Ancient Fishing

Hunting and gathering from the sea and seashore have played an important role in the rural economy of north Northumberland since early prehistory, with the collection of shellfish, hunting of birds and seals, trapping of crab & lobster, netting of salmon & herring and line fishing for cod & mackerel all important at various times.  Today, the remaining fishing industry between Spittal and Bamburgh is focused almost exclusively on crab and lobster fishing from Lindisfarne, complemented by a modern oyster farm at Ross Point and the continuing, ad hoc collection of shellfish from the shore. Observations made amongst (and by) the fishermen of Lindisfarne have shown that the manufacture and use of creels for trapping crabs and lobster has changed gradually, through improvement, adaption to new materials and changing regulations since their introduction in the mid-19th century right up to the present. Particularly revealing have been the detailed recollections, humorous and analytical, of ex-fisherman Ralph Wilson, who began learning and working with his father in the early 1960s, a time of some change in the manufacture and use of crab and lobster creels. Ralph's father was a full-time fisherman who made all his own creels, as did all fishermen at that time and, indeed, until relatively recently when commercially made creels became popular.

Well preserved food remains from a submerged settlement on the Argus Bank bear witness to the human consumption of fish, game, nuts and fruit. d15N data derived from the bones of the inhabitants show that aquatic food was the dominant source of their dietary protein. The d13C measurements demonstrate that much of this protein derived from marine animals, probably high trophic level fish. The isotopic data also imply that the two children represented in the analyses were predominantly breast-fed up to the age of 2-3 years. In addition these data indicate that an adult female consumed more marine protein than two males, while a dog consumed food of a lower trophic level than the humans.

During the late 1970s and 1980s we excavated a 3,000 year old wet site and 900 year old Rockshelter at the mouth of the Hoko River, Washington State, USA. Even though much of the photographic recording was in color slides and black and white film, we undertook to scan over 3000 representative images from the excavations and this is indexed for both sites, including a way to virtually excavate in 5 cm levels in the Hoko Rockshelter.

The digital image links at this site for the Rockshelter (45CA21) shell midden (~900 years old; Late Period) include:  Introduction to the Rockshelter, Digital Excavation, Harris Matrix, Shell Midden Profile Drawings and Stratograms, and Camp Life Images.

For the Hoko Wet and Dry Site (45CA213; ~3,000 years old—Locarno Beach Phase) digital links include: Wet/Dry Site Artifacts, Wet Site Stratigraphy, and Dry Site Stratigraphy.

Therefore, a comprehensive coverage of the digital image data for both of these National Register of Historic Places sites, representing 3,000 years of preserved heritage on the Northwest Coast of North America.

Also the first and second final volume of the The Hoko River Archaeological Site Complex are available through Washington State University Press (1-800-354-7360), and entitled The Hoko River Archaeological Site Complex, the Wet/Dry Site (45CA213), 3,000 – 1,700 B.P. (1995) and The Rockshelter (45CA21), 1,000 – 100 B.P. (2005) and posted as books here in Academia.edu.

As an add-on data base we wanted to make this HOKO RIVER SITE COMPLEX DIGITAL IMAGE ARCHIVE available in Academia.edu.  You may find it helpful for research and to help in classes as an example of a virtual excavation of a shell midden. The software is certainly aging, but at least we have much more of these important Northwest Coast sites documented in this manner. Any input appreciated

The Late Period (700 B.P. to Spanish contact) archaeological record of the central California coast provides opportunities to evaluate models of hunter-gatherer-fisher land use. Along the San Simeon Reef region in northern San Luis Obispo County, prevailing models of human adaptations during this interval are characterized by an abandonment of coastal habitats and littoral resources in favor of interior locations and terrestrial game and flora.  Based on an analysis of data collected during excavations at two single-component sites (CA-SLO-71 and CA-SLO-115), ethnographic information, and existing archaeological information I argue that Playano populations continued to use littoral environment through Spanish contact.
Living in rich and diverse coastal and pericoastal locations, the Playano developed distinctive means for coping with unique environmental and social circumstances. Subsistence remains and artificial evidence clearly show a trajectory of intensifying marine resources that is apparent along several lines of evidence. These includes an expansion of diet breadth, an increased dependency on marine fisheries, a shift to lower-ranking terrestrial species, and an increase in resources such as marine mammals that potentially equate to higher search and handling costs.  Intensification of local resources is also apparent in the increased use of thermal alteration, possibly indicating drying fish for storage and trade.  Late Period settlement patterns appear relatively mobile, with primary and secondary residential sites predominately situated along the coast and procurement locations in near coastal valleys. The transportation of marine shellfish at the on-set of the Late Period to Lower Nacimiento Valley Watershed sites 30 km east of San Simeon Reef provides compelling evidence of coastal access by interior groups or an interior-marine resource trade.  The drought conditions associated with the Medieval climatic anomalies, between 100 and 900 B.P. and again at 800 and 650 B.P., appear to have transformed resource availability and were a precursor to transitions in settlement patterns.

