medieval fisheries of Galicia (Northwestern Iberia): A preliminary archaeozoological overview

The origin and development of the Iberian Medieval fisheries is a poorly documented phenomenon both from the standpoint of historical (documentary) and material (archaeological) evidence. Such dearth of knowledge can be explained in terms of proximal (i.e., a deficient retrieval of fish remains) and ultimate causes. Among the latter, the Muslim invasion, that lasted ca. 800 years of the “medieval millennium” in the Iberian Peninsula, needs to be taken into account as it probably delayed the development of fishing fleets within the Christian kingdoms for a substantial period of time. Be it as it may, the lack of knowledge does not allow one to explore a range of critical issues of Spanish and Portuguese history, such as the role played by the ever-expanding fishing fleets of Portugal and Castilla in the process of maritime discovery and colonization that these two kingdoms fostered by the end of the Middle Ages. In this paper, the results from a comparative analysis of selected fish assemblages from primary (i.e. coastal) deposits of the northern Iberian shores are presented. The aim is to check whether changes can be documented both at the level of (1) the range of species occurring in sites from the late Iron Age (Castreña culture, IV-I BC) to the Late Middle Ages (XV AD), and (2) the skeletal spectra of certain species that could reveal a differential processing of taxa meant for local consumption and those that appear in inland sites.

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Fish and other faunal remains from a Late Iron Age site on the Letaba River, Kruger National Park

Koedoe ◽

10.4102/koedoe.v34i1.407 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 34 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ina Plug ◽

Paul Skelton

Keyword(s):

Iron Age ◽

National Park ◽

Fish Population ◽

Faunal Remains ◽

Late Iron Age ◽

Hunting Strategies ◽

The People ◽

Large Numbers ◽

Fish Remains ◽

Insight Into

Fish remains from Late Iron Age sites in the Transvaal are relatively scarce. It seems as if the people did not utilize the riverine resources extensively. Therefore the unique assemblage of large numbers of fish bones on a Late Iron Age site, provides some insight into the fish population of a section of the Letaba River a few hundred years ago. The presence of other faunal remains provides some information on prehistoric utilization of the environment in general. Hunting strategies and aspects of herding can also be deduced from the faunal remains.

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KERAMIČKI NALAZI S LOKALITETA GLAVICE – STARA POVLJANA U KONTEKSTU PRAPOVIJESNIH NASELJA NA OTOKU PAGU

Miscellanea Hadriatica et Mediterranea ◽

10.15291/misc.3170 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Morana Vuković ◽

Zrinka Serventi

Keyword(s):

Early Modern ◽

Middle Ages ◽

Iron Age ◽

Early Modern Period ◽

Late Middle Ages ◽

Modern Period ◽

Arable Field ◽

Ceramic Vessels ◽

Prehistoric Settlements ◽

Archaeological Excavations

Numerous remains of ceramic vessels were discovered during the archaeological excavations carried out in 2012 at the site of Glavice near Stara Povljana on the island of Pag. Some of these finds can be attributed to the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Period (indicated also by the finds of Venetian coins), and others are clearly dated to the prehistoric period, predominantly Iron Age. The aforementioned remains were discovered around and even within the heavily damaged dry stone structures, which, although they cannot be precisely dated to either prehistoric or later periods, indicate the longevity of use of this site for habitation. Due to the context of these finds it is highly possible that the prehistoric settlement was organized on the plateau below the nearby hill and adjacent to the arable field, which is considered to be atypical for the area and indicates a possible change in settlement placement patterns. Therefore, in this paper we shall analyse fragments of prehistoric vessels, their consistency, typology and decorations, and place them in the context of prehistoric finds in the wider territory as well as evaluate the importance of this site in the overall distribution of prehistoric settlements on the island of Pag.

