Int

rodu
ctionto
ar
chaeo
logica
lfishrema
ins

Gu
ide29

BA
JRP
rac
tica
lGu
ideSe
rie
s
HannahRus
sAHRCPhDRe
sea
rche
r
Novembe
r2009
©he
ldbyau
tho
rs
 An Introduction to archaeological fish remains

This guide aims to outline the importance of fish remains in the understanding of people in the
past, discussing what fish remains can tell us and why they tend not to receive the same attention as
mammal bones.

This document was created by

Hannah Russ
AHRC PhD Researcher
Division of AGES
Phoenix Building SW
University of Bradford
BD7 1DP

hannahruss1@yahoo.co.uk

Working with fish-bones was getting under his skin!

 An
Int
rodu
ct
ion
toa
rcha
eolog
ica
lfishr
ema
ins

1
.A
im
Thi
s guide aim sto ou t
linetheimpo r
t anceo ffi shr em a
insinthe
under
standingo fpeopleinthep a
st
,discussingwh atfishrem a
inscantel
l
usandwh ytheyt endnottorece
ivethesamea t
tentionasm amm albones
.
Ita
lsoprovidesap ra
c t
ica
lguidetothereco ve
ryforfishrem a
insandab r
ief
int
roduct
ionto identifica
tionandan a
lys
is
.A l
is
tofu sefu
lresourc
esforthe
ident
ificat
iono ffishr ema
insfromarchaeologica
lsi
t es
isinc
ludedforthose
whowishtopu rsuean int
eres
tinfishrem ains.

2.
Whyco
lle
ctfi
shrema
ins
?
F
ishhascons
ti
tutedanimpor
tantpar
tofthehum andie
tduring man
y
pe
riod
sinthepast
.However
,fishremainscant
el
lus much moreabou
t
humanbehav
iourth
anju
stes
tabl
ish
ingdiet
.

G
iventheapp ropr
iateresource
sfi shremainscan
indic
ate
:
• Wh a
tt ypeoffisha rebeingeaten
• S
itetype–p rocessororconsume r
• P
ro c
es s
ing method s
• Te
chno log
icalcap ab
il
it
ies–e.g
. i
ftheyareu
singboa
tstoe
xplo
it
deepse afish
• Wh a
tk ind
soffi shingge a
risbeingused
• Iffishingw asase asona
la ct
iv
ity

F
ishr em a
instendtorece
ive muchlessatten
tionthanther emain
sof
mamm a
lsreco
vered
fromar
chaeolog
ica
lsi
tes
.Therearesev
era
lreasons
for
thi
s(seebelow),bu
tthe
ident
ificat
ionoffishbonesfromasi
teis
impo r
tant
asi
tw il
lallowa morecomple
teinte
rpreta
tionofhum anli
fe(espec
ia
ll
y
d
iet)inthep a
st
.

• F
ishbonescanbever ysma
ll
,andtherefo
reonlyrecove
redby
env
ironmenta
lsampling
• F
ishboneiden
tifica
tionisd
iffi cu
ltandtherearefewspeci
al
is
ts
• F
ishiso
ftennotconside
redanimportantdie
taryresou
rce

Beaware
!P eoplea
renottheonlyagentstha
tdeposi
tfishrem
ains
.Fo
r
mos
tsi
teshum ansc
anbeident
ifiedastheaccumu
lat
ionagen
tsb
asedon
theas
soci
atedfindswi
thindi
scree
tcontext
s.

Atsomesi
testhisa
ssoc
iationis mu
ch mored
iffi cu
lt–fo
rex amp
lewhe re
therei
scomplexst
rat
igraphyorwherethe
rehasbeenheavybio
turbat
ion
.
Itisimpo
rtanttobesurethatyouh avefi
shbonesthatar
edepo si
tedby
peoplebe
foreinte
rpret
ationsrega
rdinghumand ie
tande conom yare
made.
 An
Int
rodu
ct
ion
toa
rcha
eolog
ica
lfishr
ema
ins

3.
Whyco
lle
ctfi
shrema
ins
?

F
ishbone sshou ldsu
rviveonanysitesw erem amm a
l
ianandavianboneis
prese
rved,the yareusual
lyabsentina c
idicsoi
ls.Commoncon t ex
ttypes
wh
i chf
requen tlyy
ie
ldfishrem a
insincludecavedepo si
ts
,la
tr
ines
,m iddens
andp i
tsd atingto mostper
iods.Fishscales
,de rm a
ldent
ica
ls
,t eethand
os
sifiedc ar
tilagecanalsoberecov e
redfroma rchaeolog
ica
lsi
tesinsome
cases
.Allc anbeu sedintheidentificat
ionofspe cies
,al
thoughfi shsca
le
ident
ification i
sav e
ryspeci
al
istarea.