Although models for the development of fishing settlement in northern Norway from the Iron Age to the early modern period have been debated for many years, archaeological documentation of the process remains inadequate. This article employs a case study from the small island of Borgvær in the Lofoten Islands to elucidate the shift from temporary fishing based occupation in the Merovingian Period (AD 550-800) to more permanent farm mound settlement established by the late Viking Age to early medieval period (c. AD 1000-1100) and continuing up until the 18th century, followed by intensive fishing station settlement in the 19th to early 20th century. Borgvær is a microcosm reflecting the transformation of fishing settlement from small scale seasonal activity to more formalized control as part of a redistributive economy in the Viking Age and followed by intensive commercialized cod fishing in the medieval to early modern period.

Recovering garum sauce has been a multidisciplinary project. Many researchers from different disciplines have been
involved in this work, such as biologists, archaeologists, chemists, zoologists and many others. Garum sauce was a very popular and
valuable food in the Roman era. However, its production process is still unknown, and few remains have been found in the ancient
world. The aim of this study was to implement a technical approach to determine the preparation methods for ancient garum. The
study starts from remnants of the last garum from Pompeii in AD 79. The archaeometric studies, combined with archaeological
research and experimental archaeology methods have increased our knowledge of the contents and allowed us to develop a
production method for this type of fish sauce.

After the breaching of the Agger Tange in 1825 the fishing communities of the Western Limfjord in Northern Jutland (Denmark) went through a time of economic crisis. In response to these difficult circumstances two innovations were introduced: the sjægt (a new type of fishing vessel) and Danish seine fishing.  Through case studies this paper examines the historical background and impact of these important innovations in times of crisis at the Western Limfjord.

This paper presents the audience of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 as the crowd with the disciples observing Jesus providing his promised "fishing lessons".  This paper outlines some of the mnemonics and rhetorical devices used in a persuasion and teaching program designed to be memorized and taught.  This paper focuses on the immediate context of the range of conflicts providing background to the request for the crowds (not just the disciples) to pray for their worst enemies (persecutors) and all those in lesser conflicts.  This was presented to the Scholars Forum of the Network of Biblical Storytellers August 5, 2014.  A 25 minute interaction session followed led by Dr. Phil Ruge-Jones and Dr. Tom Boomershine.

: Alors que la chasse est bien illustrée dans l'art rupestre saharien, pêche et navigation sont rares voire absentes des parois. Ces deux activités ont existé sur les côtes, sur le Nil et dans les zones humides continentales, plus fréquentes au Sahara méridional et surtout au Tchad. Les peintures montrent des poissons, des barques montées par des pêcheurs à la ligne, d'autres utilisent un épervier ou harponnent un hippopotame… La distribution des habitats indique que vers la mi-Holocène, des populations étaient installées au nord du Méga-Tchad et autour de nombreux lacs dont ils "dessinent" les paléorivages. La navigation - depuis  8000 ans au SO du  MégaTchad -  et la pêche ont progressivement disparu avec la péjoration climatique qui a asséché les lacs du BET et réduit le Méga-Tchad.

