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Lead net-sinkers as an indicator of fishing activities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 November 2014

Monica K. Dütting  and
Stefanie Hoss
Monica K. Dütting
Affiliation:
Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Vautierstraat 29, B-1000 Brussels, mdutting@naturalsciences.be
Stefanie Hoss
Affiliation:
Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Vautierstraat 29, B-1000 Brussels, mdutting@naturalsciences.be
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Abstract

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Type
Archaeological Notes
Information
Journal of Roman Archaeology , Volume 27 , 2014 , pp. 429 - 442
Copyright
Copyright © Journal of Roman Archaeology L.L.C. 2014

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References

1 Apart from net-sinkers, lead sinkers also take the form of solid objects in many different shapes that are intended for a line or hook, but those are not the subject of the present article since they are usually recognized as individual finds.

2 Among others: Brinkhuizen, D. C., “Some notes on recent and pre- and protohistoric fishing gear from Northwestern Europe,” Palaeohistoria 25 (1983) 7–53 Google Scholar; Cleyet-Merle, J.-J., La préhistoire de la pêche (Paris 1990)Google Scholar.

3 As the amount of material does not yet allow a statistical analysis, the term “sample” is not quite correct; rather, we have tried to gather all sites which mention lead net-sinkers, but would greatly appreciate being informed of instances we have missed.

4 Bosman, A. V. A. J., Het culturele vondstmateriaal van de vroeg-Romeinse versterking Velsen I (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Amsterdam 1997) 145 Google Scholar. Velsen I is dated A.D. 15-28 (ibid. 311).

5 T. Bekker-Nielsen, “Fishing in the Roman world,” in id. and D. Bernal Casasola (edd.), Ancient nets and fishing gear. Proc. int. workshop, Cádiz 2007 (Universidad de Cádiz 2010) 189.

6 Galili, E., Rosen, B. and Sharvit, J., “Fishing-gear sinkers recovered from an underwater wreckage site off the Carmel coast, Israel,” IJNA 31.2 (2002) 182–201 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; D. Bernal Casasola, “Fishing tackle in Hispania: reflections, proposals and first results,” in Bekker-Nielsen and id. ibid. 83-138.

7 Bekker-Nielsen (supra n.5) 191-94.

8 van Doorn, T. H., Mensen vissen vogels. Riviervisserij vergane glorie (Assen 1977) 140 Google Scholar.

9 Data from the Netherlands of the 1950s: ibid. 140; A. Von Brandt, Fish catching methods of the world. (3rd rev. edn., Farnham 1984) 348-50.

10 Bekker-Nielsen (supra n.5) 192.

11 Ibid. 202.

12 Bernal Casasola (supra n.6) 127.

13 G. López-Monteguado, “Nets and fishing gear in Roman mosaics from Spain,” in Bekker-Nielsen and Bernal Casasola (supra n.5) 180.

14 Lazreg, N. Ben, “Découverte d’une mosaïque de Vénus,” in Stirling, L. M., Mattingly, D. J. and Lazreg, N. Ben, Leptiminus (Lamta). Report no. 2 (JRA Suppl. 41, 2001) 259–92Google Scholar.

15 Bernal Casasola (supra n.6) 96-117.

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17 Brinkhuizen (supra n.2); Ayodeji, K., Fishing equipment and methods in the Roman world (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of London 2004)Google Scholar; Alfaro Giner ibid. 55-81.

18 Von Brandt (supra n.9) 348-50.

19 Brinkhuizen (supra n.2), 28; Von Brandt ibid. 348-50.

20 Von Brandt ibid.

21 van Doorn (supra n.8) 141.

22 Martens, P. J. M., De zalmvissers van de Biesbosch. Een onderzoek naar de visserij op het Bergse Veld 1421-1869 (Tilburg 1992) 128–29Google Scholar.

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24 Galili, Rosen and Sharvit (supra n.6).

25 Ibid.; Bernal Casasola (supra n.6).

26 Galili, Rosen and Sharvit (supra n.6) 194.

27 Kuniholm, P. J., “The fishing gear,” in Bass, G. F. and van Doorninck, F. H., Yassi Ada: a seventhcentury Byzantine shipwreck (College Station, TX 1982) 309 Google Scholar.

28 R. Thomas, “Fishing equipment from Myos Hormos and fishing techniques of the Red Sea in the Roman period,” in Bekker Nielsen and Bernal Casasola (supra n.5) 145.

