Fish communities and populations during the post-Saladoid period (AD 600/800–1500), Anguilla,Lesser Antilles

Analysis of vertebrate remains from two archaeological sites indicates human exploitation did not adversely impact fish populations and fish communities during the post-Saladoid period (AD 600/800–1500) on Anguilla, northern Lesser Antilles. Barnes Bay (AL-14-BB) and Sandy Ground (AL-03-SG) are contemporaneous, large village sites located within 10 km of one another in similar terrestrial and adjacent marine environments. Despite substantial human population growth and increasing social complexity by AD 1000, residents at these sites exploited the same marine fishes and captured similar relative frequencies of fish families throughout the occupational sequence. No evidence of overfishing is found, either as a decline in the mean size of members of three fish families or in the ranges of size of these families through time. Evidence of a greater use of some members of a fourth family is found at Sandy Ground during the later post-Saladoid. It is likely that economic or social factors, rather than environmental change, contributed to this increase. By identifying specific locations where human over-exploitation did or did not impact fisheries, we may begin to distinguish patterns and characteristics which led to unsustainable fishing in the past at other sites, or in other circumstances.     

Mesolithic fishery in the Polish Lowland. Fish remains from the Site 7 at Krzyż Wielkopolski,Poland

Fish remains have been discovered at seven Mesolithic sites located mainly in central and northern Poland, an area that is known as the Lakeland of the Polish Lowland. Based mainly on the results of the identification of fish remains uncovered during the excavations at the Site 7 in Krzy? Wielkopolski (Western Poland), the conclusions were made on the locality and technique of fishery. The fish taxa represented show that the fishing showed that the fishing economy during the Mesolithic period was focused on nearby freshwater rivers and lakes. At that time, people fished primarily for Cyprinids, pike and perch. According to the archaeological finds, the basic fishing tools used by the Mesolithic communities were spears, harpoons and rods with hooks. The small fishes recovered were most probably caught by fishing traps or nets, but such artifact finds are very rare in the Polish Lowland. This paper summarises the current data on Mesolithic fishery in the Polish Lowland based mainly on the data from the Site 7 at Krzy? Wielkopolski, but also includes archaeological data collected from previous studies in the region.     

A 2500‐year record of marine resource use on Ulong Island,Republic of Palau

The paper reports fish bone and shellfish assemblages from Ulong Island in the Rock Islands of Palau, western Micronesia dating from ∼3100 to 500 BP . Use of marine resources in early prehistory appears to have been highly localised with increasing capture of outer‐reef/pelagic taxa including shark and tuna after 1000 BP . Local stocks of large Tridacnids were depleted during initial human use of Ulong Island, and there is a size decrease in Scarus sp. remains consistent with pressure on the inshore fishery, especially after establishment of permanent stonework villages in late prehistory. Comparison of archaeological assemblages of fish bone from other Rock Islands dated to after 2000 BP indicate that the captured fish species and major capture methods differ between sites and likely reflect local marine environments at each location. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

EXAMINING ICHTHYOFAUNAL REMAINS FOR EVIDENCE OF FISHING TECHNOLOGIES EMPLOYED IN GEORGIA ESTUARIES DURING THE LATE ARCHAIC PERIOD

Abstract

Previous analyses of vertebrate collections from Late Archaic (ca. 4500–3000 B.P.) shell rings on numerous Georgia sea islands indicate that fishes comprise the majority of individuals. Material culture associated with fishing is not recovered from these sites, however. Two methods are used to determine how people captured fishes using ichthyofaunal remains from five shell rings. Fish taxa are characterized according to schooling or nonschooling behaviors. Archaeological specimens representing the minimum number of individuals from the three most abundant fish families also are measured, and standard lengths of fish individuals are estimated using allometric formulae. The distribution of standard lengths are compared to expected size distributions of populations captured with specific fishing technologies, such as weirs, traps, nets, hooks, and spears. Results suggest that Late Archaic people of the Georgia coast fished estuaries using mass-capture technologies, such as weir, trap, and net fishing.     

