From Harvesting the Sea to Stock Rearing Along the Atlantic Façade of North-West Europe

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Rick Schulting, Anne Tresset and Catherine Dupont

Environmental Archaeology 9, 2004; pp. 131142

From Harvesting the Sea to Stock Rearing Along theAtlantic Faade of North-West Europe

Received September 2003, revised manuscript accepted November 2003.Authors address: Rick Schulting, School of Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queens University Belfast , Belfast BT7 1NN, UK,

Email: [email protected]; Anne Tresset, ESA 8045 du CNRS, Musum National dHistoire Naturelle, 55 rue Buffon,75005 Paris, France, Email: [email protected]; Catherine Dupont, University of Paris I, 56 rue de la Paix, 94300 Vincennes,France, Email: [email protected]

Abstract

By 3000 BC, farmers had settled most of the small islands of north-western Europe. This implies the transportation ofdomestic animals by sea, sometimes over long distances, and the adaptation of herding techniques to new marineenvironments. While many of the same islands were in use in the Mesolithic period, the nature and extent of this useappears to have been quite different. Zooarchaeological and stable isotopic analysis converge to suggest that the dietof human communities at this time was heavily reliant on marine foods. Neolithic settlements located in the samesetting offer a contrasting view. Shell middens were still present at this time, and the remains of fish, marine birds andsea mammals confirm that marine resources were still exploited, but isotopic evidence highlights their minor contributionto the diet. This, combined with the faunal dominance of cattle, sheep and pig, indicates a reliance on domesticatedresources. By the end of the Neolithic, even the most peripheral islands of north-western Europe were being exploitedprimarily for their terrestrial resources. This paper presents evidence from selected sites in western France andOrkney, and then proceeds to offer some possible explanations for the observed patterns of small island use in theNeolithic.

Keywords:MESOLITHIC, NEOLITHIC, FAUNA, MARINEEXPLOITATION

cereal growing and stock rearing were the maineconomic activities on the Breton islands of Batz,Brhat, Ouessant and Belle-Ile until the mid-19th

century (Brigand 1983; Guillemet 2000), and on theNorthern and Western Isles of Scotland into themid-20th century (Fenton 1978). In Brittany, Irelandand Scotland, many islets peripheral to largerislands or to the mainland were traditionally usedas summer pasture or to grow hay for foddering(Mason 1936; Bell 1993; F. McCormick pers. comm.2003). The prevalence, in various languages, oftoponyms for small islands including a referenceto sheep or cattle provides further evidence of theirhistoric use (e.g. Enez Deved, Ile aux Moutons,

Introduction

The use of the small islands (by small islands wemean those under approximately10 km2; the IledOlron is an exception at 175 km2) off the Atlantic

faade of north-western Europe (from westernFrance to the Scottish Northern Isles) was well-established in the early historic period, and in manycases traditional practices continued until quiterecently (e.g. Martin 1703; Fenton 1978; Boyd andBoyd 1990; Guillemet 2000; Rixson 2001; Brigand2002). Intriguingly, the main use of such islandswas and in many cases still is for mixed farming,and in particular animal keeping, rather than theexploitation of marine resources, although, ofcourse, this occurred as well. Thus, for example,


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132 R. Schulting, A. Tresset and C. Dupont

Lambay, Inishkeeragh, Soay, and even Fair Isle allmean or derive from Sheep Island, while Inish-bofin means Island of White Cattle).

Even the exploitation of marine resources couldbe geared towards terrestrial productivity, as seen

in the collection and preparation of seaweed formanuring fields or for use as fodder, especially forcattle (Martin 1703; Mason 1936; Chapman 1970;Fenton 1978; Fleuriot 1986; Arzel 1987; Bell 1993;Dodgshon 1994; Amorosi et al. 1998). When did thispattern of the use of coastlines and small islandsbegin? We suggest here that a switch from a focus

on marine resource exploitation for subsistence inthe Mesolithic to a focus on terrestrial resourceexploitation in the Neolithic can be detected on thecoastline and in a number of widely dispersedislands along the Atlantic faade (Fig. 1).