4.
Wha
tspe
cie
smigh
tyoufindandwhy
?

Thechem ica
landph ysi
calcharacterist
i c
soffi shbone svary
betw eenspe cies;th i
seff e
ctsthe irr epresentat
ioninthe
archaeologicalre cord
.Somespe cies
,su chastheA tlantic
cod( Gadus morhua )h avefa
ir
l yrobu stbone s
, whi
lebone s
ofothe r
s,su cha sthelump -fi sh( C
yclopte
ridae)arep aper
t h
i n
. I
t i salsot houghtt ha
t A
tlan
ticCod
Lump-Fish
thev aryinglipidcon tentin
fishbone sofdiff e
rentspe c
iesh asaneff e
ct
onp r e
se rvat
ion,al
though li
tt
ler esearchhas
beendoneonth i
s.Spe c
iesrep r
e senta
tion
a
l sov ariesb ype r
iodandlo ca
tion.P r
iorto
theRom anpe riod,m ar
inespe c
ie sa re morecommononco as
talsi
tes,
whi
lef reshw a
t erspe ciesareu su al
lyfoundfu rtherinland.D i
ad romou s
species(fi shth att ravelbetw eenf r eshwaterand m a
rineen vironmen t
s
–su chass almon ,troutandee ls)c anbefoundonbo thco as
t a
land inland
s
it e
s.Inlaterperiod s
,whenp r
e serv a
tionandt ransporta
tionme thod sh a
ve
imp roved,m arinespe c
iescanbe foundons i
tesm anym i
lesfromtheco as
t.
Certa
inspe c
iesw erealso moreo rlesspopu la
rdu r
ingc ert
ainpe riods
,for
examp le
,the med ie v
alpe r
iodi sknownfo rafo cusoncodfi shingfo rthe
tradeo fdriedcoda crossEurope (B a
rr et
tetal.2008)
.

Ba
rrett
,J.
,C.Johnstone
,J.Har
land
,W .VanN e
er
,A.Ervynck
,D.M akow
ie c
ki
,D.Hein
ri
ch,A.K
.
Huf
th amm e
r,
I.B
.Enghoff,C.Amund sen
,J
.S.Chr
ist
ian
sen,A.K
.G.Jones
,A.Lock
er
,S
.H ami
lton
-
Dye
r,L.Jons
son,L.Lõugas
,C.Rober
ts&M .Ri
chards2008
.
Det
e c
tingthem edieva
lcodtr
ad e
:an ew me
thodandfi r
stre
sult
s.
Journalo
fArchaeolog
ica
lSc
ience35(
4):850
-861
.

5.
Whi
chfi
shpa
rtsa
rep
resen
tandwhy
?

S
im il
a r
ly,somes keletalelementsare mo refrequentlyrecov e
redth an
others.Une vens keleta
lelemen trep
r e
sentat
ionp attern
sa reo f
tenu sed
toin terpre
tfi shp ro ces
singbeh av
iour
.Fo re xample,atG rot
tad iPo z
zo
(anUppe rP a
l aeo
lith
i ccavesi
teinc ent
ralI
t a
ly)therew erem an ycranial
e
lemen tsandf ewv e
rtebrae
.Iinte
rpretedthisastheu seofthec avea sa
processingsi
t e
,whe retheheads(andpo ss
iblytai
ls
)o ffishw ereremo ved
toaidthet ransport a
tion(byreduc
ingw e
ightandsize)toanothe r
lo cat
ion
forcon sumption,andth a
tthism ayalsoimp l
yth atthefi sh w e
rebe ing
preservedinsome w ay–e i
therbysmo k
ing,salt
ingo rairdrying.O ther
s
itesy ieldabund antv er
tebrae
,bu tv e
ryf ewo rnoc ran
ialr emains.In
 An
Int
rodu
ct
ion
toa
rcha
eolog
ica
lfishr
ema
ins