Exploring chronic arsenic poisoning in pre-Columbian Chilean mummies

This paper explores to what extent arsenic poisoning affected pre-Columbian northern Chile populations living between Arica and Iquique cities. We hypothesize, the pre-Columbian inhabitants of this region, will show arseniasis according to modern geographic endemic levels. Continuous exposure to high levels of arsenic causes serious health problems. Today, in the Camarones valley, where many Chinchorro people lived, arsenic levels are 100 times above the 10 μg/L recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). Using laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) we determined arsenic levels in a single strand of hair of 45 Arica mummies coming from ten sites (Morro 1, Morro 1/5, Yungay 372, Camarones 8, 9, 15D, and 17 and Azapa 140, Sermenia and Patillos), ranging from Chinchorro (ca. 5000–2000 years B.C.) to the Late Intermediate Period (1000–1400 years A.D.). Each hair was cleaned using distilled ionized water and placed on double sided mounting tape and ablated using a 266 nm Nd-YAG UV laser. Hair samples were also investigated for potential diagenesis.     

Pics or It Didn't Happen: Reading Photographs in the Reef Tank Community

In 1961, Lee Chin Eng jumpstarted the reef hobby, a hobby dedicated to the modeling of coral reefs in captivity, with an article in Tropical Fish Hobbyist. He illustrated the article with eight photographs; these images were meaningful to the hobbyists viewing them and they conveyed both information about the tank system and also claims about Lee's expertise. This paper examines three genres of photographs—landscapes, active, and passive portraiture—that appeared in Lee's article and how and why they have proliferated in the reef hobbyist community over the last sixty years. By tracing the history of these genres, we can better understand natural knowledge producers rely on photographs to exchange knowledge and cement community identity.     

Raised fields in the Bolivian Amazonia: a prehistoric green revolution or a flood risk mitigation strategy?

The Llanos de Moxos (LM), Beni, Bolivia, with its impressive number of pre-Columbian earthworks, is an ideal region for studying past human–environment interactions in the Amazonia. Agricultural raised fields are among the most striking of those earthworks. They can offer us valuable information about the region’s agricultural carrying capacity and the nature and extent of human occupation in pre-Columbian times and, therefore, help adopt better informed conservation and development strategies for Amazonia in the future. However, before tackling these issues we need to further our understanding of why pre-Columbian raised fields were built and how they were managed in the past. Published data on raised fields in the LM is contrasted with new data gathered from field and remote sensing images. Raised fields have been analysed in relation to the hydrology, soil, topography and paleoclimate of the areas where they are found. In light of this new data we believe that there are grounds to question the current model that suggests raised field agriculture provided high yields without the need of fallow periods, representing a kind of pre-Columbian green revolution. Our alternative proposal suggests that raised field agriculture allowed pre-Columbian peoples to mitigate the risk of more intense and frequent flooding than is experienced today in the LM. We show that raised fields were built only in those areas where there were no alternatives, which do not coincide with those areas where pre-Columbian societies seem to have flourished and reached high levels of social complexity.     

Special Interest Capture of Regulatory Agencies: A Ten‐Year Analysis of Voting Behavior on Regional Fishery Management Councils

This article tests capture theory by analyzing voting behavior on U.S. Regional Fishery Management Councils. Some seats on the councils are reserved for state and federal agency representatives; others, for political appointees. The political appointees primarily represent special interests (specifically, commercial and recreational fishing interests); a smaller number of appointees represent public interests. We use logistic regression to model the vote of state and federal agency representatives on the councils as a function of the votes of commercial interests, recreational interests, and public interests. We find evidence that some state agencies are captured by special interests from their states, but not systematic evidence across all states. We find that state agency representatives voted with commercial interests from their own state in five of the sixteen states in our sample; with recreational interests in three states; and with both special interests in two states. These ten states support the capture hypothesis; the other six states do not. We find no evidence that federal agencies were captured on the councils. We conclude that the gubernatorial‐driven appointment process leads to capture at the state level by promoting voting blocs among state agency representatives and special interests from those states. Federal agency representatives, by contrast, are better able to maintain their distance from state‐level politics on the councils, and thereby enhance their ability to vote independently on fishery management measures.     