Mesolithic Antecedents

The picture of Mesolithic exploitation of the coastalregion is hampered throughout much of north-western Europe by rising Holocene sea-levels, and

0 250 500 km

Shetland

Knap of Howar

St Kilda

OrkneyOuter Hebrides

Caldey Is.

Rathlin Is. Arran

LambayIs.

ChannelIslands

Scilly Isles

Oronsay

PontheziresLa Perroche

Beg-ar-Loued

Er YohTviec

Hodic

Beg-er-VilBeg-an-Dorchenn

AranIslands

BlasketIslands

Ferriter'sCove

Morton

Fair Isle

Cide Fields

La Sauzaie

Figure 1. Map of the Atlantic faade of north-west Europe showing locations of sites mentioned in the text.


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From Harvesting the Sea to Stock Rearing Along the Atlantic Faade of North-West Europe 133

by poor bone survival in the acidic soi ls thatdominate the area. There are exceptions, the mostimportant of which are found in the Baltic area(Andersen 1995; Fischer 1997). Here, however, wefocus on western France and the British Isles, where

the faunal evidence is very limited. Significantoccupation of southern Brittany in particular is seenin the presence of some comparatively large shellmiddens, most importantly Tviec and Hodic.These sites were almost totally excavated in theearly 20th century; unfortunately much of thefaunal material has been lost. While the site reportsare more than adequate for their time, they focuson the elaborate graves and their human remains,with only brief mention of the fauna (Pquart et al.1937; Pquart and Pquart 1954). What informationis available can be supplemented by re-examination

of surviving material from older and more recentexcavations at two much smaller Breton shellmiddens, Beg an Dorchenn and Beg er Vil (DuChtellier 1881; Giot 1947; Kayser 1985; 1990;Tresset 2000; Dupont 2003). For the British Isles,Mesolithic sites with good zooarchaeological evi-dence for marine exploitation include FerritersCove (Woodman et al. 1999), Oronsay (Grieve 1883;Grigson and Mellars 1987), and Morton (Coles1971). Only Hodic, Oronsay, and probably Mortonwould have actually been islands in the Mesolithic,but the sites do provide a view of the coastaleconomy for comparison with the Neolithic.

Resource exploitation in general is broad-basedin the Mesolithic sites: both terrestrial and marinemammals are represented, together with fish,shellfish, crustaceans and birds. The mammalianfauna is typically dominated by some combinationof the four main terrestrial game species: red deer,roe deer, wild pig and aurochs (although, of these,only the wild pig was present in Ireland Woodmanet al. 1997) (Table 1; see Table 2 for all Latin names).The exception to this pattern is Oronsay, wheregrey seal dominates (Grigson and Mellars 1987).Grey seal is also present at Beg er Vil and Tviec,

though in smaller proportions. Seal seems absentfrom the Hodic assemblage, assuming that thepublished report of Pquart and Pquart (1954) isreliable. The surprising lack of seal at Ferriters Covemay relate to the inferred seasonal nature ofoccupation there (Woodman et al. 1999).

A variety of birds were found at Tviec, Beg erVil, Oronsay and Morton, including both terrestrialand marine species. Auks (including the recentlyextinct great auk) are particularly well representedat all sites (Table 1). Woodcock is abundant atTviec and at Beg er Vil. The abundance of auks

noted at most of the sites could indicate a seasonalhunting activity, as these pelagic birds are virtuallyimpossible to catch outside of breeding season,

between late winter and mid-summer, dependingon species and latitude. The human consumptionof birds is evidenced by cut marks on a razorbillcoracoid, and traces of burning on snapped humeriof razorbill/guillemot and great auk at Tviec

