The cultural roles of perforated fish vertebrae in prehistoric and historic Europe

Bibliographic Data

ID12371548
AuthorsD Makowiecki (0000-0002-1821-4627, Institute of Archaeology Nicolaus Copernicus University Toruń Poland, corresponding author), Kenneth Ritchie (0000-0001-5952-6689, Moesgaard Museum Aarhus University Aarhus Denmark), A Pluskowski (0000-0002-4494-7664, Department of Archaeology University of Reading Reading UK, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume31
Issue6
Pages1125-1137
Publication date2021-07-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Osteoarchaeology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1047-482X • E-ISSN: 1099-1212
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/oa.3025
OpenAlexW3181034086
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited15

This paper provides a new synthesis of perforated fish vertebrae in prehistoric and historic Europe, with a particular focus on Poland, within the broader context of Central and Eastern Europe. The earliest examples of such artefacts in Europe date from the Upper Palaeolithic, but compared to other ‘beads’ manufactured from animal bone, perforated fish vertebrae are rare. This paper examines the diachronic trends in the range of species that have been chosen for such objects, as well as their depositional contexts. Despite the wide range of freshwater and marine species exploited by people, only the vertebrae of a few species—especially pike and catfish—were selected for use as beads. There is a general shift from their deposition in funerary contexts in prehistoric European societies to their association as low‐status objects associated with Christian private devotion in the post‐conversion period. However, this may not reflect continuity in the use of fish vertebrae, with a shift in their symbolism after the conversion to Christianity, given the substantial chronological gaps in the archaeological record. This synthesis nonetheless provides a solid foundation for contextualising future archaeological finds of such artefacts

Archaeological record · Archaeology · Biology · Context (archaeology · Fish · Fish bone · Fishery · Geography · Pike · Prehistory · Range (aeronautics · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Engineering · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies · History · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology