Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2005, Page 39

Fish Bones and Fishermen: The Potential of Zooarchaeology in the Westfjords
(including thoracic and pre-caudal) in the
exported físh. Other fish drying tech-
niques produced a flattened product
much like the modem Norwegian 'klip-
fisk' which lacked upper vertebrae (miss-
ing thoracic and most pre-caudal) which
would then tend to accumulate along
with the head and jaw bones at the
coastal processing center (see discussion
in Perdikaris, et al. 2002, Amundsen, et
al. in press). The distribution of different
parts of large gadids can thus provide
tools for not only identifying "consumer"
sites receiving processed preserved fish
from distant locations, but also for recon-
stmcting the actual product being pro-
duced. Complicating such analyses is the
universal habit of fisher-folk everywhere
of provisioning themselves with part of
their own catch, often eating species or
size ranges not readily marketable and
disposing of the domestic refiise along
with bulk processing debris (Carrasco
1998; Barrett et al. 1997; Bigelow 1984).
Large, comparably excavated samples
analyzed using common zooarchaeologi-
cal software are critical to attempts to
separate out the pattems produced by on-
site consumption, discard of spoiled or
otherwise unmarketable whole individu-
als, and specialized processing for long
distance trade in preserved fish, but no
single approach is sufficient. Three dif-
ferent perspectives on fish body part rep-
resentation may be useful: comparison of
major skeletal element groups, relative
proportions of the vertebral column pres-
ent, and relative proportion of selected
individual elements.
Figure 2 presents the propor-
tions (MAU % adjusted for body part fre-
quency in the live animal, Grayson 1984)
of the major element groups (head and
jaws, pectoral girdle, vertebrae) for four
Major Element Groups
,
*o 25 íf 25 <o
o (D O) ■(1) o s ■§> Granasté 10th Hrísheir 10th Akurvík 13th ‘E 3 < O) :0 ■4 3 o> O nnbogasti 18th c
OT co b '<5 IL
all gadid all gadid all gadid all gadid cod cod cod cod cod I
162 454 99 57 3,091 4,780 2,330 2,321 1,676
□ Head & Jaws O Pectoral Girdle BAII Vertebrae
Figure 2. Major fish bone element groups, sample size indicated at bottom.
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