ma, the entire basin was characterized by the development of non-marine paleobiotopes inhabited by brackish ostracods, mollusks and dinocysts. Such a scenario, commonly known as the 'Lago Mare' event, is considered to be the product of the combined effects of humid climate conditions and a remarkably modified drainage pattern with the capture of Paratethyan brackish waters. Some recent studies, however, have suggested that such a scenario represents an oversimplification of the original paleogeographical and paleoenvironmental context. In this paper, we report the 'Lago Mare' fish assemblages from seven Italian localities. These fish assemblages are dominated by taxa characterized by a strict marine affinity, thereby suggesting that the Mediterranean was filled by marine waters. Fossil fishes provide unambiguous evidence of the presence of normal marine conditions in the Mediterranean before the Messinian-Zanclean boundary, also demonstrating that a new paleoenvironmental interpretation of the 'Lago Mare' event is needed. The fossil record of the 'Lago Mare' event and the paleoecological relevance of fish remains for the interpretation of the nature of the Mediterranean water masses are also discussed.

Frontiers in Marine Science, 2020

Over the past two decades, the field of sclerochronology has been rapidly developing, with scientists devoting significant efforts to studying the physical and chemical variations in hard tissues of aquatic organisms. Most of this research has been limited to certain taxa and geographic areas. Although growth increments in fish otoliths are used for sclerochronology purposes, relatively little has been done in the Mediterranean Sea. According to the literature, the chemical composition of otoliths from Mediterranean fish species has primarily been used for analyzing migration patterns, habitat use, and population structure of commercially important fish species. To the best of our knowledge, there are no studies on fish growth chronology construction conducted in the Mediterranean Sea. In order to identify the opportunities for sclerochronology research on fish from the Mediterranean, we used FishBase to identify potential candidate species with a sufficiently long lifespan and clearly defined growth increments for growth chronology construction and otolith chemistry research. We also present the challenges and limitations for sclerochronology research, including: (i) very few fish species in the Mediterranean Sea have a longevity of several decades; (ii) issues associated with reliable age determination for certain long-lived fish species; (iii) a general lack of understanding and effort to constructed and manage otolith collections; and (iv) limitations imposed by the availability of funding, expertise, and instrumentation. Despite these challenges, fish sclerochronology research has strong potential in the Mediterranean and adjacent seas. Recent studies in the Adriatic Sea have resulted in the construction of bivalve chronologies and the geochemical analysis of shells, providing important time-series data for comparative analysis and a multispecies approach. Furthermore, studies conducted in other parts of the world have demonstrated great potential for the use of fish otoliths in monitoring environmental variability and the effects of pollutants and disturbance.

Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry, 2012

Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios were measured in 157 fish bone collagen samples from 15 different archaeological sites in Belgium which ranged in ages from the 3rd to the 18th c. AD. Due to diagenetic contamination of the burial environment, only 63 specimens produced results with suitable C: N ratios (2.9–3.6). The selected bones encompass a wide spectrum of freshwater, brackish, and marine taxa (N ¼ 18), and this is reflected in the d13C results (À28. 2& to À12. 9%). The freshwater fish have d13C values ...

Quaternary Science Reviews, 2018

Marine bioinvasions affect ecosystems in irreversible ways, creating socioeconomic problems worldwide. In particular, eastern Mediterranean marine fish faunas today are significantly disturbed due to overfishing, habitat deterioration, the Lessepsian invasion, and climate change. Isolating the impact of each parameter is difficult, because pre-anthropogenic activity data are lacking. In this study, we use the paleontological record to infer the causes and mechanisms behind marine fish invasions, focusing on the Mediterranean basin, which is a restricted basin and a biological hotspot, where the effects of climatic and oceanographic changes are amplified. Therefore, the Mediterranean Sea is an ideal area to study marine biological invasions in relation to abrupt climate changes. Furthermore, we focus on the Pleis-tocene, which was a period of intense glacialeinterglacial changes. Thus, we investigate the effect of climate changes on the fish fauna of an eastern Mediterranean shelf, by identifying the fish otoliths in the EarlyeMiddle Pleistocene marine sediments of Rhodes (Greece). We offer a synthesis of the Mediter-ranean marine fish from the Tortonian until today and hypothesize on the conditions that drove marine fish distribution range shifts during the Pleistocene. We reconstruct the paleobathymetric evolution of the study areas based on fish otoliths, and we consider taphonomy in our interpretations. The Pleistocene climatic variability induced periodic and gradual replacements of fish taxa. Episodic invasions of cold-water North Atlantic mesopelagic species are correlated with intervals of climatic deterioration, specifically during marine isotope stages 50, 44, 36, 20, and 18.

