Overview

Much has been written on marine fishing and for the migratory eel and salmon. Less attention has focused on the obligate freshwater species, primarily the native pike, perch, cyprinids and introduced species of which the most significant is carp. Their exploitation by man has changed from food to sport more dramatically in England and the British Isles than in Europe. They have also been used as elite statements, symbols of lineage, in religion and art. Much of the early evidence is confined to fish bones from archaeological sites and indicators of diet from isotopic analyses of human bones. From the Medieval period these data sources are increasingly complemented and ultimately superseded by documentary sources and material culture. The bones are relatively few from prehistoric contexts and mostly food waste. In the Mesolithic the bones are largely marine from middens on Scottish coasts, while early farmers apparently ate few fish of any type. Examples from European prehistoric sites demonstrate other cultural attitudes to fish. Both marine and freshwater fish bones are more numerous from Roman sites. There are regional and site type differences, but Roman influence appears to have increased fish consumption, though obligate freshwater species remain relatively few. The first evidence is seen for fishponds, probably ornamental. Angling was a noted sport elsewhere in the Empire, but there is no evidence in Britain. In Saxon England the exploitation and management of waterways and the beginnings of the privatization of the landscape, included enclosure of waters as fish stores. This previewed an elite practice of the Medieval period in which landscape features and documentary evidence demonstrate the importance of pond systems among a small section of elite medieval society and for whom these fish were an important part of feast and fast food and gift exchange. However quantitatively marine fish had dominated the fish supply from the late 10th century.

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9781789251128

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Alison Locker, a highly respected expert in fish remains archaeology, has assembled a valuable pioneering overview […] Freshwater fish deserves the attention of archaeologists, historians, and angling antiquaries alike. * Agricultural History Review *

Alison Locker, a highly respected expert in fish remains archaeology, has assembled a valuable pioneering overview [...] Freshwater fish deserves the attention of archaeologists, historians, and angling antiquaries alike. * Agricultural History Review *

Author Information

Alison Locker is an archaeo-zoologist who works as an independent researcher specialising in fish. Following a BSc at the Institute of Archaeology (now University College London) in 1974 when environmental archaeology was a new degree course, she completed a PhD on stored fish at Southampton University in 2000. She has analysed the fish remains from a large number of British sites of varying date and location, which led to her current research on freshwater fish.

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