Interpreting the expansion of sea fishing in medieval Europe using stable isotope analysis of archaeological cod bones

Archaeological fish bones reveal increases in marine fish utilisation in Northern and Western Europe beginning in the 10th and 11th centuries AD. We use stable isotope signatures from 300 archaeological cod (Gadus morhua) bones to determine whether this sea fishing revolution resulted from increased local fishing or the introduction of preserved fish transported from distant waters such as Arctic Norway, Iceland and/or the Northern Isles of Scotland (Orkney and Shetland). Results from 12 settlements in England and Flanders (Belgium) indicate that catches were initially local. Between the 9th and 12th centuries most bones represented fish from the southern North Sea. Conversely, by the 13th to 14th centuries demand was increasingly met through long distance transport – signalling the onset of the globalisation of commercial fisheries and suggesting that cities such as London quickly outgrew the capacity of local fish supplies.     

Detecting the medieval cod trade: a new method and first results

This paper explores the potential of stable isotope analysis to identify the approximate region of catch of cod by analysing bones from medieval settlements in northern and western Europe. It measures the δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values of cod bone collagen from medieval control samples collected from sites around Arctic Norway, the North Sea, the Kattegat and the Baltic Sea. These data were considered likely to differ by region due to, for example, variation in the length of the food chain, water temperature and salinity. We find that geographical structuring is indeed evident, making it possible to identify bones from cod caught in distant waters. These results provide a new methodology for studying the growth of long-range trade in dried cod and the related expansion of fishing effort—important aspects of the development of commercialisation in medieval Europe. As a first test of the method, we analyse three collections of cod bones tentatively interpreted as imported dried fish based on a priori zooarchaeological criteria. The results tentatively suggest that cod were being transported or traded over very long distances since the end of the first millennium AD.     

Die (neue) Rolle der Landwirtschaft bei der Umsetzung der EU-Wasserrahmenrichtlinie Erfahrungen aus Nordrhein-Westfalen

Die Wasserrahmenrichtlinie (WRRL) wird im Vergleich zur FFH- und zur Vogelschutzrichtlinie, deren Anforderungen etwa acht Prozent der Landesfl?che von Nordrhein-Westfalen (NRW) betreffen, mit aufzustellenden Bewirtschaftungspl?nen fl?chendeckend ganze Flusseinzugsgebiete erfassen und damit in ihren Auswirkungen für die Landwirtschaft alles Bisherige weit in den Schatten stellen. Insofern hat sich die Landwirtschaft recht frühzeitig in den Umsetzungsprozess der EU-WRRL aktiv eingebracht – angefangen von der Bestandsaufnahme über das Monitoring bis zu den jetzt anlaufenden Ma?nahmenprogrammen.