manycasesthe sesitesm a
ybe interpr
etedascon sump tionsites–whe re
fishh avebeenb rough tafterther emo va
lofthehe ad( andpo ss
iblytai
l)
por
tions
.Elemen tr epresentat
ionp at
ternsc analsobeaff ectedb yglue
mak
ing,coo k
ingandd isposalpractices
.How ever
,a
llint erpreta
tionsshould
be madea ftercon s
ide r
ingar angeo ftaphonom icp rocessesthatcould
crea
tesimilare lemen trepresent a
tionp at
terns
.Theeff ec
tso fdigest
ion,
b
ioturbat
ion,bu r
ia
lcond it
ion s
,tramp l
ingandan im als cavengingareal
lto
beconsideredbe forein te
rpr e
tation.Someo fthesep roc e
ssesh avebeen
inves
tigatedqu i
tetho roughly,how eve
r
,m anyha veno t
.The reisagr e
at
needforfurtherr e
se a
rch,espe ci
allyinexper
imen talt aphonom y
.

6.
Howtore
cove
rfishbone
s

Insomec ase sfi shbone sc anbeh andco l

le ctedon-s
itea longw itho the
r
fauna
lrem ain s
,the sewil
lt ypi
c a
l
l yrepre
sen ttherem ainso fthelargerfish
spec
iessucha sA tlan
ticcod(Gadu s mo
rhua )andA t
lanti
cs a
lmon( Salmo
sa
lar)
.Toen sureanun -biased representa
tiono ffishspeciessedimen tsneed
tobee i
therw eto rdrysiev ed
,o rprefer
ablyt akena sbulken v
ironmen ta
l
samplesfo
rflo tat
ion (
seeF igure1).E v
enw iththe la
rgerfishr em a
insitcan
bebenefici
al tota keareaswithcon centra
tion sasbulksamp lesforflotation
whi
chw i
llcau selessd amagetothebone s
.

Inca se
s whereskele
tal materia
lisex tremelyfragi
lei t mayno tbe
poss
ibletore
coverfishremainsintac
t,inthesecase
sgoodpho tographs
wi
ths cale
sa rethe best way ofp reserv
ingthein fo rmation
.Iti s F
igure1:LynneGard
iner-
al
sou sefu
ltopho tographanyrema insthatarea r
ticulatedpriorto Jon
esusingth
eFlota
tion
tankatBi
rni
e(2006)
excavat
ionasthi
sinformationcanbeu sefu
lforinte
rp retat
ion.

7.Iden
tifi
cat
ionand
inte
rpre
tat
ion
.

F
i sh boneiden t
ificat
ionc an beat r
i ckyprocess
,andsome thingth at
requiresexperienceande xper
ti
se.I
ti show ever
,some th
ingthatc anbe
selftaughtifyouarepreparedtoinvestasubstant
ialamoun to
ftimeand
effo r
t.Thebe stwaytointroduceyoursel
ftofi shosteology(
seeFigures2
and3 )istogotothefi sh monger
s,bu yawho lefish,andd i
ssec
t i
t.Trout
(brown/seatrout(Salmotrut
ta)o rr
ainbowt rout(Oncorh
ynchusm ykis
s)
)
aregoods t a
rterspec
ies–the yarenottoosm a
llandno ttooe xpensive
(fordisse
ctionins
truct
ionsseeWheeler&Jone s1989,178-183)
.

