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Identity, Gender, Religion and Economy: New Isotope and Radiocarbon Evidence for Marine Resource Intensification in Early Historic Orkney, Scotland, UK

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

James H. Barrett  and
Michael P. Richards
James H. Barrett*
Affiliation:
University of York, UK
Michael P. Richards*
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany, and University of Durham, UK
*
[email: jhb5@york.ac.uk]
[email: richards@eva.mpg.de]
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Abstract

Stable isotope measurements and radiocarbon dates on 54 burials from northern Scotland document trends in marine protein consumption from the late Iron Age to the end of the Middle Ages. They illuminate how local environmental and cultural contingencies interrelated with a pan-European trend towards more intensive fishing around the end of the first millennium AD. Little use was made of marine foods in late Iron Age Orkney despite its maritime setting. Significant fish consumption appeared in the Viking Age (ninth to eleventh centuries AD), first in the case of some men buried with grave-goods of Scandinavian style but soon among both sexes in ‘Christian’ burials. There was then a peak in marine protein consumption from approximately the eleventh to the fourteenth centuries AD, particularly among men, after which the importance of fish-eating returned to Viking Age levels. The causes of these developments probably entailed a complex relationship between ethnicity, gender, Christian fasting practices, population growth, long-range fish trade and environmental change.

Les analyses par isotopes stables et les données radiocarbones de 54 inhumations de l'Écosse du Nord indiquent l'évolution de la consommation de protéines marines de la fin de l'Âge du Fer jusqu'à la fin du Moyen Âge, et montrent comment une tendance paneuropéenne envers une pêche plus intensive vers la fin du premier millénaire ap. J-C est étroitement liée aux influences environnementales et culturelles locales. Malgré sa situation maritime, on n'avait guère recours à une alimentation marine à Orkney pendant l'âge du fer récent. La consommation de poisson devenait significative pendant l'Âge des Vikings (9e–11e siècle ap. J-C), comme on peut le constater d'abord dans les sépultures de plusieurs hommes enterrés avec du mobilier funéraire de style scandinave, mais bientôt également dans des tombes ‘chrétiennes’ des deux sexes. La consommation de protéines marines atteignit son plus haut niveau, notamment parmi les hommes, du 11e au 14e siècle environ, tandis que par la suite l'importance de la consommation de poisson retomba au niveau atteint pendant l'Âge des Vikings. Ces développements ont probablement été causés par des relations complexes entre ethnicité, sexe, pratique chrétienne du jeûne, croissance de la population, commerce de poissons à longue portée et changements environnementaux.

Zusammenfassung

Zusammenfassung

Messungen stabiler Isotope und Radiokarbondaten von 54 Bestattungen aus dem nördlichen Schottland dokumentieren Trends in der Konsumption marinen Proteins von der späten Eisenzeit bis zum Ende des Mittelalters. Sie werfen ein Licht darauf, wie der lokale Beitrag von Unwelt und Kultur mit den pan-europäischen Trends zu einer Intensivierung des Fischfangs am Ende des ersten Jahrtausends AD zusammenhing. In der späten Eisenzeit wurden marine Nahrungsmittel auf den Orkney-Inseln – trotz ihrer maritimen Lage – nur in geringen Umfang genutzt. Eine signifikante Verwendung von Fisch lässt sich erst für die Wikingerzeit (9.–11. Jahrhundert AD) nachweisen: anfangs im Fall einiger Männer, die mit Grabbeigaben in skandinavischem Stil bestattet wurden, doch bald auch bei „christlichen” Gräbern beiderlei Geschlechter. Vom 11. bis zum 14. Jahrhundert lässt sich dann ein Höhepunkt in der Nutzung von marinem Protein, besonders bei männlichen Individuen, festhalten. Danach geht die Bedeutung des Verzehrs von Fisch auf das Niveau der Wikingerzeit zurück. Die Gründe dieser Entwicklungen liegen möglicherweise in der komplexen Beziehung zwischen kultureller Zugehörigkeit, Gender, christlichen Fastenpraktiken, Bevölkerungswachstum, dem Fischhandel über lange Strecken und in Veränderungen der Umwelt.

Keywords

dietethnicityfish tradegenderIron AgeMiddle AgesOrkneyScotlandstable isotopesViking AgealimentationÂge du FerÂge des VikingsMoyen Âgeisotopes stablesOrkneyEcossecommerce du poissonethnicitésexeNahrungEisenzeitWikingerzeitMittelalterstabile IsotopeOrkney-InselnSchottlandFischhandelkulturelle ZugehörigkeitGender
Type
Articles
Information
European Journal of Archaeology , Volume 7 , Issue 3 , 2004 , pp. 249 - 271
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 Sage Publications 

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