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Ornitofauna from the archaeological sites in Vojvodina (Serbia)

Zbornik Matice srpske za prirodne nauke ◽

10.2298/zmspn1325111r ◽

2013 ◽

pp. 111-118

Author(s):

Darko Radmanovic ◽

Desanka Kostic ◽

Jelena Lujic ◽

Svetlana Blazic

Keyword(s):

Middle Ages ◽

Iron Age ◽

Roman Period ◽

Archaeological Sites ◽

Early Iron Age ◽

Migration Period ◽

Vertebrate Fauna ◽

Late Iron Age ◽

The Middle Ages

After decades-long vertebrate fauna research, out of 42 archaeological sites in Vojvodina (Serbia) from different periods ranging from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages, remains of birds were registered at 17 sites (4 from the Neolithic, 1 from the Early Iron Age, 7 from the Late Iron Age, 5 from the Roman Period, 1 from the Migration Period, and 4 from the Middle Ages). A total of 14 species and 4 genera were registered for this vertebrate class. The richest ornithofauna is from the Neolithic, where 9 species and 3 genera were registered. The Migration and Medieval periods are next with 4 registered species and one genus each. There were 3 species registered from the Roman Period, and 2 species from the Late Iron Age. The poorest ornitofauna was registered from the Early Iron Age, only one species.

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Anarchistic action. Social organization and dynamics in southern Scandinavia from the Iron Age to the Middle Ages

Archaeological Dialogues ◽

10.1017/s1380203819000151 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 26 (2) ◽

pp. 61-73

Author(s):

Trine Louise Borake

Keyword(s):

Social Organization ◽

Middle Ages ◽

Iron Age ◽

Social Engagement ◽

General Interest ◽

Network Organization ◽

Late Iron Age ◽

Human Intentionality ◽

And Migration ◽

The Middle Ages

AbstractA general interest in centralized institutions, state formation and prestige objects has dominated research on social organization and dynamics in Scandinavia from the Late Iron Age to the Middle Ages. Accordingly, a focus on kingly power, aristocratic influence, hierarchies and warrior might has dominated archaeological research designs for the last forty years. Subsequently, other perspectives have been evaded and their significance has been diminished. In this article, I use anarchistic principles as an analytic perspective and present examples of anarchistic actions – network organization, justified leaders and decentralization – drawing on well-known but ambiguous phenomena such as thing sites, the southern Danish defence system Danevirke, and migration and mobility. I suggest a perspective that recognizes resistance, authority and decentralization as well as centralization and institutionalization, allowing a broad spectrum of social engagement and interrelations to influence social organization. I will argue that human intentionality has been overlooked in favour of structures and institutions, and that the power of network organization and decentralization is influential in shaping social organization and dynamics.

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Early human impact on soils and hydro-sedimentary systems: Multi-proxy geoarchaeological analyses from La Narse de la Sauvetat (France)

The Holocene ◽

10.1177/0959683620950390 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 (12) ◽

pp. 1780-1800

Author(s):

Alfredo Mayoral ◽

Salomé Granai ◽

Anne-Lise Develle ◽

Jean-Luc Peiry ◽

Yannick Miras ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Middle Ages ◽

Iron Age ◽

Late Antiquity ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Anthropogenic Impacts ◽

Late Neolithic ◽

Societal Factors ◽

Late Iron Age ◽

Middle Bronze Age

We analysed the late-Holocene pedo-sedimentary archives of La Narse de la Sauvetat, a hydromorphic depression in the southern Limagne plain (central France), where chronologically accurate studies are scarce. The multi-proxy geoarchaeological and palaeoenvironmental analysis of two cores from different areas of the basin was carried out through sedimentological, geochemical, micromorphological and malacological investigations. Integration of these datasets supported by a robust radiocarbon-based chronology allowed discussion of socio-environmental interactions and anthropogenic impacts from Late Neolithic to Early Middle Ages. Until the Middle Bronze Age, there was no clear evidence of anthropogenic impact on soils and hydro-sedimentary dynamics of the catchment, but two peaks of high alluvial activity probably related to the 4.2 and 3.5 kyr. BP climate events were first recorded in Limagne. Significant anthropogenic impacts started in the Late Bronze Age with increased erosion of the surrounding volcanic slopes. However, a major threshold was reached c. 2600 cal BP with a sharp increase in the catchment erosion interpreted as resulting from strong anthropogenic environmental changes related to agricultural activities and drainage. This implies an anthropogenic forcing on soils and hydro-sedimentary systems much earlier than was usually considered in Limagne. These impacts then gradually increased during Late Iron Age and Roman periods, but environmental effects were certainly contained by progress in agricultural management. Late Antiquity environmental changes are consistent with regional trend to drainage deterioration in lowlands, but marked asynchrony in this landscape change suggests that societal factors implying differential land management were certainly predominant here.

