Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T16:07:59.610Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Diet and ethnicity during the Viking colonization of northern Scotland: evidence from fish bones and stable carbon isotopes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

James H. Barrett ,
Roelf P. Beukens  and
Rebecca A. Nicholson
James H. Barrett
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, The King's Manor, University of York, York YO1 7EP, England.
Roelf P. Beukens
Affiliation:
Iso Trace Laboratory, University of Toronto, Toronto, ONT M5S 1A7, Canada.
Rebecca A. Nicholson
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeological Sciences, Universtiy of Bradford BD7 1DP, England.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Diet and ethnicity are strongly related. Recent work on fish-bone ratios and stable carbon isotopes suggest that the Vikings increased the fish contribution to the diet of Orkney and Shetland by a greater investment in deep-sea fishing.

Keywords

Vikingsfish bonesOrkneyShetlandcarbon isotopes
Type
Papers
Information
Antiquity , Volume 75 , Issue 287 , March 2001 , pp. 145 - 154
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ambrose, S.H. 1990. Preparation and characterization of bone and tooth collagen for isotopic analysis, Journal of Archaeological Science 17: 431–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ambrose, S.H. & Norr, L.. 1993. Isotopic composition of dietary protein and energy versus bone collagen and apatite: Purified diet growth experiments, in Lambert, J.B. & Grupe, G. (ed.), Prehistoric human bone: Archaeology at the molecular level: 1–37. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Anthony, D.W. 1990. Migrations in archaeology. The baby and the bathwater, American Anthropologist 92: 895–914.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baldwin, J.R. 1982. Fishing the sellag: Hand netting traditions from Caithness, the Northern and Western Isles, in Baldwin, J.R. (ed.), Caithness: A cultural crossroads: 161–212. Edinburgh: Edina Press.Google Scholar
Barrett, J.H. 1995. ‘Few know an earl in fishing-clothes.’ Fish middens and the economy of the Viking Age and Late Norse earldoms of Orkney and Caithness, northern Scotland. Ph.D thesis, University of Glasgow.Google Scholar
Barrett, J.H. 1996. A summary report on animal bone from excavations at Smoo Cave, Sutherland, Scotland, 1992. Department of Archaeology, University of Glasgow.Google Scholar
Barrett, J.H. 1997. Fish trade in Norse Orkney and Caithness: a zoo-archaeological approach, Antiquity 71: 616–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barrett, J.H., Nicholson, R.A. & Cerón-Carrasco, R.. 1999. Archaeo-ichthyological evidence for long-term socioeconomic trends in northern Scotland: 3500 BC to AD 1500, Journal of Archaeological Science 26: 353–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barrett, J.H., Beukens, R.P. & Brothwell, D.R.. 2000a. Radiocarbon dating and marine reservoir correction of Viking Age Christian burials from Orkney, Antiquity 74: 537–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barrett, J., Beukens, R. Simpson, I. Ashmore, I. Poaps, P. & Huntley, J.. 2000b. What was the Viking Age and when did it happen? A view from Orkney, Norwegian Archaeological Review 33: 1–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bond, J.M. 1998. Beyond the fringe? Recognising change and adaptation in Pictish and Norse Orkney, in Mills, C.M. & Coles, G. (ed.), Human settlement in marginal areas: 81–90. Oxford: Oxbow. Monograph 100.Google Scholar
Bond, J.M. & Hunter, J.R.. 1987. Flax-growing in Orkney from the Norse period to the 18th century, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 117: 175–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Booth, C., Cuthbert, M. & Reynolds, P.. 1984. The Birds of Orkney. Kirkwall: The Orkney Press.Google Scholar
Burmeister, S. 2000. Archaeology and migration: Approaches to an archaeological proof of migration, Current Anthro-pologyil: 539–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buteux, S. (ed.). 1997. Settlements at Skaill, Deemess, Orkney. Oxford: Tempvs Reparatvm. BAR British series 260.Google Scholar
Cerón-Carrasco, R. 1994. The investigation of fish remains from an Orkney farm mound, in Van Neer, W. (ed.), Fish exploitation in the past: Proceedings of the 7th meeting ofthelCAZfish remains working group: 207–10. Tervuren: Musée Royal de L’Afrique Centrale.Google Scholar
Cerón-Carrasco, R. 1998a. Fish, in Sharpies, N. (ed.), Scalloway: A hroch, Late Iron Age settlement and medieval cemetery. Oxford: Oxbow. Monograph 82.Google Scholar
