Archaelogical Studies of Fish
Historical records from
fisheries help to reconstruct past catches and how their composition has
changed through time. However, studies of the fish remains themselves provide
an excellent source of information, particular where not written records exist.
It is possible for
archaeologists to examine which species are represented on archaeological sites
– this figures for England shows that through the course of the medieval
period, eels gradually decline in representation (most probably due to
over-fishing) and that cod frequencies increase as deep-sea fishing
technologies became available.
The impact of human
exploitation can be examined by studying the size of fish bones, which increase
in size according to the individual’s age. Very often we see a decline in the
size of fish as fishing becomes more intensive, suggesting that populations are
no-longer able to replenish themselves
Numerous studies have been
conducted on the remains of archaeological fish around the world and
researchers have been able to highlight where fishery collapse is due to human
over-exploitation or if other factors, such as climate change, are responsible. The overwhelming evidence suggest that humans
have has a severe impact on fish stocks for longer than marine ecologists had
estimated.