Overfishing of our oceans is a big problem nowadays, the rising demand in consumption fish and rapid technological advances of fishing deplete our oceans at an alarming rate. The beginning of ocean...Show moreOverfishing of our oceans is a big problem nowadays, the rising demand in consumption fish and rapid technological advances of fishing deplete our oceans at an alarming rate. The beginning of ocean fishing seems to originate at the ‘fish event horizon’ a rapid shift from a consumption based on freshwater fish to marine fish. This is visible in England around 1000 AD. The Low Countries are known from the Late Middle Ages to excel in trade of marine fish; technological advances made the Dutch hold a monopoly in the herring trade. In contrast, the Early Middle Ages of the Low Countries are not well researched in term of fish and fishing gear. Fifty years of archaeozoological research done in the Netherlands concluded that fish consumption in the early medieval period concerned mainly freshwater and migratory fish and that marine fish are, with a few exceptions, only found in coastal areas. This thesis analyzed the archaeological data on the fish remains and fishing gear of nineteen early medieval sites in the Netherlands to find out the nature of the Early Medieval fisheries in the Low Countries between 425-1050 AD. Archaeological sites are divided into regional areas (coastal, transition and inland-sites) and data is divided into chronological phases. The results show that the caught fishes are regionally determined and consists of a ‘head-catch’ of nine important fish families that consist of: freshwater fish, marine fish, anadromous fish, catadromous fish and flatfish. Further from the coast there is a large number of freshwater and migratory species present and closer to the coast this shifts into a large number of flatfish, migratory and marine fish. Marine fish are, however, present in the inland and suggest (interregional) trade. Coastal and transition-sites show an increasing number of flatfish and marine fish throughout the Early Medieval Period, but this is not visible on the inland-sites. Associated fishing methods of the head-catch show that the majority of fish were caught using nets and fykes. Fishing gear that is found on the archaeological sites consist of weights of stone, lead and ceramics used as net-sinkers, fykes, fishing hooks, fish lead, fishing spears and forks. Fishing gear is consistent throughout the Early Medieval Period, but seems to differ regionally: on coastal-sites there are no net-sinkers apparent or net-sinkers are possibly misinterpreted. There is no clear fish event horizon visible in the Early Medieval Period of the Low Countries and further research should focus on finding the origin of this event in the Late Medieval Period.Show less