The aim of this study is to investigate isotopic variability in archaeological (n = 85) and modern (n = 29) freshwater fish specimens from Switzerland. Here, carbon (δ 13 C) and nitrogen (δ 15 N) stable isotope ratio analysis was performed on bone collagen samples of pike (Esox lucius), perch (Perca fluviatilis), barbel (Barbus barbus), roach (Rutilus rutilus) and carp (Cyprinus carpio) from eleven archaeological (11th to 18/19th centuries CE) and modern sites. The archaeological vs. modern fish data revealed significant isotopic differences for pike, perch and barbel (δ 13 C p ≤ 0.03; δ 15 N p ≤ 0.008), and provides possible evidence for a temporal change in Swiss aquatic ecosystems from Medieval to modern times. In comparison to archaeological fish (δ 13 C mean ± SD; −23.3 ± 1.6‰; δ 15 N mean ± SD; 8.3 ± 1.8‰), the modern fish samples show decreased δ 13 C and increased δ 15 N values (δ 13 C mean ± SD; −27.4 ± 2.3‰; δ 15 N mean ± SD; 12.5 ± 4.1‰) that can be associated with anthropogenic effects: fossil fuel combustion, deforestation and organic waste in the form of sewage and fertilizers. The isotopic signatures of archaeological fish remains indicate a local fishery practice, but also the exploitation of distant fishing grounds and freshwater fish transportation. Furthermore, a diachronic isotopic trend is observed in young perch from sites in Basel, dating between the 12th and 15/16th centuries CE, and the isotopic data from the Rhine freshwater fish (18/19th century CE) suggests that a significant shift in the river's trophic state was possibly caused by organic pollution from urban and industrial wastewater. This retrospective research illustrates possible natural processes and human activities which can cause differences in fish stable isotope data and highlights the ability to elucidate changes in past bodies of water. Furthermore, this study provides an interpretative framework for additional palaeoenvironmental studies and modern restoration projects focused on freshwater ecosystems.

2015

In this volume of Trabalhos do LARC we present the Program and Abstracts of the 18th biennial meeting of the International Council for Archaeozoology Fish Remains Working Group (ICAZ-FRWG), hosted by the Directorate-General for Cultural Heritage Archaeosciences Laboratory (DGPC LARC) and the Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources – Environmental Archaeology Research Group (CIBIO EnvArch). The meeting is aimed primarily for archaeozoologists interested in the systematic study of fish bones retrieved from archaeological sites around the world, and also to archaeologists, ichthyologists, historians, ethnographers, and fishery biologists. To this end the conference is structured to encompass a multiplicity of approaches to the study of fish remains and their contribution to our understanding of how fishing, fish trade, fish consumption, biodiversity, ecology and human impact on aquatic environments have changed through time. Trabalhos do LARC n.o 8 Lisboa, 2015 Organizing...

Fossil records of nearshore, shallow marine fish communities are rare. Here, we present the rich and diverse fish fauna of a coastal setting in the eastern part of the Mediterranean during the early Pliocene, which comprises 54 taxa, 77% of which are extant and currently occupy the same shores. We analyse these assemblages to estimate the palaeodepth, the substratum and the climatic and oceanographic conditions prevailing in the region at the time. Furthermore, we review the stratigraphic and geographic distribution of the identified taxa from the Tortonian until today, to establish patterns and trends in the evolution of the Mediterranean coastal fish fauna. Contrary to expectations, the Pliocene coastal fauna is very similar to the Miocene and to the Pleistocene in terms of functional traits as well as taxonomically. Replacements of species seem to have been gradual, through multiple extirpations and reintroductions that led to the final extinction of mostly tropical species from the basin, while subtropicaltemperate taxa invaded to take their place.

In the last decade studies have highlighted the importance of coastal areas on the environmental adaptation and social development of past societies. The Atlantic Europe and Mediterranean regions have traditionally been favourable scenarios since they provide two of the worldwide longest records of exploitation of coastal resources by past hunter-fisher-gatherers societies. Understanding the different role played by the intertidal amongst different regions is a key issue to gain a better knowledge on the diachronic and geographic patterns in the exploitation of coastal resources by hunter-fisher-gatherer societies, but also on the environment and the biology of marine organisms. Thus, using different methodologies, intertidal resources (molluscs, crustaceans, echinoderms…) can provide a wide range of information on past subsistence strategies, settlement patterns, symbolic activities and palaeoenvironmental conditions. This session will bring together a wide variety of scholars to discuss the different role of intertidal resources in the Atlantic Europe and Mediterranean regions from the Paleolithic to the Mesolithic periods. It will provide a stimulating forum for discussion of new theoretical and methodological approaches to understanding human uses of coastal resources in its climatic and palaeo-environmental contexts.