The House that Poison Built: Customary Marine Property Rights and the Live Food Fish Trade in the Kei Islands,Southeast Maluku

The use of cyanide to stun and capture live food fish for export first appeared in the Philippines during the mid‐1970s. Today, this technology has spread throughout Southeast Asia and the Indo‐Pacific region, causing widespread damage to coral reef ecosystems. This study examines the local political and economic changes that have resulted since this destructive trade arrived in the Kei Archipelago of the Southeast Maluku District in Indonesia. District and provincial fisheries and law enforcement officials turn a blind eye, and evidence suggests complicity by some members of the military. Many local fishermen attempt to resist, motivated more by vestigial concepts of communal village rights and rules governing access to coral reef territories and resources, than by some intrinsic sense of environmental conservation. The article challenges the romantic predisposition of indigenous knowledge systems scholarship that characterizes local knowledge and practices as inherently eco‐friendly and socially just, and argues for closer examination of the dynamics involved when local practices and institutions are integrated into larger circuits of production and trade.     

Pre-Columbian Fishing on the Coast of the Atacama Desert,Northern Chile: An Investigation of Fish Size and Species Distribution Using Otoliths From Camarones Punta Norte and Caleta Vitor

The bountiful marine resources of the northern Chilean coast offset the extreme aridity of the Atacama Desert in pre-Columbian times, underwriting permanent human occupation, and providing the basis for a long tradition of marine subsistence. We analyzed fish otoliths (n = 549) recovered from the sites of Camarones Punta Norte (occupied ca. 7,000–5,000 years ago) and Caleta Vitor (occupied ca. 9,500–300 years ago) to investigate species distribution and changes over time. We also estimated the size of the fish based on relationships between otolith weight and fish total length (TL) obtained from modern samples of the predominant species, Sciaena deliciosa. The estimated size range of S. deliciosa from Caleta Vitor included fish that were significantly larger than those from Camarones Punta Norte, with the maximum TL (970 mm) almost double the modern maximum length documented. The fluctuating abundance of fish species and other marine taxa from Camarones Punta Norte indicates intense but sporadic use of the site over the span of occupation. In contrast, human occupation of the Caleta Vitor estuary is more continuous. Comparisons of the fish assemblages with a nearby contemporaneous site, Quebrada de los Burros in southern Peru, suggest that fishing technologies were similar along this section of the Pacific coast.     

考古学所见长江三峡夏商周时期的渔业生产

本通过对考古发现的长江三峡渔具和鱼类遗骸的统计分析,将该区域内夏商周时期的渔业生产分为东、西两大区域,并对两区的鱼具及鱼类进行归纳、分析和比较,指出研究先秦渔业,对认识三峡古代化、中国渔业史和鱼类生态,具有重要的意义。     

Estimation of Age,Growth and Fishing Season of a Palaeolithic Population of Grayling (Thymallus thymallus) Using Scale Analysis

The fish remains sampled from archaeological sites are generally the result of human food refuse; therefore, the study of retrieved fish scales may provide reliable information on the season of capture and on paleoclimate and paleoenvironmental changes. Among Western European freshwater fishes, the grayling, Thymallus thymallus ¸ has the most easily recognizable scales and is a commonly recovered species from Palaeolithic contexts. This study, therefore, is based on the growth pattern analysis of modern and archaeological scales from grayling specimens. The modern specimens were collected monthly in France (n  = 22), Switzerland (n  = 16), Finland (n  = 20) and Sweden (n  = 10). Scale growth patterns were measured using numerical analysis to a high accuracy. The results showed that the archaeological population of grayling is closer to the present Finnish population. Furthermore, the comparison of seasonal growth patterns between current and archaeological European populations demonstrated that graylings were normally captured during the spring at Le Taillis des Coteaux Magdalenian site. This type of approach can be used to understand environmental conditions at a low spatial scale and also to help identify fishing seasons during archaeological periods. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fishery in prehistoric and medieval Tallinn,Estonia

