The prelude to industrial whaling:Identifying the targets of ancient European whaling using zooarchaeology and collagen mass-peptide fingerprinting

Taxonomic identification of whale bones found during archaeological excavations is problematic due to their typically fragmented state. This difficulty limits understanding of both the past spatio-temporal distributions of whale populations and of possible early whaling activities. To overcome this challenge, we performed zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry on an unprecedented 719 archaeological and palaeontological specimens of probable whale bone from Atlantic European contexts, predominantly dating from ca 3500 BCE to the eighteenth century CE. The results show high numbers of Balaenidae (many probably North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis)) and grey whale (Eschrichtius robustus) specimens, two taxa no longer present in the eastern North Atlantic. This discovery matches expectations regarding the past utilization of North Atlantic right whales, but was unanticipated for grey whales, which have hitherto rarely been identified in the European zooarchaeological record. Many of these specimens derive from contexts associated with mediaeval cultures frequently linked to whaling: the Basques, northern Spaniards, Normans, Flemish, Frisians, Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavians. This association raises the likelihood that early whaling impacted these taxa, contributing to their extirpation and extinction. Much lower numbers of other large cetacean taxa were identified, suggesting that what are now the most depleted whales were once those most frequently used.</p

En Voldelig Affære

Bronsealderen i Norge er perioden som strekker seg fra 1700-500 f.Kr. Ved overgangen til denne perioden skjer det store omveltninger som får konsekvenser for utviklingen av samfunnet; økte handelsnettverk, produksjon, og utviklingen av mer komplekse, oppdelte samfunn. Dette er vist i bronsealderens spor etter massiv nedskoging, likhet i gravskikker, og økningen i antall boplasser. Denne endringen av samfunn førte også med seg nye typer konflikter, og økt spor etter vold. Ved å fokusere på materielle spor fra Midt-Norge er det mulig å utfordre de allerede etablerte tolkningene av bronsealderen ved å foreslå andre forklaringsmodeller, og se om disse kan vitne om at utviklingen av bronsealderens samfunn var i større grad preget av vold og krigsorientering, også i Trøndelag. Massegraven i Sund viser et samfunn preget av sykdom, sult, og betydelige skader og traumer i skjelettmaterialet. Her er det mye som indikerer et samfunn som kan ha vært en militær elite som kan ha vært utsatt for et brutalt hevntokt. Hegra inneholder den største funnmengden av bronse som vi kjenner til fra bronsealderen i Norge og har ofte blitt tolket som en rituell nedleggelse. Denne rituelle nedleggelsen kan ha hatt hensikten å gjemme bort objekter av stor økonomisk og symbolsk verdi for å beskytte gjenstandene for å falle til offer for plyndring. Prosesjonen på Leirfall har blitt gitt en rekke ulike tolkninger, men har likevel potensialet for å forstå i en mer voldelig kontekst. Dette kan ha vært en avbildning av et rituale i forbindelse med et mannskap som skulle ut i krig. Med unntak av Sund, så er disse ikke direkte tilknyttet vold og uro, men det er mulig å forstå det fra en konfliktskontekst for å tolke det som en representasjon på hvordan samfunnet i større grad ble preget av vold og krigsorientering. Spesielt når vi ser hvordan det kan ha tredd inn i den rituelle sfæren, som i bronsealderen ikke var separert fra hverdagen

Making Video Streaming More Efficient Using Per-Shot Encoding

The demand for streaming high-quality video increases each year and the energy used by consumers is estimated to increase by 23% from 2020 to 2030. The largest contributor to this is increased data transmission. To minimise data transmission, a video encoding method called per-shot encoding can be used, which splits and processes a video into smaller segments called shots. By utilising this method, the bitrate for a video can be reduced without compromising quality. This leads to less data that needs to be transmitted, which reduces energy consumption. In this project, a website that interfaces with a per-shot encoder is implemented. To evaluate the per-shot encoder, both visual quality and bitrate are quantitatively measured. From evaluation, the bitrate is reduced by up to 2.5% for a selection of videos, without compromising the viewing experience. This is a substantial decrease compared to alternative methods.Efterfrågan av högkvalitativ videoströmning ökar varje år och konsumenters energianvändning uppskattas att ha ökat med 23% år 2030 jämfört med år 2020. Den största orsaken till detta är ökad dataöverföring. För att minska mängden data som behöver skickas kan per-shot-kodning användas, vilket är en videokodningsmetod som delar upp och bearbetar en video i ett flertal mindre delar som kallas shots. Bithastigheten för en video kan minskas med hjälp av per-shot-kodning utan att påverka kvaliteten. Detta leder till att mindre data behöver skickas, vilket innebär minskad energiförbrukning. I detta projekt har en per-shot-kodare tillsammans med en hemsida utvecklats. För att utvärdera per-shot-kodaren kommer skillnad i kvalitet och bithastighet att mätas kvantitativt. Utvärderingen har visat att per-shot-kodaren kan minska bithastigheten med upp till 2.5% för ett urval av videor, utan att påverka tittarupplevelsen. Detta är en avsevärd minskning jämfört med alternativa metoder