While hunting is well illustrated in Saharan rock art, fishing and navigation are rare or even absent from wall art. Both activities existed on the coasts, along the Nile and in the continental wetlands,  more frequently in the southern Sahara and especially in Chad. Rock art displays fish, boats manned by fishermen, some using rod and line, others using a sparrow hawk or  harpooning  hippopotamuses ... Habitat distribution indicates that by the mid-Holocene, populations were settled in the North of Lake Mega-Chad as well as around many palaeolakes whose shoreline they delineated. Navigation - which began 8,000 years ago in the SW of Mega-Chad - and fishing  gradually disappeared with the worsening climate which dried up the BET lakes and reduced the size of Mega-Chad.

Hydrographic features dominate the Olmec heartland. Fishing, travel, transport, and trade via watercraft were essential parts of daily life. This chapter synthesizes archaeofaunal, iconographic, and biological data about human–animal relationships during the Formative period in the Gulf Coastal lowlands of Veracruz, Mexico. Aquatic environments were reliable sources of physical sustenance for the Olmec and Epi-Olmec, and fresh-water fish, turtles, and local and migratory water birds made up the daily diet. Animals found in marine environments were elevated to a sacred status and venerated in iconography, and jade and ceramic effigies and pendants became important parts of spiritual sustenance.

The second article is “Ancestral fishing techniques and rites on ‘Anaa Atoll, Tuamotu Islands, French Polynesia", authored by Frédéric Torrente. His article is an important contribution to the environmental knowledge and fishing techniques of traditional societies on Polynesian atolls. An important feature is that some of the fishing techniques used by the community on ‘Anaa before the evangelisation of the Tuamotu Islands are described, based on local knowledge narrated by Paea-a-Avehe and Teave-a-Karaga, the last two holders of ‘Anaa’s pre-Christian local knowledge.

This article argues that the “hauling scene” (458–728) of Aristophanes’ Peace is modeled on a distinctive fishing technology, the beach seine, and not, as is commonly held, on the hauling of heavily freighted commercial vessels into port. The dance and song of the comic chorus’ halieutic rescue of the goddess Peace evoke mythological and aetiological narratives of the recovery of talismanic objects from the sea and the confinement of maidens with strong fertility associations. The netfishing theme contributes to the creation of a comic succession myth in which Peace is characterized as a maternal figure whose procreative capacities are obstructed by the personified War, who seeks to prevent the flourishing of human and agricultural fertility.

In Luke 5:1-11, the Bible describes a miraculous event. Peter and his fishing partners caught so many fish that both of their boats started to sink. 1 We wanted to know the economic impact to Peter and his partners from this catch of fish. Using the dimensions of a boat from approximately the same time and location, we estimate that a total of 62,696 pounds of fish filled the two boats. A wage and commodity price law from 301 AD indicates this gave each of the four fishing partners 24.5-36.4 years' salary at General Laborer rates, or 12.1-18.2 years at the skilled labor rates, depending on the fish's quality. With modern financial advice saying one needs 25 years' expenses in savings to live entirely from the interest, this put Peter and his partners in good stead to leave the fishing business and work for God full time. Introduction and Background: While preparing study guides for the book of Luke, 2 we came to the story of Peter letting Jesus use his boat to preach a sermon to the people on the shores of Lake Gennesaret, another name for the Sea of Galilee 3. After He was finished using the boat, Jesus asked Peter to go back out into the lake, and let down his nets for a draw of fish. Peter decided to do it, and pulled in a record catch. He called his fishing partners over to help him, and the Bible says that both the boats were starting to sink because of the significant number of fish. After this large catch of fish, Peter and his partners decided to leave the fishing profession, and be full-time disciples.

"Harvesting the Sea provides the first systematic treatment of the exploitation of various marine resources, such as large-scale fishing, fish salting, salt and purple-dye production, and oyster and fish-farming, in the Roman world and its role within the ancient economy.
Bringing together literary, epigraphic, and legal sources, with a wealth of archaeological data collected in recent years, this study shows that these marine resources were an important feature of the Roman economy and, in scope and market-oriented production, paralleled phenomena taking place in the Roman agricultural economy on land. The book also examines the importance of technological innovations, the organization of labour, and the use of the existing legal framework in defence of economic interests against competitors for the same natural resource."