During archaeological excavations in central Tallinn, Estonia, many fish bones were collected among other archaeological finds. As these were salvage excavations conducted under limited time and cost restraints, only a very small part of the removed soil could be examined for fish bones. In such hasty conditions, the only option was to take soil samples from selected areas and carry out water sieving in the laboratory. This procedure resulted in the recovery of a variety of fish remains. Also, a previous conclusion that only large fish were captured is re-evaluated. This paper focuses on two recently excavated medieval sites in Tallinn: Tartu Road 1 and Vabaduse Square. In Vabaduse Square, a Late Neolithic settlement was also discovered under the medieval layers. The analysis of the three different assemblages of fish bones from the two sites, which were collected by somewhat different methods, contributes to our knowledge on fishing and fish consumption in Tallinn's past.     

New insights into the consumption of maize and other food plants in the pre-Columbian Caribbean from starch grains trapped in human dental calculus

In a first region wide study, starch grains from human dental calculus from the pre-Columbian insular Caribbean (dating to ca. 350 B.C.–A.D. 1600) are used to identify important plant foods in the diet and to assess potential dietary differences related to age or sex. Results give important insights into pre-Columbian maize (Zea mays) consumption throughout the region, confirming recent studies that indicate that maize was more commonly consumed in the insular Caribbean than originally thought. No age or sex based differences in maize consumption were found. Furthermore, based on the results of new experiments regarding grinding and pressure damage to starch grains, it is clear that maize in the Caribbean was ground, baked and consumed as bread as was the case in large parts of the mainland. Based on our results we tentatively suggest maize consumption in the Caribbean was at least in some cases associated with feasting and ceremonial activities. The variety in other plant foods identified (mostly tuberous root crops) shows that the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the region consumed a broad spectrum, but locally variable diet in which a variety of root crops functioned as staple crops, including marunguey (Zamia sp.) and sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas). We found no indications for the traditionally assumed heavy reliance on manioc (Manihot esculenta) cultivation in the region.     

Contours of the Past: LiDAR Data Expands the Limits of Late Pre-Columbian Human Settlement in the Santarém Region,Lower Amazon

Recent studies have shown that pre-Columbian societies in the Amazon undertook significant landscape modifications, including earthworks. Our fieldwork has revealed that pre-Columbian settlements in the Santarém Region, Lower Amazon, were not limited to the vicinities of permanent water courses, as formerly often assumed. Instead, numerous archaeological sites, dating from ca. a.d. 1300 up to the time of European colonization in the seventeenth century, have been found in an upland area known as the Belterra Plateau, south of the present-day city of Santarém. These upland sites have been found to be associated with particular features in the landscape: cavities or depressions, known locally as “Poços de Água”. LiDAR data shows that a pattern of non-randomly distributed depressions extends far into the densely forested Tapajós National Forest (Flona-Tapajós), allowing us to suggest that the expansion of inland settlement extended considerably farther to the south than what has previously been established through conventional archaeological fieldwork.     

Marine trophic levels targeted between AD 300 and 1500 on the Georgia coast,USA

The marine trophic levels targeted during Swift Creek (AD 300–700) and Savannah (AD 1200–1500) occupations at the Cathead Creek site (9Mc360) and at two sites from the Kings Bay Locality (9CAM171a, 9CAM177), coastal Georgia, USA, differ in a consistent temporal and spatial pattern. Vertebrate and invertebrate remains from these three coastal sites contain similar suites of estuarine animals. However, Swift Creek peoples at these distinct hydrological settings obtained more biomass from fishes and less from molluscs compared to the subsequent Savannah occupants. The two Swift Creek faunal collections are less rich, more diverse, and more equitable than the two subsequent Savannah collections regardless of location. Furthermore, the mean trophic level is higher in the Swift Creek collections compared to the Savannah ones at both locations. These observations apply to both biomass and Minimum Number of Individuals. These differences likely are defining characteristics distinguishing the Swift Creek and the Savannah economies. More research is needed to determine the extent to which these temporal and spatial patterns are attributable to environmental and cultural variables.     

