Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2005, Page 38

Yekaterina Krivogorskaya, Sophia Perdikaris &Thomas H. McGovern
Gjögur E. Medieval Akurvík E. Medieval Gjögur L. Medieval Akurvík L. Medieval
Scientific Names English NISP NISP NISP NISP
Gadus morhua L. Atlantic cod 2320 3,095 2626 4,981
Pollachius virens L. Saithe 26 38 92
Melanogramus aeglfinus L. Haddock 23 119 69 528
Molva molva L. Ling 2 5 10 81
Brosme brosme L. Torsk 4 7
Gadidae, specíes indeterminate. Gadid family 1623 2,030 1807 6,356
Hippoglossus hippoglossus L. Halibut 11 2 31 19
Scophthalmus rhombus L. Brill 4
Pleuronectidae sp. Skate sp 7 4 1 4
Anarchichas lupus L. Wolfish 45 1 78
Rajidae Ray sp 7 6 5
Salmonidae Salmonid family 1 8 1
Fish indeterminate Fish species 4,592 2,900 4356 81,193
total fish 8,612 93,349 8957 93,349
Table 3. Fish bones from upper and lower contexts Akurvík and Gjögur. The gadid family ele-
ments are allpotentially from Atlantic cod.
lowed by haddock, saithe, torsk, and ling.
While Gjögur and Akurvík are very dif-
ferent types of occupation, both show an
overwhelming dominance of cod fish in
both their early and later medieval
archaeofauna. Such dominance by a sin-
gle species has been used as an indicator
of a commercialized or commercializing
fishery concentrating on a single species
that can be standardized and commodi-
tized for export (see Perdikaris, et al. in
press; Perdikaris 1998 for discussion;
Simpson, et al. 2000). The narrow focus
upon cod in these sites contrasts strongly
with the much higher species diversity
evident in 9th-11 th century bone collec-
tions from inland Mývatnssveit, which
include substantial amounts of haddock
and saithe as well as cod (Perdikaris, et
al. 2004, McGovem, et al. 2001), or the
high species diversity of Iron Age North
Norwegian físh collections (Perdikaris
1998).
Fish Skeletal Element Distribution
Skeletal element distribution is often
used as an aid in identiíying specialized
físh butchery and processing techniques
that may disproportionately deposit cra-
nial and some vertebral elements at land-
ing/processing centers and concentrate
other "meat bearing" body parts at con-
sumption areas. Different fish processing
techniques produce different pattems in
the skeletal elements transported to con-
sumers, but all tend to leave the bones of
the pectoral girdle (around the gill slit)
with the preserved product, as these
bones (especially the large, curved clei-
thmm) help to keep the headless body
together and when spread aid the drying
of the body cavity. The relative amount
of vertebrae that travel from coastal pro-
ducer to distant consumer varies accord-
ing to butchery strategy and the type of
preserved fish product being produced on
the coast. The staple of the later medieval
and early modem dried físh trade was
stockfish (skreið), a round-dried product
that left almost all of the upper vertebrae
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