Fishing in Denmark during the Ertebølle periodxs

Fishing in Denmark during the Ertebølle period is discussed on the basis of almost 100000 identified fishbones from 14 coastal and two inland settlements. Forty-one fish species were identified from coastal materials, 15 from inland ones. The frequency distribution of total body length of the numerically most important fish species was estimated from bone measurements, using logarithmic regression equations. Otoliths were analysed in order to provide an estimate of season of catch. The main conclusion of the study is that fishing was predominantly conducted by means of stationary fish traps with which uncritical samples of the local fish faunas were taken. Regional differences in the spectrum of species and their relative frequencies are shown to exist. Examples of connections between the coast and inland are given.     

Interpreting Urban Food Supply and Distribution Systems from Faunal Assemblages: An Example from Colonial Massachusetts

Animal bone assemblages from four historical sites in eastern Massachusetts are analysed in a comparative framework to interpret aspects of urban food systems. Characteristics of the urban environment and the nature of food supply and exchange systems are interpreted from taxonomic representation, body part representation, butchery patterns, and age and seasonal slaughtering patterns. These analyses show that specialized husbandry to supply urban markets was limited during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and that many aspects of urban food distribution systems followed traditional rural patterns. A model that explores the relation between patterning of bone collections and characteristics of urban areas is applicable to other studies of urban assemblages. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.