(Tresset forthcoming).Fish remains were present and probably abun-

dant at all sites, although differing recovery methodsmean that the surviving evidence is variable. Wrasseand several shark species were present at Tviecand thornback ray was recovered at Hodic (Pquartet al. 1937; Pquart and Pquart 1954; Desse andDesse 1976). Some 18 fish species, most notablywhiting and other gadoids, tope, and wrasse, werefound at Ferriters Cove (Woodman et al. 1999).Saithe completely dominates the diverse fish assem-blages of Oronsay (Mellars and Wilkinson 1980;

Mellars 1987), while the small assemblage at Mortonconsisted almost entirely of cod (Coles 1971). Thelarge size and species of fish at Ferriters Cove andMorton could suggest the use of boats, althoughnot necessarily of true offshore fishing. Diverseshellfish species were found at all sites, althoughtheir importance is difficult to quantify. Limpet isan important component of all assemblages exceptMorton where it is minor. The Oronsay sites arecomposed almost solely of limpets that may havebeen used as fish bait, a practice known historicallyin Scotland (Fenton 1978). Common edible cockle isalso well represented when sandy shores arepresent, with other species more restricted to certainsites (Table 1). In some cases there is evidence fornon-human predation and natural accumulation ofsome of the shellfish present (Coles 1971; Woodmanet al. 1999). Less frequently discussed are the remainsof crustaceans, which are in fact present at most ofthe sites (Coles 1971; Woodman et al. 1999; Gruet2002; Dupont and Gruet in press).

At least in the cases of Ferriters Cove andOronsay, it could be argued that marine resourcesdominated the faunal assemblages, although anymore precise statement regarding the balance

between marine and terrestrial resources is notpossible for methodological reasons. Stable isotopeanalysis provides a different, and complementary,approach to the reconstruction of ancient diet.Stable carbon (13C) and nitrogen (15N) isotopemeasurements reflect the protein component of thediet over the last decade or so of an individualslife, easily discriminating between marine andterrestrial protein sources and allowing a certaindegree of quantification (Chisholm et al. 1982).Results on human bone collagen from Tviec andHodic demonstrate a strong marine component in

the diet, comprising from 60% to 90% of the proteinconsumed (Table 1) (Schulting and Richards 2001).This provides a corrective for the biased surviving


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From Harvesting the Sea to Stock Rearing Along the Atlantic Faade of North-West Europe 135

faunal assemblages. Clearly the terrestrial resourcesseen in the faunal assemblages were also important,providing up to approximately one-third of thedietary protein. For Britain and Ireland, 13C and15

N measurements on Late Mesolithic humansfrom Oronsay and Ferriters Cove indicate a verystrong marine influence, including one individualwith essentially all of his/her protein deriving frommarine sources (Richards and Mellars 1998; Wood-man et al. 1999). A series of earlier Mesolithic (c.7000 BC) humans from Caldey Island in SouthWales (attached to the mainland at the time) showmore variable, but still considerable, use of marinefoods (Schulting and Richards 2002a) (Fig 2).

Neolithic Marine Exploitation or IslandHerding?

At first glance, the importance of marine resourceexploitation seen in the Mesolithic appears to

continue into the Neolithic along the Atlantic faadeof north-western Europe. In Brittany, the distri-bution of the earliest Neolithic mortuary monuments(long mounds and passage graves) is strongly

coastal (LHelgouach 1965); similarly, various formsof megalithic tomb are found concentrated alongthe coasts of the British Isles (e.g. Lynch 1976).Neolithic sites are also common on islands, fromwestern France to Shetland. It is a common assump-tion that this distribution, together with the per-ceived frailty of early farming practices and/or thecultural persistence of a hunting and gatheringlifeway, indicates an important marine orientationin the subsistence economy at this time (e.g. Kaelas1990; Ritchie 1997). In the following sections webriefly summarise the zooarchaeological and stableisotope evidence from selected Neolithic sites for

both marine and terrestrial exploitation, and arguethat it is the latter that clearly dominates.

