FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologi

Fabião, Carlos

Filipe, Iola

Gabriel, Sónia

English

Universidade de Lisboa: Repositório.UL

SRODOWISKO I KULTURA, Tom 7.(ENVIRONMENT AND CULTURE, Vol. 7)"Fishes - Culture - EnvironmentThrough Archaeoichthyology, Ethnography & History"THE 15TH MEETING OFTHE ICAZFISH REMAINSWORKING GROUP (FRWG)September 3-9,2009 in Poznan & Torun, PolandOrganising CommitteeDaniel MAKOWIECKIWojciech CHUDZIAKAndrzej M. WYR WAMichal BRZOSTOWICZMiroslaw MAKOHONIENKOScientific CommitteeJames H. BARRETTPhilippe BEAREZRichard COOKELembi U5UGASWimVANNEERCooperating Staff and SecretariatZbigniew Cm;:CINSKIJolanta CZERNIA WSKAIwona HILDEBRANDT-RADKEMaho IKUSHIMAMalgorzata KALASZIzabela MACIUSZCZAKMarzena MAKOWIECKAMalgorzata MROZEK-WYSOCKAMonika PUPIECMiroslawa ZABILSKAEditors of this volume:Daniel MAKOWIECKI,Sheila HAMILTON-DYER, Ian RIDDLER,Nicola TRZASKA-NARTOWSKI & Miroslaw MAKOHONIENKOThe Conference sponsored by:THE MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND HIGHER EDUCATIONTHE BRZESKI FAMILY FUNDATIONINSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY, NICOLAUS COPERNICUS UNIVERSITY in TORuNINSTITUTE OF GEOECOLOGY AND GEOINFORMATION, ADAM MICKIEWICZ UNIVERSeFISHING FARM at KUZNICZKA, Marek Raczkowski and Barbara RaczkowskaCOMPANY OF FISHERY PRODUCTION "MAJ" in W<tgrowiec, Marek SzeszyckiFISH FARMSTEAD in BOGUCIN, Roman MadajMUSEUM OF THE FIRST PIASTS AT LEDNICAPrinted from camera ready materials provided by EditorsPrinted by Bogucki Wydawnictwo NaukoweFish remains from the Casa do Governador - a Romanfish processing factory in LusitaniaIUNIARQ. Faculdade de Letras. Universidade de Lisboa. Portugal2 Department of History and UNIARQ. Faculdade de Letras. Universidade de Lisboa. PortugalThe "Casa do Govemador da Torre de Belem" is a former Roman fish processing factorylocated in Belem, near the ancient town of Olissipo- present-day Lisbon. Belem is ideally located inrelation to the Tejo's river and the adjacent Atlantic coast. Firm evidence is still lacking on thedates of operation of "Casa do Govemador", but while the factory appears to have been in use for along time (probably for at least four centuries), all the fish remains come from the later phase(fourth-fifth century AD).The social and economic contexts of the "Casa do Govemador" factory are relevant becauseOlissipo was a city that registered substantial activities associated with the exploitation of marineresources. Since part of the factory was destroyed, after later urban building development, there isno definitive idea as to what might have been the general context of the "Casa do Govemador"factory in its early and late phases. However, it seems more plausible that the factory was part of alarge complex (such as an industrial vicus) than it was a small factory related to a villa (Filipe,Fabiao 2009).During 2005 and 2006 the site was excavated by one of us (IF), in the course of a fieldevaluation intended to assess the presence of archaeological structures in the area (since thehistorical building was going to be converted to a hotel). The importance of the discovery and theobvious interest in a more detailed knowledge of a major aspect of Lusitania's economy- theexploitation of marine resources-, provided the motivation for a multidisciplinary project under thedirection of one of us (CF), to understand the manufacture of fish products, exported in amphoraeto other parts of the Roman Empire (work in progress) (Fabiao et aI., 2008).The analysis of fish remains found at the "Casa do Govemador" factory tanks will yieldinformation that can be compared with other archaeological data and information presented inseveral written sources. With our zooarchaeological approach we hope to discover the fish speciesused and their sizes, the kinds of fish products manufactured (chiefly known from literary sourcesbut poorly evidenced zooarchaeologically), and to describe the fishing activities involved in theapture of the raw goods.In this study we present data from a preliminary analysis of the ichthyologic material foundin 17 of the 34 tanks preserved at the site (Fig. 1) - those still functioning in the later phase. Our aimis to provide an initial characterization of the contents found in the different tanks of the factory.Sediments containing massive numbers of fish bones were present in seventeen tanks (T):T4,5,6(a,b),7,8,9,lO,11,12,13,14,17,20,26,30,32 and T33(a,b) (Fig. 1); these were recovered and packed for futurestudy... ,*_.