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Hvordan endret byggeskikken seg på Borg? En analyse av fire utvalgte hus på Borg, Vestvågøy fra yngre jernalder til høymiddelalder

Viking ◽

10.5617/viking.9090 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 85 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Elin Tinuviel Torbergsen

Keyword(s):

Middle Ages ◽

Iron Age ◽

Living Room ◽

Limited Access ◽

Late Iron Age ◽

Local Resources ◽

House Construction ◽

High Middle Ages

The purpose of the analysis was to highlight how the building tradition at Borg, Lofoten, Norway, changed from the Late Iron Age to the High Middle Ages. The construction elements such as roof-bearing posts, doorways, fireplaces, walls, and room divisions were compared between Borg I:1a, Borg I:1b, Borg II and Borg III. The results of the analyses emphasized that the building tradition at Borg changed in regard to house construction, size of the buildings and the division of rooms. The residents of Borg traditionally built longhouses with combined living room and byre from approx. 600 AD to the year 1300 AD. It is argued that limited access to local resources, such as timber, led to the residents retaining much of the same building tradition for approx. 700 years.

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Symbolic of metal caldrons in the nomad culture

Samara Journal of Science ◽

10.17816/snv201762204 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

pp. 114-117

Author(s):

Gulnara Sainovna Jumabekova ◽

Galiya Appazovna Bazarbayeva

Keyword(s):

Middle Ages ◽

Iron Age ◽

Population Change ◽

Social Rank ◽

Southern Urals ◽

The Southern Urals ◽

Funeral Rite ◽

Late Middle Ages ◽

Culture Development

The paper briefly traces the symbolic role of the metal caldrons from the Early Iron Age. This category of items can be considered as attributes of the elite and aristocracy. Experts identified the connection of the caldron (kazan) with the funeral rite in the Middle Ages, traced its role as a marker of high social rank people. This dependence is also traced on the example of population change as a whole. These include the Jetysu district (South-Eastern Kazakhstan), the Southern Urals in the era of the early nomads, and the interfluve of the Dnieper and Volga in the late Middle Ages. Burials of men with a cauldron and other attributes of power in the era of the early and medieval nomads, probably indicates the fulfillment of their economic and military duties. The example of the functional purpose of boilers states the succession of the nomadic culture in the use of the power attributes. The value of the metal boiler along with some elements of the object complex (hryvnia, etc.), laid down even in the period of nomad culture development as a symbol of representatives of high rank people, preserved for thousands of years.

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Vegetation history reconstructed from anthracology and pollen analysis at the rescue excavation of the MO Motorway, Hungary

Open Geosciences ◽

10.2478/s13533-011-0036-0 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 3 (4) ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Katalin Náfrádi ◽