Seasonality of human site occupation based on stable oxygen isotope ratios of cod otoliths

Oxygen isotope ratios (δ¹⁸O) were measured in micromilled samples of cod otoliths recovered from two Stone Age sites, one from Skoklefald, southeastern Norway and five from Skipshelleren, southwestern Norway. Discrete samples of otolith material were milled from the edge of the otolith towards the centre, each sample representing 3–4 weeks of growth. The δ¹⁸O values showed seasonal signals, covering a period 1–2 years prior to the time of capture. Isotope ratios at the edge of the otoliths, which is the material deposited at the time of fish capture, corresponded to the coldest seasonal water temperatures, in late winter or early spring. These data provide independent evidence for the season of use of the Skoklefald and Skipshelleren sites.     

Tropical Cyclones in the Great Barrier Reef,Australia, 1910–1999: a First Step Towards Characterising the Disturbance Regime

The proximity of a reef to a tropical cyclone path is the simplest means of estimating the potential for disturbance (that is, physical damage from waves) at that reef. Calculated for cyclones that tracked across a sample of reefs spanning much of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) from 1910 to 1999, such proximities provide a preliminary history of cyclone disturbance in that region for which spatial and temporal trends can be examined. As the long‐term dynamics of cyclone disturbance affect the structure and function of coral reef communities, the disturbance regime can be used to consider whether the current state of coral communities (as measured in 1999) represents that which was present over the entire time series, and whether the frequency of cyclone disturbance across the GBR is high (limited recovery time between events) or intermediate (variable recovery time between events) in nature. This analysis reveals that for more than half of the GBR, the latest major disturbance occurred less recently than normal for the time series (current communities had more time for recovery than usual) and that these disturbances are generally intermediate in frequency. However, because many factors other than distance affect the potential for disturbance, these results represent a first step towards characterising the nature of cyclone disturbance across the GBR.     

Fjord fishing in Mesolithic Western Norway

Recent excavations at two rockshelters (Olsteinhelleren and Sævarhelleren) on the Hardanger fjord in Western Norway have provided an unparalleled opportunity to examine the Mesolithic subsistence economy of this region. Thousands of fish remains (as well as numerous mammal and bird bones) have been analysed from these assemblages. Results show that the fishery was dominated by gadids, but labrids and salmonids were also important. Many other fish were present in small quantities, including the first specimen of sturgeon from the Stone Age of Norway. The transition to a more specialised fishery at the younger site, Olsteinhelleren, may be a reflection of a switch to the use of this locality as a logistic camp for the targeting of gadid fish.     

Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis on the diet of Jomon populations from two coastal regions of Japan

We report on a stable isotope paleodietary reconstruction of Jomon populations in Japan during the Middle to Final Jomon period (ca. 5000–2300 years BP), focusing on dietary differences within and among populations and between regions. Carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis was performed on human and faunal bone collagen from six coastal sites along the Inland Sea in the Sanyo (Ota, Funamoto, and Tsukumo) region and along Mikawa Bay and the Pacific Ocean in the Tokai (Kawaji, Yoshigo, and Inariyama) region. We found that carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios were positively correlated, indicating that the Jomon people consumed a mixed diet of marine (shellfish and marine fish) and terrestrial (C₃ plants and terrestrial mammals) protein. In the Ota samples (n = 25, during the Middle Jomon period, 5000–4000 years BP), sex was one of the main reasons for the intra-population dietary variation. Ota males consumed greater amounts of marine food, while Ota females consumed greater amounts of terrestrial food; these dissimilar diets may have been related to the sexual division of labor. Significant inter-population dietary differences were found, which may have been related to differences in age or site location. Notably, the two coastal regions showed clear isotopic differences. Nitrogen isotope ratios of individuals from the Sanyo region were significantly higher than ratios of individuals from the Tokai region. The individuals in the Sanyo region might have consumed a diet high in aquatic foods, particularly high trophic level marine fish, whereas the individuals in the Tokai region might have consumed a lot of marine shellfish. Another possible reason for the regional isotopic difference might have been different baseline of nitrogen isotope ratios of the marine ecosystems.