Fo
rthe
iden
tifi
cat
iono
far
chaeo
log
ica
lfishr
ema
insyouneed
:

• Agoodref
erencecol
lec
tiono
f mode
rnspe
cimen
s(see Whee
ler
andJone
s(1989
,177-185
))

• A
cce
ssto
iden
tifi
cat
iongu
ide
s(seepub
l
ica
tion
lis
tbe
low
)

• Ah
and
len
s
 An
Int
rodu
ct
ion
toa
rcha
eolog
ica
lfishr
ema
ins

Subo
rbi
talSe
rie
s Me
tap
ter
ygo
id H
yom
and
ibu
lar
Po
stt
empo
ral
F
ron
tal
P
reope
rcu
lar
P
ara
spheno
id
Oper
cula
r
Na
sal
Supr
acle
ith
rum
L
acr
imal
Suboper
cul
ar
P
rem
axi
l
la
C
le
ith
rum
M
axi
l
la

P
ala
tine R
adi
als
Den
tar
y

En
top
ter
ygo
id
S
capu
la
E
ctop
ter
ygo
id
Ar
ticu
lar
In
terope
rcu
lar Co
raco
id F
igure2
:Thec
rania
l
Quadr
ate s
kele
tonofanA
tlan
tic
B
rach
ios
teg
alR
ays
salmon(Sa
lmosa
lar)

an
ter
ior
-la
tera
l
Neu
ralSp
ine

Neu
ralFo
ramen

Do
rsa
lpr
ezyg
apoph
yse
s Do
rsa
lpo
stz
ygapoph
yse
s

an
ter
ior R
ib
C
ent
rum
Neu
ralSp
ine

Neu
ralSp
ine

V
ent
ralp
rez
ygapoph
yse
s V
ent
ralpo
stz
ygapoph
yse
s
L
ate
ralapoph
yse
s H
aem
al Sp
ine
Sp
ina
lFo
ramen

H
aem
alA
rch

C
ent
rum F
igu
re3
:Vi
ewo
fcauda
l
H
aem
al Sp
ine
ver
teb
ra

Ident
ification sareu sual
lyr ecordedinad a
taba
seo rspre
adshee
t( see
F
igure4),althoughallthed ataisnotusua
ll
yp re
sentedinarepor
t,whichis
more
likely
tocon t
aintablesandg raphswhichsumm ar
isethe
informa
tion.
Insomec a sesthesp r
e adsheetord at
abaseisin
cludeda sanappend ix
.
The mostb a s
icfishboner eportwil
lsimplycompr
iseal i
stoffishspecie
s
pre
sent;how eve
r,i
tis moreu sefu
ltoinc
lude:

• W e
igh tbycont extandtotalweight
• NISP(numb e
ro findiv
idualspecimenspres
ent)fo
reachspe
cie
s
• MN I(minimumnumb erofind
ividuals
)foreachspec
ies
• E
l em entrepr
es enta
tionpatte
rn s–ei
therbyelementors
imply
cranialvs.postcrania
l
• An yevidenceforbu rn
ing,cut
-ma rks
,gnawing
• M easurem en
ts (seeMoralesandRo s
enlund1979)(
formore
detailedreportsonly)
 An
Int
rodu
ct
ion
toa
rcha
eolog
ica
lfishr
ema
ins

Donottrytopushident
ifica
tion fu
rtherthanisposs
ible
,forexamplei
tc an
bedifficulttodi
st
inguishbe
tw eenthed iffer
entspe c
iesandsub-spec
iesof
theSalmogenu sbasedons kelet
al morpho
log y
.Inthesecasesi
tisbette
r
toatt
ributethemtoSalmosp .orSalmospp.r a
therthanaspecificspec
ies
.

Inte
rp re
tat
iono ffi shrem a
insre
l
ieshe a
vil
yonasoundunde r
stand
ingo f
eachfi shspecies
’diet
,beh av
iou
randh abita
ts
.Unde r
standthecondition
s
andh abi
tatrangeinwh ichafishl
ivescanhelpiden
ti
fyiffish
ingisseasona
l
andwhe therfi sh
ingo ccur
redinri
vers
,lakes
,estur
ine
,co as
talordeepsea
envi
ronmen ts
.

Iti
simportantthatwhendis
cuss
ingfishrema
instha
tyouarem adeawar
e
ofanyar
tefact
sfromthesi
tethatmightbe
lin
kedtotheexp
loi
tat
ionand/
orconsumptionoffishe.g
.fishhoo k
s,gouge
s,ha
rpoons
,netw eigh
ts
,as
thesewi
llenh an
ceyourin
terpr
eta
tion
.