Cerón-Carrasco, R. 1998b. Fish bone, in Lowe, C. (ed.), St Boniface Church, Orkney: Coastal erosion and archaeological assessment: 149–55. Edinburgh: Sutton Publishing/Historic. Scotland.Google Scholar
Chapman, J. & Hamerow, H. (ed.). 1997. Migrations and invasion in archaeological explanation. Oxford: Tempvs Reparatvm. BAR International series S664.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colley, S.M. 1983. Marine resource exploitation, in Hedges, J.W., Trial excavations on Pictish and Viking settlements at Saevar Howe, Birsay, , Orkney, , 10: 111–13, MF 87–92, MF 94–102.Google Scholar
Colley, S.M. 1989. The fish bones, in Morris, (ed.): 248–59.Google Scholar
Crabtree, P. 1990. Zooarchaeology and complex societies: some uses of faunal analysis for the study of trade, social status, and ethnicity, in Schiffer, M.B. (ed.), Archaeological method and theory 2: 155–205. Tucson (AZ): University of Arizona Press.Google Scholar
Enghoff, I.B. 1999. Fishing in the Baltic region from the 5th century BC to the 16th century AD: Evidence from fish bones, Archaeofauna 8: 41–85.Google Scholar
Fellows-Jensen, G. 1984. Viking settlement in the Northern and Western Isles — the place name evidence as seen from Denmark and the Danelaw, in Fenton, A. & Pálsson, H. (ed.), The Northern and Western Isles in the Viking World: 146–68. Edinburgh: John Donald.Google Scholar
Fenton, A. 1978. The Northern Isles: Orkney and Shetland. Edinburgh: John Donald.Google Scholar
Foster, S.M. 1990. Pins, combs and the chronology of later Atlantic Iron Age settlement, in Armit, I. (ed.), Beyond the brochs: 143–74. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Goodlad, C.A. 1971. Shetland fishing saga. Lerwick: Shetland Times.Google Scholar
Grayson, D.K. 1984. Quantitative zooarchaeology. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Gumerman IV, G. 1997. Food and complex societies, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 4: 105–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Härke, H. 1998. Archaeologists and migrations: A problem of attitude, Current Anthropology 39: 19–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hedges, J.W. 1983. Trial excavations on Pictish and Viking settlements at Saevar Howe, Birsay, Orkney, Glasgow Archaeological Journal 10: 73–124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunter, J.R. 1997. The early Norse period, in Edwards, K.J. & Ralston, I.B. (ed.), Scotland: environment and archaeology. 8000 BC-AD 1000: 241–54. New York (NY): John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Hunter, J.R., Bond, J.M. & Smith, A.M.. 1993. Some aspects of Viking settlement in Orkney, in Batey, C.E. Jasch, J. & Morris, C.D. (ed.), The Viking Age in Caithness, Orkney and the North Atlantic: 272–84. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Jones, A.K.G. 1982. Bulk-sieving and the recovery of fish remains from urban archaeological sites, in Hall, A.R. & Kenward, H. (ed.), Environmental archaeology in the urban context. 79—85. London: Council for British Archaeology. Research report 43.Google Scholar
Jones, A.K.G., Morris, C.D. & Rackham, D.J.. 1995a. Environmental sampling: methods and materials, in Morris, et al. (ed.): 149–53.Google Scholar
Jones, A.K.G., Morris, C.D. & Rackham, D.J.. 1995b. The fish material, in Morris, et al. (ed.): 154–91.Google Scholar
Jones, S. 1997. The archaeology of ethnicity. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kaland, S.H.H. 1996. En vikingtidsgård og -gravplass pa Orknoyene, in Kroger, & Naley, (ed.): 63–8.Google Scholar
Krøger, J.F. & Naley, H. (ed.). 1996. Nardsjøen: Handel, religion og politikk. Karmoy Kommune: Vikingfestivalen.Google Scholar
Locker, A. 1994. The fish remains, in Smith, (ed.): 157–9.Google Scholar
Lowe, C. (ed.). 1998. St Boniface Church, Orkney: Coastal erosion and archaeological assessment. Edinburgh: Sutton Publishing/Historic Scotland.Google Scholar
McCormick, F. 1998. Mammal bone, in Lowe, (ed.): 146–9.Google Scholar
Mead, P. 1999. Exploitation of the wild bird resource in the Northern Isles over three prehistoric time periods. Unpublished undergraduate dissertation, University of Bradford.Google Scholar
Minitab Inc. 2000. Minitab Statistical Software Release 13.1. State College (PA): Minitab Inc.Google Scholar
Morris, C.D. (ed.). 1989. The Birsay Bay Project 1: Brough Road Excavations 1976–1982. Durham: University of Durham, Department of Archaeology. Monograph series 1.Google Scholar
Morris, C.D. (ed.). 1996. The Norse impact in the Northern Isles of Scotland, in Krøger, & Naley, (ed.): 69–83.Google Scholar
Morris, C.D., Batey, C.E. & Rackham, D.J.. 1995. Freswick Links, Caithness: Excavation and survey of a Norse Settlement. Inverness: Highland Libraries/North Atlantic Biocultural Organisation.Google Scholar