Elvira Bodor ◽

Tünde Törőcsik ◽

Pál Sümegi

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Middle Ages ◽

Iron Age ◽

Vegetation History ◽

Analytical Data ◽

Fruit Trees ◽

Climatic Conditions ◽

Copper Age ◽

Migration Period ◽

Late Iron Age

AbstractThe significance of geoarchaeological investigations is indisputable in reconstructing the former environment and in studying the relationship between humans and their surroundings. Several disciplines have developed during the last few decades to give insight into earlier time periods and their climatic conditions (e.g. palynology, malacology, archaeobotany, phytology and animal osteology). Charcoal and pollen analytical studies from the rescue excavation of the MO motorway provide information about the vegetation changes of the past. These methods are used to reconstruct the environment of the former settlements and to detect the human impact and natural climatic changes. The sites examined span the periods of the Late-Copper Age, Late-Bronze Age, Middle-Iron Age, Late-Iron Age, Sarmatian period, Late Sarmatian period, Migration period, Late-Migration period and Middle Ages. The vegetation before the Copper Age is based only on pollen analytical data. Anthracological results show the overall dominance of Quercus and a great number of Ulmus, Fraxinus, Acer, Fagus, Alnus and Populus/Salix tree fossils, as well as the residues of fruit trees present in the charred wood assemblage.

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Identity, Gender, Religion and Economy: New Isotope and Radiocarbon Evidence for Marine Resource Intensification in Early Historic Orkney, Scotland, UK

European Journal of Archaeology ◽

10.1177/1461957104056502 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 7 (3) ◽

pp. 249-271 ◽

Cited By ~ 64

Author(s):

James H. Barrett ◽

Michael P. Richards

Keyword(s):

Middle Ages ◽

Iron Age ◽

Viking Age ◽

Radiocarbon Dates ◽

Protein Consumption ◽

Late Iron Age ◽

Cultural Contingencies ◽

First Millennium ◽

Fish Trade ◽

Marine Protein

Stable isotope measurements and radiocarbon dates on 54 burials from northern Scotland document trends in marine protein consumption from the late Iron Age to the end of the Middle Ages. They illuminate how local environmental and cultural contingencies interrelated with a pan-European trend towards more intensive fishing around the end of the first millennium AD. Little use was made of marine foods in late Iron Age Orkney despite its maritime setting. Significant fish consumption appeared in the Viking Age (ninth to eleventh centuries AD), first in the case of some men buried with grave-goods of Scandinavian style but soon among both sexes in ‘Christian’ burials. There was then a peak in marine protein consumption from approximately the eleventh to the fourteenth centuries AD, particularly among men, after which the importance of fish-eating returned to Viking Age levels. The causes of these developments probably entailed a complex relationship between ethnicity, gender, Christian fasting practices, population growth, long-range fish trade and environmental change.

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Charcoal and pollen analyses and vegetation reconstruction of the Alpine foreland in West Hungary

Open Geosciences ◽

10.2478/s13533-012-0104-0 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 4 (4) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Katalin Náfrádi ◽

Pál Sümegi ◽

Tünde Törőcsik

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Middle Ages ◽

Iron Age ◽

The Holocene ◽

Related Information ◽

Late Iron Age ◽

Imperial Period ◽

Alpine Foreland ◽

And Migration ◽

Pollen Analyses

AbstractIn the area of archaeological excavations that were performed prior to the construction of Main Road No. 86 in Vas County (West Hungary) in the Alpine foreland new geoarchaeological analyses have been conducted. We used anthracology and pollen analyses to reconstruct the former vegetation cover at the study site. Charcoal data provide site-related information about the local woodland composition, management and human impact, while pollen data provide information on the arboreal and non-arboreal vegetation on a regional or local scale. Adequate samples for anthracological analyses derive from the Bronze Age, Iron Age, Imperial and Migration Periods and Middle-Ages archaeological objects. The core for pollen analyses originates from alluvial sediments of the Borzó Creek and covers the late Pleistocene and the Holocene until the Medieval Period. Charcoal analyses show the dominance of Quercus trees in the vicinity of the human settlements that might indicate a strong human selection, or the fragmentation of samples. Pollen analyses indicate thermophilous vegetation from the beginning of the Holocene, with increasing values of Fagus and Carpinus. Pollens of cereals indicate human activity, which is also demonstrated by the presence of pollen from Juglans and Vitis in the Iron Age sequence. Extensive forest clearance occurred in the Late Iron Age and the Imperial Period.

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