In piscibus diversis; the Bone Evidence for Fish Consumption in
Alison Locker2007
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Abstract
INTRODuCTION T his paper examines the fish-bone data from Roman sites in Britain. Earlier work collated the evidence from Iron Age sites around the North Sea 1 and sites dating from the first to sixteenth centuries a.d. bordering the southern North Sea. 2 Both of these studies included some Roman assemblages from Britain. For the rest of the country the data remained a dispersed collection of published and unpublished reports. This survey attempts to collate and examine all the evidence from fish-bone assemblages for trends in fish consumption nationally, regionally, and at different types of sites. The evidence for the Iron Age as described by Dobney and Ervynck indicated little and localised consumption of fish. Some trends, observed in a few assemblages, have been used to suggest wider implications for the Roman period, for example Nicholson has suggested there was little evidence for the consumption of deep-sea fish, such as cod and ling, in Northern Britain. 3 The quantities of fish bones are generally much smaller for the Roman period compared with a few centuries later, when fishing for herring and cod became of such commercial importance. 4 Collating these data was an opportunity to assess whether the cultural effects of the Roman invasion and subsequent occupation discernibly altered patterns of fish consumption in a manner distinct from preceding periods. There could be differences between areas or sites distinctly Roman, such as forts or towns, and native settlements. The indigenous population living close to forts and towns were most likely to absorb new and fashionable trends in food and culture, while other remote communities continued in an Iron Age tradition. By the fourth century most villa-owners were of British stock but had become integrated into Roman provincial mores. Similarly, many army officers would have been British strongly influenced by Roman culture, though with a British slant. Changes in culture affect what and how you eat, introducing new foods, cuisine, and meal structures. A mark of distinction and upward mobility, such changes may be visible from the range of fish species that were eaten, represented by surviving fish bones. King has shown evidence of Romanisation reflected in the changing proportions of cattle, sheep, and pig in bone assemblages across the Empire. 5 However there are some intrinsic problems with Roman fish-bone assemblages; they are often relatively small, even where extensive sieving has been carried out. On sites where all the bone 6
