Fishes as indicators of seasonality in Roman non-industrial fisheries : an overview from the southern NE Atlantic

Abstract

From the standpoint of fish as markers of seasonality in archaeological sites, the paper surveys a selected series of Roman period deposits from three coastal sectors of SW Europe. These collections were compared with previous Iron Age fish assemblages from those same regions in an attempt to reveal fish taxa that would serve as proxies of fishing carried out at a local level. The aim is to allow scholars to set apart faunal collections representing artisanal fishing activities from those that characterize Roman industrial (commercial) fishing deposits such as fish factories and fish-salting installations. Not surprisingly, local fishing exhibits a level of idiosyncrasy that contrasts with the homogeneity documented in the industrial fishing deposits. A series of taxa have been identified as being of value to typify both seasonal (industrial) and year-round (local) fishing.Using the world in ancient societies : processes and forms of appropriation of space in Long Tim