S
ite Con
tex
t Phas
e Samp
leNo Speci
es E
lemen
t L
/R F
requ
ency Cu
tma
rks Bu
rning
ZZ09 654 VI
I 16 Salmo D
ent
ary L 1 0 1
salar
ZZ09 677 V 32 Angui
lla V
er
teb
rae - 7 0 3
angui
lla
ZZ09 523 VI
Ib 7 Gadus C
le
ith
rum R 1 1 0
morhua
F
igu
re4
:Examplerecor
ding
she
etfo
rfi shremain
s
 An Introduction to archaeological fish remains

8. Useful Resources

Books
Casteel, R. W. 1976. Fish Remains in Archaeology and Palaeo-Environmental
Studies. London: Academic Press.

Härkönen, T. 1986. Guide to the Otoliths of the Bony Fishes of the Northeast
Atlantic. Hellerup: Danbiu ApS.

Morales, A. & K. Rosenlund 1979. Fish Bone Measurements; An Attempt

to Standardize the Measuring of Fish Bones from Archaeological Sites.
Københaven: Zoologisk Museum.

Watt, J., G. J. Pierce & P. R. Boyle 1997. Guide to the Identification of North
Sea Fish Using Premaxillae and Vertebrae. ICES Cooperative Research
Report No. 220. Aberdeen: International Council for the Exploration of the
Sea.

Webb, J. B. 1980. Otter Spraint Analysis Occasional Publication of the

Mammal Society No. 13. London: The Mammal Society.

Wheeler, A. 1978. Key to the Fishes of Northern Europe. London: Frederick

Warne Ltd.

Wheeler, A. & A. K. G. Jones 1989. Fishes. Cambridge Manuals in Archaeology.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Yee Cannon, D. 1987. Marine Fish Osteology; A Manual for Archaeologists.

Burnaby: Archaeology Press Simon Fraser University.

Journal Articles
Casteel, R. W. 1972. Some archaeological uses of fish remains. American
Antiquity 37(3): 404-419.

Granadeiro, J. P. & M. A. Silva 2000. The use of otoliths and vertebrae in the
identification and size-estimation of fish in predator-prey studies. Cybium
24(4): 383-393.

Gregory, W. K. 1933. Fish skulls: A study of evolution of natural mechanisms.

Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 23: 75-481.

Vale, D. & R. H. Gargett 2002. Size Matters: 3-mm Sieves Do Not Increase
Richness in a Fishbone Assemblage from Arrawarra I, an Aboriginal
Australian Shell Midden on the Mid-north Coast of New South Wales,
Australia. Journal of Archaeological Science 29: 57-63.
 An Introduction to archaeological fish remains

Websites
FishBase is an information system available on-line at www.fishbase.org,
covering all fishes of the world. FishBase, an accompanying book is available
in English, French and Portuguese, and covers over 30,600 species of fish
(most of the extant species in the world). It addresses the needs of a vast
array of potential users, ranging from ichthyologists, fisheries biologists,
ecologists and managers to biology teachers, administrators and the public
at large. The features of FishBase that enable it to meet such a wide range
of needs reside in its architecture, which makes extensive use of modern
relational database techniques.

Other features of FishBase are:

• All information on a given species in the database is accessible through
a unique scientific or common name or through common names in many
languages;
• The wide use of multiple choice field structures standardized qualitative
information;
• Numeric fields record quantitative information that has been previously
standardized;
• Numerous cross-relationships between data tables enable previously
unknown relationships to be discovered; and
• Complementary databases provided by colleagues and linked to
FishBase proper contribute to making the combined package the most
comprehensive data source of its kind.

NABONE fish has 3D images for 5 Gadid species:

www.nabohome.org/products/manuals/fishbone/index.html

ICAZ (International Council for Archaeozoology) Fish Remains Working

Group web page:
http://waihinga.ac.nz/foss/ICAZ/

The AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council) have just funded a
project which will produce a digital archive of fish bones for at least 80
marine and freshwater, Mediterranean and North Atlantic species. This is
due for completion March 2011, and will be linked to fishbase (address
above).

Advice
For advice on any aspect of the recovery, identification or analysis of fish
remains you can contact me by e-mail: hannahruss1@yahoo.co.uk