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Abstract
Post-excavation analysis of animal bones recovered from late 18th-/19th-century military refuse deposits within the Berry Head Forts (Torbay, Devon, UK) has provided evidence for the inclusion of fresh fish in the garrison’s diet. European hake was the principal fish in the food rations of the ordinary soldiers whilst more expensive fish, notably turbot, sole and John Dory, was only eaten in the officers’ messes. Reconstructed lengths of the hake in the archaeological assemblage formed a distribution pattern very different from that plotted from data on modern trawler-caught hake, showing how much post-industrial commercial fishing activity has profoundly altered the age/size structure of modern hake stocks.
| ABBREVIATIONS | ||
| ICES | = | International Council for the Exploration of the Sea |
| MNI | = | Minimum Number of Individuals |
| NISP | = | Number of Identified Specimens |
| ABBREVIATIONS | ||
| ICES | = | International Council for the Exploration of the Sea |
| MNI | = | Minimum Number of Individuals |
| NISP | = | Number of Identified Specimens |
Dr Philip Armitage is indebted to the volunteer members of Brixham Heritage Museum’s Field Research Team for their tireless enthusiasm during the Berry Head excavations, which resulted in the recovery of the fish bones and made this research project possible. Special thanks are also due to the following for their assistance and information supplied during the post-excavation research into the fish bone: Dr Alison Locker (Andorra, France), Mrs Lisa Readdy (Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft), the late Professor Alan J. Southward (Marine Biological Association Laboratory, Plymouth), Ms Emma Reece and Mr Nigel Smallbones (Berry Head National Nature Reserve), Mrs Lesley Smith (Brixham Heritage Museum), Mrs Kate Armitage (Brixham) and Dr Peter Armitage (University of Exeter). Mr Robert Rouse (Hon. Technical Illustrator, Brixham Heritage Museum) deserves special acknowledgement for producing the Figures. The post-excavation analysis and report preparation was made possible by grants from the Devon Archaeological Society Endowment Fund and from Torbay Coast & Countryside Trust. Brixham Heritage Museum is supported by Torbay Council and by Brixham Town Council.
Notes
1 Locker 2000, 98.
2 Haythornthwaite 1996, 62; Henderson 1997, 4.
3 Western 1965, 391; Haythornthwaite 1996, 61–2; Morgan 2004, 74.
4 Wilson & Southwood 1976, 126–7.
5 Balkwill & Cumbaa 1987, 13–14.
6 Pye & Slater 1990, 30; Scheduled Ancient Monuments 29694/01 and 29695.
7 Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust 2006, 12.
8 Erskine 1992, 125–6.
9 Evans 1986.
10 Breihan 1990, 142–3; Armitage 2007.
11 Lavery 1989, 263–4; Kitchen 1990, 337.
12 Pye 1989, 11, 24–5.
13 Armitage 2006a; 2006b.
14 Armitage & Rouse 2003; Armitage 2006a; 2006b.
15 Accession Nos 5253 to 5260, 6585 & 7328.
16 Locker 2000, 160–1.
17 Couch 1868, 102.
18 Measurements (mm): dn.a.h.=anterior height in the dentary (system of Morales & Rosenlund 1979); P1=length of the constricting neck of the ascending ramus in the premaxilla (system of Wheeler & Jones 1976).Dentary TL=72·499×dn.a.h – 18·904 (No. specimens=17, TL range 36 to 107 cm; correlation coefficient=0·971). Premaxilla TL=65·53×P1 –9·567 (No. specimens=16, TL range 36 to 107 cm; correlation coefficient=0·969).
19 ICES 2008, sub-divisions VIId–h.
20 Readdy pers. comm., 2011.
21 Amorosi et al. 1994, 31–48.
22 Data modified from Ungaro et al. 2003, 100, fig. 2 (referenced here in the absence of similar available British data).
23 Garza-Gil & Varela-Lafuente 2007, 69.
24 Barclay 2011, 6.
25 This relationship is expressed by the formula: GWT=0·000006×TL3·017.
26 Locker 2000, 133; Locker, pers. comm.
27 Dunsford 1800, 118; Grieg 1925, 271; Holdsworth 1817; Vancouver 1969, 398.
28 Grieg 1925, 250–8.
29 Northway 1969, 10.
30 Yarrell 1836, vol. 1, 164–5.
31 Grieg 1925, 279.
32 Hickling 1935, 63.
33 Western 1965, 391.
34 Anon. 1802, 387; Pike 2002, 19–21; Walrond 1897, 295; Western 1965, 390–1; Beresford 1967, 328, 528, 601.
35 Merriman 1961, 255.
36 Shepherd 1786, 192.
37 Holdsworth 1817.
38 See March 1978, 193.
39 According to White 1850, 425; although Bellamy 1843 records only 20.
40 Billings 1857, 500.
41 Bellamy 1843, 95; Holdsworth 1874, 210.
42 Couch 1868, 102.
43 White 1850, 425.
44 Holdsworth 1874, 203.
45 Holdsworth 1817.
46 Hickling 1935, 64.
47 Roberts 2007, 145–9.
48 Genner et al. 2009; Thurston et al. 2010.
49 Hickling 1935, 54.
50 Russell 1942, 48–9.
51 Calculated using the regression formula of Jones & Scott 1985.
52 Beeton 1869, 173; Wright 1891, 620.
53 Dunsford 1800, 118–23.
54 ICES 2008.