The majority of the papers in these two issues of Environmental Archaeology were presented at the 17th biennial meeting of the Fish Remains Working Group (FRWG) held at the Institute of History, Tallinn University, Estonia, from September 16–21, 2013. Entitled A Fish Story or History? Evidence from the Past, this conference brought together a diverse group of 33 scholars from 22 countries with specialisations in archaeology, zoology, history and anthropology. These fish specialists ranged from doctoral students to emeritus professors.
Hosted by Lembi Lõugas of the University's Institute of History, the conference included 24 oral presentations and a session in which 10 posters were presented. The programme encompassed a wide array of topics, ranging from analytical methods to taphonomy and interpretation to isotope and DNA studies, thus reflecting the characteristic integrative and interdisciplinary nature of FRWG meetings. Engaging and lively discussions, both formal and informal, took place throughout the duration of the conference as participants exchanged ideas and perspectives on research methodologies and recent advances in the study of archaeological fish remains in various parts of the Old and New World.
Field excursions afforded conference participants the opportunity to learn about Estonia's distinctive cultural and natural history and, in particular, its fish and fisheries, both past and present. An afternoon visit to the Museum of Coastal Folk and Open Air Museum on Viimsi Peninsula provided ethnographic and historical information on local fisheries. A number of attendees also explored the natural, archaeological, historical and scenic sites on Saaremaa, Estonia's largest western island. Moreover, as is customary at FRWG meetings, participants had the opportunity to augment their comparative reference collections by acquiring fish specimens from the East Baltic Sea and Gulf of Finland.
The articles in these two special issues of Environmental Archaeology are grouped according to a number of the topics and themes covered in the sessions held at the FRWG conference. The first issue presented the sections on Methodological Approaches and Pre-Columbian New World archaeological fish studies. This second issue focuses on archaeological fish studies conducted in the Old World and includes sections on Mesolithic Europe, Neolithic and Eneolithic Europe, and Medieval and Historic Europe and Middle East.
The two papers included within the first section of this issue present studies of fishing practices during the Mesolithic in Europe. Richie et al. examine fjord fishing in Mesolithic western Norway by studying faunal assemblages from two rockshelters. Their research demonstrates intensified use of marine resources within the subsistence economy of the region and a fishery dominated by cod. Zabilska-Kunek et al. describe Mesolithic fishing in the Polish Lowland based upon an archaeological fish assemblage from a site in this region. Their findings show that people fished in nearby freshwater rivers and lakes and most frequently caught several kinds of cyprinids.
The second section consists of three papers that focus on the Neolithic and Eneolithic periods in Europe. Schmölcke et al. examine fish remains from the only Neolithic freshwater shell midden in the eastern Baltic Sea region. Results from both archaeozoological and stable isotope analysis indicate that cyprinids were the major fish targeted and, moreover, that the taxonomic composition of the archaeological fish fauna and the reconstructed Neolithic landscape were very similar to present-day conditions, providing evidence for a very stable ecosystem over the past 5000 years.
The articles by Radu et al. and by Mărgărit et al. involve Eneolithic sites in Romania. Radu et al. focuses on freshwater bivalve deposits accumulated in household refuse areas at two tell settlements along the Danube River. Mărgărit et al. study the manufacture and use of pearl adornments made from the opercular bone of carp and also conduct an applied experiment reconstructing the production of pearls using modern carps.
The final section of this issue includes five papers on fishing in Europe and the Middle East during medieval and/or historic times. Dütting presents an overview of fishing gear recovered from Roman period sites in the Netherlands based upon publications, reports and artefacts curated in archaeological repositories. Such information supplements and expands upon our knowledge of fishing and fish consumption typically derived from archaeological fish bone remains.
Lõugas et al. examine fishing, fish processing and consumption practices in Tallinn, Estonia, during the Late Neolithic and medieval periods based upon archaeological fish bone assemblages from two sites. Whereas Neolithic fisheries focused on local marine and freshwater species, the trading of fish played an important role in the medieval economy.
The articles by Mannermaa and Salmina involve historic period sites. Mannermaa's research is on archaeological fish remains recovered from a late 16th-/early 17th-century house of a wealthy individual in the Old Town of Helsinki, Finland. Salmina integrates archaeological data with written records to describe the extensive system of fishing settlements called isads existing in the Pskov region of Russia during the 16th century.
The article by Yeomans presents preliminary results of a study of fish bone remains from an 18th-/19th-century archaeological site in northwest Qatar. Comparisons between faunal samples recovered in contexts dating to its initial settlement to those from later occupation deposits when the town had developed into an important trading centre demonstrate changes in fish food preferences and the town's impact on the local environment as its population expanded.
The articles in this as well as the preceding special issue offer additional perspectives and present innovative applications to the study of archaeological fish remains. Such contributions, in turn, should enhance our understanding of the role of fish and fishing among past human populations.