~Considering the constraints imposed by the massive amount of material that was collected,and the limited time and personnel that were available for sorting and identification, the sedimentsrecovered in the field were sampled. To recover all existing skeletal elements, and other possibleremains (such as botanical and/or insect remains, etc.), all samples were gently washed through aset of sieves with lmm, 500J..tm,and 75 J..tmmeshes, before being dried and stored. The resultspresented here represent the bones left in sieves bearing a lmm mesh.A total of e~ghteen samples were analyzed. The bones appeared to be reasonablyhomogeneous: huge numbers of vertebrae and other bones suggesting the presence of entire fish(except in T30where only one vertebra was recovered, and T33where low numbers of vertebraewere found). Samples T4,5,6(a.b),7,8, 9, 10,11,12,13,14, 17,20, 26 and T 32,have large numbers of fishremains. Compared to those, samples T 33aand T33bhad an insignificant number of remains.The vertebrae were the most commonly represented bone in all samples. Sardina pilchardus(sardine) was the principal component of the content found in the tanks. Virtually all bones of thespecies were represented in samples T4,5,6(a.b),7,8, 9, 10,11,12,13,14,17,20,26,and T 32.The atlas was usedfor size estimation and variations were apparent in the size of the specimens collected from thedifferent tanks. Although less numerous there were other taxa present in the samples (e.g.Scombridae, among others). An isolated vertebra recovered in T30corresponded to a shark (possiblyTriakidae family).Several historical texts mention the ichthyologic diversity of the Tagus estuary. Sardine is apelagic fish native in the Tagus estuary and the adjacent Atlantic coast and its abundance andimportance have also been pointed out in several ethno-historic essays (Silva 1891). And eventoday it is one of the principal fish to be consumed locally. The fact that virtually the whole range ofbones of S.pilchardus were represented in samples T4,5,6(a.b),7,8, 9, 10,11, 12,13,14, 17,20, 26, and T 32suggests the use of entire sardines to produce some sort of sauce or salation. Among fish saucesallec has the best chances of being documented by bone finds, because it still contains numerousbones, whereas garum, liquamenn and muria were salty liquids that were fairly clear if strained(Van Neer, Parker 2008).Archaeozoologically salsamenta can be attested when made from entire fish or from cut uppieces still containing bones. We wonder whether more than one fish product was beingmanufactured at "Casa do Governador". The small number of remains found in samples T 33aandT33b, the vertebra found in T 30 and the "empty tanks" (e.g. where no fish remains were recovered)may be considered in relation to this issue. Although there must be fish for fish products to exist, itdoes not follow that there must be fish remnants everywhere fish products were manufactured. Infact, classical writers mention various types of salted fish products which must have contained noneor almost no fish bones (e.g., salsamenta, tetragona, trigona, cubia and melandrya) and thereforewill be difficult to identify even if produced in "Casa do Governador's" fish tanks.While we await more study of the collection of fish bones recovered from the site, it isalready evident that there is a similarity with other contemporary factories from Lusitania. This isparticularly evident with those from Olissipo (e.g., "Nucleo Arqueol6gico da Rua dos Correeiros"and "Mandarim Chines"), where sardine was also the key component of the contents found in thetanks (Assis, Amaro 2006). Despite the fact that both the intensity of production and the magnitudeof fishing are unattainable, it seems clear that a very significant part of the production should havebeen based on the exploitation of this particular species. The accurate estimation of size will allowus to discuss the capture of sardine both in ecological and cultural terms (probable period of fishingand fishing techniques likely to be used).From our results, it is evident that the economic importance of "Casa do Governador" andits association with other sites in Lusitania will be an issue of substantial archaeological discussionin the near future. However, for now it seems already fair to state that in late Antiquity, sardine wasa most important ingredient in the manufacturing of fish products.Filipe 1., Fabiao C. (in press), 2009: Uma unidade de prodw;:ao de preparados de peixe de epocaromana na Casa do Govemador da Torre de Belem (Lisboa): uma primeira apresentayao.Arqueologia e Hist6ria.Fabiao c., Filipe 1., Dias 1., Gabriel S., Coelho M., 2008: Projecto "A Industria de recursoshalieuticos no periodo Romano: a fabrica da Casa do Govemador da Torre de Belem, 0estuario do Tejo e a fachada atlantica, Apontamentos de Arqueologia e Patrim6nio, 1: 35-40.Silva A. B., 1891: Estado actual das pescas em Portugal, Lisboa: Imprensa Nacional.Van Neer W., Parker S., 2008: First archaezoological evidence for haimation, the "invisible" garum,Journal of Archaeological Science 35: 1821-1827._ SSlS C., Amaro 2006: Estudo dos restos de peixe de dois sitios fabris de Olisipo. SetubalArqueol6gica, Vo1.13: 123-144.

Fish remains from the Casa do Governador – a Roman fish processing factory in Lusitania

https://repositorio.ul.pt/bitstream/10451/10080/1/ANEXO1_Abstract_FRWG%5b1%5d.pdf

Fish remains from the Casa do Governador – a Roman fish processing factory in Lusitania

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