The human settlement of the Pelagie Islands is marked by discontinuity from the prehistory to the modern era.
The location of the islands in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea gives them a strategic relevance as a landing point along the maritime trading routes but at the same time both the geographic isolation and the exiguity of the resources severely interfere with a durable settlement.
Every time that the archaeological research confirmed the human presence on the islands, it can be always connected to the broader events affecting more generally the Mediterranean basin. So it is in the prehistory, when the islands are involved in the Mediterranean overseas trade earlier for obsidian and later for metal supply or during the Roman Empire, when the marine resources were exploited on large scale, or even in the Late Antiquity when a whole community in disagreement with the central power for religion and politics exiled itself to the border of the Vandalic Reign.

The mouth of the Brisbane River is today one of Australia's largest ports. This study reconstructs the Aboriginal use, Dreaming stories and Aboriginal history of the area. It particularly examines the use of the river mouth as an important crossroads, waterway and dugong-hunting area.

Comparison of the Galilean fishing industry with that of the Graeco-Egyptian industry as it is reflected in numerous documentary papyri offers several important conclusions about the organization and profitability of fishing and the degree to which fishermen were embedded in other economic networks First, the requirements of fishing meant that fishermen were necessarily connected with multiple “upstream” suppliers of materials essential to fishing and also to intensive supervision and surveillance of landlords and tax officials. Second, some data suggests that fishermen likely enjoyed a level of income well above subsistence. Third, the fishing industry had multiplex connections with other social and economic sectors. It is perhaps because of the instrumental role that fishermen, tax supervisors, and their network connectivity played in the dissemination of the early Christ cult that of the early named members of Jesus’ entourage, it is only fishermen and tax collectors who are identified specifically in relation to their trade.

Tartaron, Thomas F., 2018. "Geography Matters: Defining Maritime Small Worlds of the Aegean Bronze Age," in J. Leidwanger and C. Knappett, eds., Maritime Networks in the Ancient Mediterranean World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 61–92.

Un gran nurrìero di trattati e poemi didattici furono dedicati nell'antichità alla pesca. Il più esaustivo a noi giunto è il poerrra in cinque atti di Oppiaro, Halieutica, scritto verso il 180 d.C. Oppiano, nato sulle coste della Cilicia, ebbe modo di conoscere direttarnente la vita quotidiana dei pescatori, trasferendo queste conoscenze nella sua opera.

This dissertation examines changes in Haida economic adaptations during the late pre-contact and early contact periods in Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia). This was primarily achieved through the analysis of faunal and artifactual assemblages recovered from archaeological excavations at eight village sites in Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site (southernmost Haida Gwaii). In addition, extensive syntheses of early historic accounts, ethnographic descriptions, and previous archaeological work provide context for the interpretation of the archaeological data and complementary data on the economic responses of the Haida to European contact and the maritime fur trade.

The new archaeological data presented in this dissertation, combined with previously published results, form the basis of a detailed description of the nature of Haida economic adaptations during the late pre-contact period (ca. 500 AD to 1774 AD). Most notably, these data clarify a previously recognized shift from a more generalized, rockfish-oriented economy to a more specialised, salmon focused economy between 1,200 BP and 800 BP. These distinct economic adaptations, now widely demonstrated for southern Haida Gwaii, have been formalized as an earlier Xyuu daw Phase (ca. 2,000 BP to 1,000 BP) and a later Qayjuu Phase (ca. 1,000 BP to contact), both within the previously described late Graham Tradition.

While the maritime fur trade and the incorporation of the Haida into the European capitalist world system increased the focus of the Haida on the hunting of sea otters, altered the Haida seasonal round, and introduced new items of material culture, it had relatively little impact on the Haida subsistence economy. Salmon continued to dominate Haida subsistence, while the majority of the introduced material culture was non-utilitarian or was incorporated into existing cultural practices. In contrast, European traders were forced to adopt a degree of Haida tradition into trade practices, and in many cases were dependent on the Haida to meet their own subsistence needs. More profound changes to Haida culture, including the rise of Haida economic dependency on the world economy, arose during the subsequent period of increasing European encroachment and settlement.

This paper examines historical concentrations of certain animals between the fifth and the fourteenth centuries, subdivided into time periods. Differences and similarities found in the archaeozoological material contribute to debates concerning the collapse of the Roman world and the establishment of new medieval structures.

