Beatrice Krooks: Thesis defence in Archaeology

Title

'Fishscapes: Exploring a long-term perspective of fisheries and aquatic habitat structures in the Baltic Sea region through interdisciplinary studies'

Abstract

Understanding fishing practices through the zooarchaeological record offers crucial insights into past human-environment interactions, subsistence strategies, and the development of the modern fishery practices. Past fishing practices varied widely depending on geographical location, environmental factors, and cultural contexts. In this thesis, I explore fish and fisheries in the Baltic Sea from different time frames. Evidence from archaeological fishbones and teeth provides a direct link to fishing practices in the past. Species diversity and anatomical distribution patterns are used to explore fishing methods. Isotope analysis on fish teeth offers further refinement of ecological patterns, including fish migration and mobility. Using zooarchaeological materials from Gotland and Åland, this thesis identifies and discusses patterns in relation to climate change and cultural shifts from the Mesolithic until the Early Modern Period. By applying the theoretical framework of negative space and values the formation of past assemblages and the remains excavated in the present are evaluated. Using strontium isotope analysis, the likely origin, fresh or brackish water, of euryhaline fish on Gotland is explored. The results indicate that fluctuations in aquatic habitat utilisation are tied to environmental shifts and influenced by cultural preferences and values.  To understand how fish are transformed from living creatures to products for human consumption, Medieval zooarchaeological material from Åland was used to investigate shifting patterns in the transportation of cod from a local fishery.  A possible difference in fish products was identified related to the Gotlandic sources. This has implications on how the written record might be interpreted. The aspects above are discussed in a diachronic way and modern concepts such as fishing down the food web are used to examine the sustainability of past fisheries. The findings contribute to broader discussion on past aquatic resource utilisation and fish's value and identities at different time frames in the Baltic Sea context. Highlighting the significance of fishbone analyses and the potential to incorporate archaeological data in contemporary sustainability discourse.