29 The latter seem to have been used for trawl nets: Alfaro Giner (supra n.16) 79.

30 Ibid. 63, n.5.

31 Ibid. 79.

32 Galili, Rosen and Sharvit (supra n.6) 188.

33 Ibid. 188, fig. 8.

34 Rose, M., With line and glittering bronze hook: fishing in the Aegean Bronze Age (Ph.D. diss., Indiana Univ., Bloomington 1994) 134–35Google Scholar.

35 Ulu Burun: Pulak, C., AJA 92 (1988) 32 Google Scholar; Cape Gelidonyia: Bass, G. F., Cape Gelidonyia: a Bronze Age shipwreck (Trans. Am. Philos. Assoc. n.s. 57, 1967) 131 Google Scholar; Perati: Iakovidis, S., Excavations at the necropolis at Perati (Los Angeles, CA 1980) 95 Google Scholar.

36 102 sinkers in a fortified complex at Herakleia ( Neutsch, B., “Neue archäologische Entdeckungen in Siris und Herakleia,” AA 83 [1968] 766)Google Scholar; 121 in a house at Olynthos ( Robinson, D. M., Excavations at Olynthos, vol. 10: metal and minor miscellaneous finds [Baltimore, MD 1941] 475)Google Scholar; and 22 in the fishing village of Oropos ( Mazarakis, A., “Recent excavations at Oropos, northern Attika,” in Stamatopoulou, M. and Yeroulanou, M. [edd.], Excavating classical culture: recent archaeological discoveries in Greece [Oxford 2002] 149–78)Google Scholar.

37 12 sinkers were found in the Archaic temple at Isthmia ( Raubitschek, I. K., Isthmia VII: The metal objects (1952-1989) [Princeton, NJ 1998] 129 Google Scholar) and an unknown number in the sanctuary of Poseidon at Kalaureia (Alfaro Giner [supra n.16] 78).

38 Ashdod: Porath, J., “A fortress in the Persian period,” ‘Atiqot 7 (1974) 43–54 Google Scholar [Hebrew] with English summary on 6-7. Tel Michal: Muhly, J. D. and Muhly, P., “Metal artefacts,” in Herzog, Z., Rapp, D. and Negbi, O., Excavations at Tel Michal, Israel (Tel Aviv 1989) 281–82Google Scholar. ‘Atlit: Sari, K., “‘Atlit, preliminary report,” Hadashot Arkheologiot–ESI 122 (2010)Google Scholar; see www.hadashot-esi.org.il/Report_Detail_Eng.aspx?id=1549&mag_id=117

39 Bethsaida-Iulias: Fortner, S. A., Die Keramik und Kleinfunde von Bethsaida-Iulias am See Genezareth, Israel (Ph.D. diss., LMU München 2008)Google Scholar = URN urn:nbn:de:bvb:19-82009, pp. 51-52, 290-94, Kat. Nrr. 1362-1408, Taf. 77-78.

40 Carmel coast: Galili, Rosen and Sharvit (supra n.6). Ashqelon: Galili, E. and Sharvit, J., “Ashkelon (North) – underwater and coastal survey,” Hadashot Arkheologiot 106–ESI 155 (1996)Google Scholar; Caesarea: J. P. Oleson, “Unstratified non-ceramic finds,” in id. et al., The harbours of Caesarea Maritima. vol. 2: the finds and the ship (BAR S594, Oxford 1994) pl. 9. Kursi: Fortner ibid. 51.

41 Three groups of 50, 30 and 11 folded lead net-sinkers were found in several rooms on Chios: Balance, M. et al., Excavations in Chios 1952-1955: Byzantine Emporio (BSA Suppl. 20, 1989) 131 Google Scholar. Some 40 were found in Shop 28 in the Stoa of Corinth: Davidson, G. R., Corinth XII: The minor objects (Princeton, NJ 1952) 193 Google Scholar. 608 undecorated and 160 decorated folded lead net-sinkers were found in the 11th-c. wreck at Serçe Limanı: Piercy, G. V. and Bass, G. F., “Fishing gear,” in Bass, G. F. et al. (edd.), Serçe Limanı: an eleventh-century shipwreck, vol. 1 (College Station, TX 2004) 399-411, 417-18 and 423–26Google Scholar. Two were found at Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee: Fortner (supra n.38) 51.