Making Video Streaming More Efficient Using Per-Shot Encoding

The demand for streaming high-quality video increases each year and the energy used by consumers is estimated to increase by 23% from 2020 to 2030. The largest contributor to this is increased data transmission. To minimise data transmission, a video encoding method called per-shot encoding can be used, which splits and processes a video into smaller segments called shots. By utilising this method, the bitrate for a video can be reduced without compromising quality. This leads to less data that needs to be transmitted, which reduces energy consumption. In this project, a website that interfaces with a per-shot encoder is implemented. To evaluate the per-shot encoder, both visual quality and bitrate are quantitatively measured. From evaluation, the bitrate is reduced by up to 2.5% for a selection of videos, without compromising the viewing experience. This is a substantial decrease compared to alternative methods.Efterfrågan av högkvalitativ videoströmning ökar varje år och konsumenters energianvändning uppskattas att ha ökat med 23% år 2030 jämfört med år 2020. Den största orsaken till detta är ökad dataöverföring. För att minska mängden data som behöver skickas kan per-shot-kodning användas, vilket är en videokodningsmetod som delar upp och bearbetar en video i ett flertal mindre delar som kallas shots. Bithastigheten för en video kan minskas med hjälp av per-shot-kodning utan att påverka kvaliteten. Detta leder till att mindre data behöver skickas, vilket innebär minskad energiförbrukning. I detta projekt har en per-shot-kodare tillsammans med en hemsida utvecklats. För att utvärdera per-shot-kodaren kommer skillnad i kvalitet och bithastighet att mätas kvantitativt. Utvärderingen har visat att per-shot-kodaren kan minska bithastigheten med upp till 2.5% för ett urval av videor, utan att påverka tittarupplevelsen. Detta är en avsevärd minskning jämfört med alternativa metoder

The prelude to industrial whaling: identifying the targets of ancient European whaling using zooarchaeology and collagen mass-peptide fingerprinting.

Peer reviewed: TrueTaxonomic identification of whale bones found during archaeological excavations is problematic due to their typically fragmented state. This difficulty limits understanding of both the past spatio-temporal distributions of whale populations and of possible early whaling activities. To overcome this challenge, we performed zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry on an unprecedented 719 archaeological and palaeontological specimens of probable whale bone from Atlantic European contexts, predominantly dating from ca 3500 BCE to the eighteenth century CE. The results show high numbers of Balaenidae (many probably North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis)) and grey whale (Eschrichtius robustus) specimens, two taxa no longer present in the eastern North Atlantic. This discovery matches expectations regarding the past utilization of North Atlantic right whales, but was unanticipated for grey whales, which have hitherto rarely been identified in the European zooarchaeological record. Many of these specimens derive from contexts associated with mediaeval cultures frequently linked to whaling: the Basques, northern Spaniards, Normans, Flemish, Frisians, Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavians. This association raises the likelihood that early whaling impacted these taxa, contributing to their extirpation and extinction. Much lower numbers of other large cetacean taxa were identified, suggesting that what are now the most depleted whales were once those most frequently used

The prelude to industrial whaling: identifying the targets of ancient European whaling using zooarchaeology and collagen mass-peptide fingerprinting.

Taxonomic identification of whale bones found during archaeological excavations is problematic due to their typically fragmented state. This difficulty limits understanding of both the past spatio-temporal distributions of whale populations and of possible early whaling activities. To overcome this challenge, we performed zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry on an unprecedented 719 archaeological and palaeontological specimens of probable whale bone from Atlantic European contexts, predominantly dating from ca 3500 BCE to the eighteenth century CE. The results show high numbers of Balaenidae (many probably North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis)) and grey whale (Eschrichtius robustus) specimens, two taxa no longer present in the eastern North Atlantic. This discovery matches expectations regarding the past utilization of North Atlantic right whales, but was unanticipated for grey whales, which have hitherto rarely been identified in the European zooarchaeological record. Many of these specimens derive from contexts associated with mediaeval cultures frequently linked to whaling: the Basques, northern Spaniards, Normans, Flemish, Frisians, Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavians. This association raises the likelihood that early whaling impacted these taxa, contributing to their extirpation and extinction. Much lower numbers of other large cetacean taxa were identified, suggesting that what are now the most depleted whales were once those most frequently used

Supplementary Table 2 from The prelude to industrial whaling: identifying the targets of ancient European whaling using Zooarchaeology and collagen mass-peptide fingerprinting

Overview ZooMS identifications for all 719 specimen