The Late Neolithic shell midden of Pontheziresis located on the west coast of the Ile dOlron,

Common name Latin Authority Common name Latin Authority

Mammals Fishes

red deer Cervus elaphus Linnaeus, 1758 tope Galeorhinus galeus Linnaeus, 1758

roe deer Capreolus capreolus Linnaeus, 1758 angel shark Squatina squatina Linnaeus, 1758

aurochs Bos primigenius Bojanes, 1827 smooth hound shark Mustelus mustelus Linnaeus, 1758

cattle Bos taurus Linnaeus, 1758 skate Raja batis Linnaeus, 1758sheep/goat Ovis aries/Capra hircus Linnaeus, 1758 thornback ray Raja clavata Linnaeus, 1758

wild boar Sus scrofa scrofa Linnaeus, 1758 cod Gadus morhua Linnaeus, 1758

pig Sus scrofa domesticus Erxleben, 1777 saithe Pollachius virens Linnaeus, 1758

grey seal Halichoerus grypus Fabricius, 1791 whiting Merlangius merlangus Linnaeus, 1758

common seal Phoca vitulina Linnaeus, 1758 ling Molva molva Linnaeus, 1758

wrasse Labrus sp. Linnaeus, 1758

Birds bream Sparussp. Linnaeus, 1758

razorbill Alca torda Linnaeus, 1758 halibut Hippoglossus hippoglossus Linnaeus, 1758

great auk Pinguinus impennis Linnaeus, 1758 flounder Platichthys flesus Linnaeus, 1758

Atlantic puffin Fratercula arctica Linnaeus, 1758 turbot Scophthalmus maximus Linnaeus, 1758

guillemot Uria aalge Pontoppidan 1763 eel Anguilla anguilla Linnaeus, 1758

herring gull Larus argentatus Pontoppidan 1763 conger Conger conger Linnaeus, 1758

woodcock Scolopax rusticola Linnaeus, 1758 salmon/sea trout Salmosp. Linnaeus, 1758

ducks Anassp. Linnaeus, 1758 sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax Linnaeus, 1758

gannet Morus bassanus Linnaeus, 1758 mullet Mugil sp. Linnaeus, 1758

sturgeon Acipenser sturio Linnaeus, 1758

Shellfish

limpet Patellasp. Linnaeus, 1758 Crustaceans

periwinkle Littorina littorea Linnaeus, 1758 edible crab Cancer pagurus Linnaeus, 1758

thick top shell Osilinus lineatus da Costa, 1778 furrowed crab Xanthosp. Olivi, 1792

dog-whelk Nucella lapillus Linnaeus, 1758 shore crab Carcinus maenas Linnaeus, 1758

comon edible cockle Cerastoderma edule Linnaeus, 1758 velvet swimming crab Portunus/Necora puber Linnaeus, 1767

Baltic tellin Macoma balthica Linnaeus, 1758 warty crab Eriphia spinifrons Herbst, 1785

flat oyster Ostrea edulis Linnaeus, 1758

common mussel Mytilus edulis Linnaeus, 1758peppery furrow shell Scrobicularia plana da Costa, 1778

carpet shell Tapes decussata Linnaeus, 1758

squid Sepia officinalis Linnaeus, 1758

Table 2. Latin names of species mentioned in paper.


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136 R. Schulting, A. Tresset and C. Dupont

Figure2.Paired13CvaluesandAMSdateso

nhumanbone(cal.BCwithestimatedmarinereservoircorrectionwher

eappropriate).Filleddiamondsrepr

esentMesolithic

individuals;opencirclesrepresentNeolithicindividuals.Textinitalicsreferstokey

sites.Arbitrarily,Marinegroup=

>66%contributionofmarineprotein;Intermediate

=6633%

marineprotein;andTerrestrial=

From Harvesting the Sea to Stock Rearing Along the Atlantic Façade of North-West Europe

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