Il volume riassume le conoscenze sulla pesca e il consumo nell’antichità del tonno e delle specie affini, presentandole con la terminologia propria della disciplina archeologica, ma con lo sforzo di usare un linguaggio narrativo più esplicito del gergo specialistico. In base alle fonti, letterarie, epigrafiche e archeologiche (interpretazione degli impianti di pesca e trasformazione, iscrizioni su anfore, resti ossei), e con il metodo del confronto etnoarcheologico con le tonnare moderne, si restituisce la tonnara tradizionale all’antichità.

The term ‘aquatic adaptations’ refers to the subsistence strategies that ancient Mesoamericans implemented to survive and thrive in their environments. In this book, I discuss the natural settings, production sites, techniques, artifacts, cultural landscapes, traditional knowledge, and other features linked to human subsistence in aquatic environments. The present study is based on analyses of the following activities: fishing, hunting, gathering, and manufacture (among others), all of which were integral elements of aquatic lifeways. The main aspects of Mesoamerican aquatic adaptations examined here include, in addition to the aquatic lifeways themselves, salt-making, and intensive agriculture developed and practiced in lakes and marshes. The study adopts a perspective based on ethnoarchaeology and ethnohistory, complemented by archaeological field data.

The closure of most Mediterranean and Atlantic coastal tuna-fishing sites, or almadrabas, during the last thirty years, and the transformation of some into tourist attractions, has triggered an interest in a fishing technique that has been used since ancient. This paper aims to contribute to the study of almadraba and related fishing techniques, especially concerning its origins. Our goal is not a technological reconstruction or an ethnographic description of tuna fishing, but to study the fishing activity in its context within different historical periods, from the perspective of both archaeology and cultural anthropology, with special attention to the following aspects:
• The physical and biological preconditions for tuna fishing.
• Fishing techniques and available sources of information.
• The historical development of ownership and management models, and the consequent “territorialization” of the coast.
• The general economic context and the commercial implications of coastal tuna fishing with almadrabas and related techniques.

Bruken av faste fiskeinnretninger i innsjøer og små og store vassdrag er lite
utforsket fra arkeologisk side her til lands. I forbindelse med prosjektet Arkeologi på nye veier, som gjennomfører registreringer og utgravninger i forbindelse med ny E39 mellom Ålgård og Lyngdal, har det kommet for en dag at anlegg for fiske av ål utgjør en vesentlig del av den synlige kulturminnebestanden på Høg-Jæren og i Dalane. I denne artikkelen ser vi nærmere på denne høyst spesielle fisken som ressurs i historisk og regionalt perspektiv, og drøfter forekomsten, bruken av og alderen til de ulike anleggstypene.

ABSTRACT: Underwater archaeological exploration along the Israeli coast revealed fish remains, fishing
gear and auxiliary implements. These were recovered from submerged prehistoric villages, anchorages,
harbors, fishing grounds and shipwreck sites. Prehistoric fishing techniques included free diving fishing
and fishing by nets and hooks. A set of fishing gear recovered from a Roman shipwreck off the Carmel
coast included netting tools, fishing hooks, lead sinkers, and auxiliary tools. The sinkers found in this
wreck, some decorated, enabled the identification of cast net(s), passive standing nets and beach seines. A
discovered set of artifacts used for fishing by light include cast net sinkers, a fishing spear, an iron fire
basket and a sounding weight. Auxiliary implements found in Israel include sounding weights for fishing
ground location, grapnels and rings for salvaging lost gear and coral harvesting gear. Documents written
by ancient authors and mosaics helped in identifying the recovered fishing artifacts.

KEYWORDS: FISHING, ISRAEL, PREHISTORY, PROTOHISTORY, CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY,
FISHING GEAR, FISHING METHOD

Enrique García Vargas, Eufrasia Roselló Izquierdo, Darío Bernal Casasola
y Arturo Morales Muñiz (219): "Salazones y salsas de pescado en la Antigüedad. Un primer acercamiento a las evidencias de paleocontenidos y depósitos primarios en el ámbito euro‑mediterráneo", en Bernal Casasola, D. y Jiménez Camino, R. (eds.),  Las cetariae de Ivlia Tradvcta Resultados de las excavaciones arqueológicas en la calle San Nicolás de Algeciras (2001‑2006. Editorial Universidad de Cádiz. Monografías de Historia y Arte.

