Resource management in Late Mesolithic Eastern Norway
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20067468 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Axel Mjærum (0000-0001-7391-2981), Anja Mansrud (0000-0002-8660-9137) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Pages | 264-299 |
| Publication date | 2020-03-06 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | CHAPTER |
| Venue | Coastal Landscapes of the Mesolithic (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.4324/9780203730942-14 |
| OpenAlex | W3091873327 |
| ISBN | 9780203730942 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 9 |
| References cited | 1 |
This chapter addresses the economic and societal importance of coastal and freshwater fishing during the Mesolithic of eastern Norway. Here, new archaeological evidence of fishbone, fishing gear and site locations from different topographic environments – the coastal zone, the eastern interior zone and the mountain areas – are compiled and discussed. Increased use of aquatic resources is noticeable during the Middle and Late Mesolithic (c. 8200–6350 cal bc), even though the studied organic archaeological record is severely affected by taphonomic loss. Based on general data from the region, selected key sites and comparison with diachronic finds from western Norway, Sweden and southern Scandinavia, we maintain that increased use of temporally and spatially predictable aquatic foods is linked with socio-economic consequences such as reduced mobility, delay return systems and economic and social differentiation. We further argue that rather than passively adapting to the environment, late Mesolithic populations actively intervened, transformed their landscape and managed its resources. There is ample ethnographic evidence that indigenous non-agrarian people employed management techniques that allowed them to enhance the productivity of the local environment, and sustain supplies of key species. Based on archaeological evidence, we suggest that such resource management included the transportation of living trout to the upper part of the large watercourses during the last part of the Mesolithic period
Archaeology · Geography · Mesolithic · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
Getting Back to the Lake
Between broad spectrum and specialization
The Mesolithic
The introduction of fish to the Scandinavian mountains by hunter-fisher-gatherers 5000 BC
From Coastal Sites to Elevated Hinterland Locations in the Mesolithic – Discussing Human–Woodland Interaction in the Oslo Fjord Region, Southeast Norway
Enculturating Coastal Environments in the Middle Mesolithic (8300–6300 cal BCE) – Site Variability, Human–Environment Relations, and Mobility Patterns in Northern Vestfold, SE-Norway
Mesolithic Montology
Animist Ontologies in the Third Millennium BCE? Hunter-Gatherer Persistency and Human–Animal Relations in Southern Norway
A Matter of Scale
| Citations per year | 1.8 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2021 - 2026 (6) |
| Highly cited | No |