Morrison, 1.1992. Traditionalism and innovation in the maritime technology of Shetland and other North Atlantic communities, in Smout, T.C. (ed.), Scotland and the sea: 114–36. Edinburgh: John Donald.Google Scholar
Neighbour, T. & Montgomery, J.. Forthcoming. ‘You are what you eat: Skeletal clues to the impact of the Norse on the Western Isles’, in MacLeod, M., Gall-Ghaidheil: The Western Isles in the Viking World, Stornaway, Lewis, 2000.Google Scholar
Nicholson, R.A. 1996. Fish bone diagenesis in different soils, Archaeofauna 5: 79–91.Google Scholar
Nicholson, R.A. 1998a. Fishing in the Northern Isles: A case study based on fish bone assemblages from two multi-period sites on Sanday, Orkney, Environmental Archaeology: The Journal of Human Palaeoecology 2: 15–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nicholson, R.A. 1998b. Fishing for facts: A preliminary view of the fish remains from Old Scatness Broch, in Nicholson, R.A. & Dockrill, S.J. (ed.), Old Scatness Broch, Shetland: Retrospect and prospect. 97–110. Bradford: University of Bradford/Shetland Amenity Trust/North Atlantic Biocultural Organisation.Google Scholar
Perdikaris, S. 1999. From chiefly provisioning to commercial fishery: Long-term economic change in Arctic Norway, World Archaeology 30: 388–402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pollard, T. 1992. Smoo Cave. Glasgow: Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division.Google Scholar
Rackham, D.J. 1989. Excavations beside the Brough Road, Birsay: The biological assemblage, in Morris, (ed.): 231–72.Google Scholar
Richards, M.P. & Mellars, S.J.. 1998. Stable isotopes and the seasonality of the Oronsay middens, Antiquity 72: 178–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ritchie, A. 1974. Pict and Norseman in northern Scotland, Scottish Archaeological Forum 6: 23–36.Google Scholar
Ritchie, A. 1993. Viking Scotland. London: B.T. Batsford/Historic Scotland.Google Scholar
Rowley-Conwy, P. 1983. The animal and bird bones, in Hodges, (1983): fiche 70–91.Google Scholar
Sellevold, B. J. 1999. Picts and Vikings at Westness: Anthropological investigations of the skeletal material from the cemetery at Westness, Rousay, Orkney Islands. Oslo: NIKU Scientific Report 010: 1–62.Google Scholar
Serieantson, D. In press. The great auk and the gannet: A pre-historic perspective on the extinction of the great auk, International Journal of Osteoarchaeology.Google Scholar
Sharples, N. 1998. Scalloway: A broch, Late Iron Age settlement and medieval cemetery in Shetland. Oxford: Oxbow. Monograph 82.Google Scholar
Sharples, N. & Parker Pearson, M.. 1999. Norse settlement in the Outer Hebrides, Norwegian Archaeological Review 32: 41–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, B.B. (ed.). 1994. Howe: Four millenia of Orkney prehistory. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Monograph series 9.Google Scholar
Smith, C. 1994. Animal bone report, in Smith, (ed.): 139–53.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M. & Reimer, P.J.. 1993. Extended 14C database and revised CALIB radiocarbon calibration program, Radiocarbon 35: 215–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M., Reimer, P.J. & Braziunas, T.F.. 1998. High-precision radiocarbon age calibration for terrestrial and marine samples, Radiocarbon 40: 1127–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tauber, H. 1981. 13C evidence for dietary habits of prehistoric man in Denmark, Nature 292: 332–3.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Taylor, R.E. 1997. Radiocarbon dating, in Taylor, R.E. & Aitken, M.J. (ed.), Chronometric dating in archaeology: 65–96. New York (NY): Plenum Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Klinken, G.J. 1999. Bone collagen quality indicators for palaeodietary and radiocarbon measurements, Journal of Archaeological Science 26: 687–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wainwright, ET. (ed.). 1964. The Northern Isles. Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson.Google Scholar
Wheeler, A. 1977. The fish bones from Buckquoy, Orkney, in Ritchie, A., Excavation of Pictish and Viking-age farmsteads at Buckquoy, Orkney, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 108: 211–14.Google Scholar
Whitehead, P.J.P., Bauchot, M.L. Hureau, J.C. Nielsen, J. & Tortonese, E. (ed.). 1986a. Fishes of the northeastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean 2. Paris: UNESCO.Google Scholar
Whitehead, P.J.P., Bauchot, M.L. Hureau, J.C. Nielsen, J. & Tortonese, E. (ed.). 1986b. Fishes of the northeastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean 3. Paris: UNESCO.Google Scholar