Detecting Medieval Foodways in the North-eastern Baltic

Fish Consumption and Trade in Towns and Monasteries of Finland and Estonia

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12653877
AutoresLembi Lõugas (0000-0003-2011-2141, Archaeological Research Collection, Tallinn University, Tallinn, Estonia, autor correspondente), Auli Bläuer (0000-0003-0693-3373, Department of Archaeology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland)
Ano2020
Volume26
Fascículo6
Páginas543-554
Data de publicação2020-05-05
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoEnvironmental Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1461-4103 • E-ISSN: 1749-6314
EditoraTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14614103.2020.1758993
OpenAlexW3023848353
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas11
Referências citadas12

The beginning of commercial fishing in and around the North Sea is dated to ca. AD 1000, but it only reached the north-eastern Baltic with the Danish and Swedish colonists at the beginning of the 13th century. Their arrival changed the market and also the demand for seafood amongst locals. In this article, the foodways of fish resources, namely the production and consumption of fish, are examined for the medieval period, i.e. the 13th-16th century, in Estonia and Finland. The archaeological material excavated from medieval towns (Turku, Tallinn and Pärnu) and monastic sites (Rauma, Naantali and Padise) is compared in order to ascertain similarities and/or differences in fish processing, consumption and trade. In addition, a 14th-century shipwreck find from Kadriorg, Tallinn, provides unique evidence of fish trade in situ. The processing and consumption of fish are studied through the anatomical distribution of head vs. trunk bones in the zooarchaeological record, which reflects the final product. Thus, preparing and curing fish for trade affects the proportion of skeletal elements present in the final fish product, and thus in the zooarchaeological record. We detected different categories of foodways in our study material: local consumption, products of fresh and preserved fish, fish trade,and local and imported fish

Archaeology · Art · Biology · Consumption (sociology · Danish · Economic history · Fish · Fish bone · Fish consumption · Fish processing · Fish products · Fishery · Fishing · Foodways · Fur trade · Geography · Zooarchaeology · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Historical and Archaeological Studies · History · Indigenous Studies and Ecology