Kerala is the only region in India where fish resources are rich and no other state possesses fish workers as intelligent and work conscious as those in Kerala
Kerala is one of the leading maritime states in India. The state of Kerala situated in the south west part of peninsular India has a slender stretch of land with a long surf beaten coast on the western side and a lush green mountain range on the eastern side. The marine resources of Kerala are obtained from a coastline of 560km. The state has a geographical area of 388635km .The Kerala coast popularly known as Malabar Coast from very early times, provides one of the richest fishing zones in the world.

Excavations at the Bronze Ages site of Akrotiri on Thera island, Greece, have uncovered the remains of at least three diffeerent processed fish products.  These finds suggest that fish processing, which is, so far, better understood in later periods, was already a mature, well articulated activity in the Bronze Age. The paper presents these finds and discusses their economic and culinary significance.

Magdala | Parte i. La antigua ciudad de Magdala 6 | el pensador OCT 2013 7 Bimá: ‫:המיב(‬ Tarima; pl. Bimot -‫.)תומיב‬ Estrado en el centro del Bet Knéset (sinagoga), sobre el que está colocada una mesa para la lectura de la Torá, la Haft ará y las Meguilot. La B. es empleada también para decir drashot (prédicas). Las comunidades orientales la usan además como púlpito del shalíaj tzibur (ofi ciante). Antiguamente el público acostumbraba sentarse alrededor de la bimá., dirigiéndose a ella; así lo hacen los judíos orientales hasta el presente. Los ashkenazies, en cambio, se sientan mirando hacia el arca. En sinagogas modernas se trasladó la bimá. al frente, cerca del arca sagrada. 8 Especialista en historia del arte e iconografíajudía. 9 Comunicación personal 10 Candelabro de siete brazos, es uno de los elementos principales que decoraban el Sancto Sanctorum en el templo en Jerusalén y que después será identifi cado como uno de los símbolos principales del Judaísmo. 11 El Primer Templo fue construido por el rey Salomón para sustituir al Tabernáculo como único lugar de sacrifi cio del pueblo judío, fue destruido por los babilonios en 587 a.C. El Segundo Templo fue completado en 515 a.C., en el reinado del rey persa Darío I. Suntuosamente reconstruido por Herodes el Grande y sus sucesores, fue destruido defi nitivamente por las tropas romanas al mando de Tito en el año 70 d.C., en el Sitio de Jerusalén durante la revuelta de los zelotes. 12 Zapata Meza, Marcela (2006) Las religiones del mundo: historia, fi losofía y credo; Universidad Anáhuac México Sur-Miguel Ángel Porrúa; México. 13 El Magadala Center tiene como objetivo el recibir a los peregrinos que visiten la región del Mar Galilea, al norte de Israel. Este complejo turístico consiste en la construcción de un hotel o centro para peregrinos, un restaurante, una capilla ecuménica, un centro de estudios dedicado a resaltar la dignidad de la mujer, un visitor center y un parque arqueológico con su museo de sitio. El terreno donde se realiza la construcción del Magdala Center está ubicado en Magdala a orillas del Lago Kineret o Mar de Galilea, a 6 kilómetros al norte de la capital de la región, Tiberíades y a un kilometro al sur del moderno pueblo de Migdal.

Ancient Greek and Roman written sources describe in detail the economic and symbolic value of purple color, but are virtually silent on the primary producers of the dye, the fishermen. This paper focuses on the fishing methods employed for the exploitation of the Muricidae shellfish for the production of purple dye in Greece from Classical times to the Roman period. This is done by combining zooarchaoelogical, written and ethnographic evidence, in order to achieve a multiple approach to the first steps of purple dye production. Certain works by Aristotle and other later writers are the starting point of the investigation
into how the ancient Greeks understood the physiology of Muricidae, the factors influencing the quality of purple dye
and the methods employed for their capture. Subsequently, the authors explore the physical aspects of fishing for purple shellfish
and the early stages of their processing, based on its material remains, both artefactual/architectural and bio-archaeological. Ethnography and experimentation are also employed. It appears that the fishing was done with the combined use of baited traps, diving and perhaps complementary use of small dip net fishing.