42 Galili, Rosen and Sharvit (supra n.6) 194.

43 Alfaro Giner (supra n.16) 77.

44 Ibid. 78-79. M. Feugère (”Les instruments de chase, de pêche et d’agriculture,” in M. Py [ed.], Recherches sur l’économie vivrière des Lattarenses [Lattara 5; Lattes 1992) 139-62) specifies 110 lead net-sinkers (total weight 1570 gm) of the simple rectangular folded kind found in the wreck of the 1st c. A.D. near Porto Vecchio on Corsica. They were interpreted by the excavators as having been fastened on one line of a net.

45 Alfaro Giner (supra n.16) 79.

46 Feugère (supra n.44) 139-64.

47 Bernal Casasola (supra n.6) 104-8 and 112-14.

48 Alfaro Giner (supra n.16) 77; Bernal Casasola ibid. 112.

49 Witteyer, M., “Ausgewählte Kleinfunde,” in Rupprecht, G. (ed.), Die Mainzer Römerschiffe — Berichte über Entdeckung, Ausgrabung und Bergung (Mainz 1982) 139–42Google Scholar, Abb. 5.

50 Caerleon canabae: Evans, D. R., “Objects of lead,” in Evans, E., The Caerleon canabae. Excavations in the civil settlement 1984-90 (Britannia Monog. 16, 2000) 416 Google Scholar, cat. no. 31. Sanctuary of Jupiter Dolichenus at Mauer an der Url (Austria): Noll, R., Das Inventar des Dolichenusheiligtums von Mauer an der Url (Noricum) (Der römische Limes in Österreich 30, 1980) Taf. 25.10Google Scholar.

51 Vanhoutte, S. “The Saxon Shore fort at Oudenburg (Belgium): new excavation results,” in Morillo, A., Hanel, N. and Martin, E. (edd.), Limes XX (Anejos Gladius 13, 2009) 1383–92Google Scholar.

52 Wastling, L. M., “Evidence for fishing and netting birds,” in Evans, D. H. and Loveluck, C., Life and economy at Early Medieval Flixborough, c. AD 600-1000: the artefact evidence. Excavations at Flixborough vol. 2 (Oxford 2009) 249–52Google Scholar.

53 E.g., Aalst: W. Roessingh, Een middeleeuwse huisterp aan de Dorpsstraat in Aalst, gemeente Zaltbommel. Een Archeologische Begeleiding (ADC rapport 1042; Amersfoort 2008).

54 http://finds.org.uk/database

55 Hong, S. et al., “Greenland ice evidence of hemispheric lead pollution two millennia ago by Greek and Roman civilizations,” Science 265 [5180] (1994) 1841–43CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed; Callataÿ, F. de, “The Graeco-Roman economy in the super long-run: lead, copper, and shipwrecks,” JRA 18 (2005) 361–65Google Scholar; Renberg, I., Bindler, R. and Bränvall, M.-L., “Using the historical atmospheric lead-deposition record as a chronological marker in sediment deposits in Europe,” The Holocene 11.5 (2001) 511–16CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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59 As suggested by Cottica and Divai (supra n.23) 347-63.

60 Cleyet-Merle (supra n.2) 147.

61 For examples in Meso-America, see N. Jimenez and C. M. Götz, Subsistencia costera en Xcambó, Yucatán durante épocas prehispánicas: un acercamiento paleoecológico a través de los restos de fauna costera (Investigadores de la Cultura Maya 20; Universidad Autónoma de Campeche 2012); S. d. P. Jiménez Álvarez and Castillo, A. Benavides, “Algunas consideraciones en la tipología funcional de las pesas de pesca del área maya: una propuesta de studio,” Investigadores de Mesoamérica 8 (Universidad Autónoma de Campeche 2007) 7–34 Google Scholar.

62 Sahrhage, D., Die Schätze Neptuns. Eine Kulturgeschichte der Fischerei im Römischen Reich (Frankfurt am Main 2002) 115 Google Scholar; E. Garcia Vargas and D. Florido del Corral, “The origin and development of the tuna fishing nets (almadrabas),” in Bekker-Nielsen and Bernal Casasola (supra n.5) 206.

63 Dütting, pers. comm.

64 Dobney, K. and Ervynck, A., “To fish or not to fish? Evidence for the possible avoidance of fish consumption during the Iron Age around the North Sea,” in Haselgrove, C. and Moore, T., The Later Iron Age in Britain and beyond (Oxford 2007)Google Scholar.

65 Cleyet-Merle (supra n.5) 147.

66 Ibid.

67 Von Brandt (supra n.9) 34.