1
|
van den Hurk Y, Sikström F, Amkreutz L, Bleasdale M, Borvon A, Ephrem B, Fernández-Rodríguez C, Gibbs HMB, Jonsson L, Lehouck A, Cedeira JM, Meng S, Monge R, Moreno M, Nabais M, Nores C, Pis-Millán JA, Riddler I, Schmölcke U, Segschneider M, Speller C, Vretemark M, Wickler S, Collins M, Nadeau MJ, Barrett JH. The prelude to industrial whaling: identifying the targets of ancient European whaling using zooarchaeology and collagen mass-peptide fingerprinting. R Soc Open Sci 2023; 10:230741. [PMID: 37711146 PMCID: PMC10498027 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.230741] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2023] [Accepted: 08/21/2023] [Indexed: 09/16/2023]
Abstract
Taxonomic identification of whale bones found during archaeological excavations is problematic due to their typically fragmented state. This difficulty limits understanding of both the past spatio-temporal distributions of whale populations and of possible early whaling activities. To overcome this challenge, we performed zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry on an unprecedented 719 archaeological and palaeontological specimens of probable whale bone from Atlantic European contexts, predominantly dating from ca 3500 BCE to the eighteenth century CE. The results show high numbers of Balaenidae (many probably North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis)) and grey whale (Eschrichtius robustus) specimens, two taxa no longer present in the eastern North Atlantic. This discovery matches expectations regarding the past utilization of North Atlantic right whales, but was unanticipated for grey whales, which have hitherto rarely been identified in the European zooarchaeological record. Many of these specimens derive from contexts associated with mediaeval cultures frequently linked to whaling: the Basques, northern Spaniards, Normans, Flemish, Frisians, Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavians. This association raises the likelihood that early whaling impacted these taxa, contributing to their extirpation and extinction. Much lower numbers of other large cetacean taxa were identified, suggesting that what are now the most depleted whales were once those most frequently used.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Youri van den Hurk
- Department of Archaeology and Cultural History, University Museum, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
- Groningen Institute of Archaeology, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Fanny Sikström
- Department of Archaeology and Cultural History, University Museum, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Luc Amkreutz
- National Museum of Antiquities, Papengracht 30, 2301EC Leiden, The Netherlands
- Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, Einsteinweg 2, 2333 Leiden, The Netherlands
| | | | - Aurélia Borvon
- CNRS, UMR 7041 ArScAn Equipe Archéologies Environnementales, Nanterre, France
- Laboratoire d'Anatomie Comparée, ONIRIS (École Nationale Vétérinaire, Agroalimentaire et de l'Alimentation, Nantes-Atlantique), Nantes, France
| | - Brice Ephrem
- CNRS, UMR 6566 CReAAH Laboratoire Archéosciences, University of Rennes, Campus de Beaulieu, 35042 Rennes Cedex, France
| | | | | | - Leif Jonsson
- Osteology, Aschebergsgatan 32, Gothenburg, SE 41133, Sweden
| | - Alexander Lehouck
- Abbey Museum of the Dunes, Koninklijke Prinslaan 6–8, 8670 Koksijde, Belgium
| | - Jose Martínez Cedeira
- Coordinadora para o Estudio dos Mamíferos Mariños, Rúa do Ceán, No 2, 36350 Nigrán, Pontevedra, Spain
| | - Stefan Meng
- Institute of Geography and Geology, University of Greifswald, Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn Strasse 17A, 17487 Greifswald, Germany
| | - Rui Monge
- UNIARQ – Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Letras, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, 1600-214, Portugal
| | - Marta Moreno
- Instituto de Historia - CSIC, Albasanz 26-28, Madrid, 28037, Spain
| | - Mariana Nabais
- Institute of Geography and Geology, University of Greifswald, Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn Strasse 17A, 17487 Greifswald, Germany
- IPHES-CERCA - Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, Zona Educacional 4, Campus Sescelades URV (Edifici W3), 43007 Tarragona, Spain
- Departament d'Història i Història de l'Art, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Avinguda de Catalunya 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain
| | - Carlos Nores
- INDUROT – Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Ordenación del Territorio, Universidad de Oviedo, Mieres, 33600, Spain
| | - José Antonio Pis-Millán
- Centro de Experimentación Pesquera, Dirección General de Pesca Marítima, Gobierno del Principado de Asturias, 33212 Gijón, Spain
| | - Ian Riddler
- Independent Researcher, Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig, Germany
| | - Ulrich Schmölcke
- Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology (ZBSA), Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig, Germany
| | - Martin Segschneider
- Lower Saxony Institute for Historical Coastal Research, Viktoriastrasse 26/28, 26382 Wilhelmshaven, Germany
| | - Camilla Speller
- Department of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, 6303 NW Marine Drive, Vancouver V6T 1Z1, Canada
| | | | | | - Matthew Collins
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- The Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Kobenhavns, Denmark
| | - Marie-Josée Nadeau
- National Laboratory for Age Determination, NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Erling Skakkes Gate 47b, 7491 Trondheim, Norway
| | - James H. Barrett
- Department of Archaeology and Cultural History, University Museum, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| |
Collapse
|