Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
The Archaeologists, The National Historical Museums of Sweden, Lund, Sweden.
PLoS One. 2021 Jan 20;16(1):e0245222. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0245222. eCollection 2021.
At Norje Sunnansund, an Early Holocene settlement in southern Sweden, the world's earliest evidence of fermentation has been interpreted as a method of managing long-term and large-scale food surplus. While an advanced fishery is suggested by the number of recovered fish bones, until now it has not been possible to identify the origin of the fish, or whether and how their seasonal migration was exploited. We analysed strontium isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr) in 16 cyprinid and 8 pike teeth, which were recovered at the site, both from within the fermentation pit and from different areas outside of it, by using laser ablation multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Our investigation indicates three different regions of origin for the fish at the site. We find that the most commonly fermented fish, cyprinids (roach), were caught in the autumn during their seasonal migration from the Baltic Sea to the sheltered stream and lake next to the site. This is in contrast to the cyprinids from other areas of the site, which were caught when migrating from nearby estuaries and the Baltic Sea coast during late spring. The pikes from the fermentation pit were caught in the autumn as by-catch to the mainly targeted roach while moving from the nearby Baltic Sea coast. Lastly, the pikes from outside the fermentation pit were likely caught as they migrated from nearby waters in sedimentary bedrock areas to the south of the site, to spawn in early spring. Combined, these data suggest an advanced fishery with the ability to combine optimal use of seasonal fish abundance at different times of the year. Our results offer insights into the practice of delayed-return consumption patterns, provide a more complete view of the storage system used, and increase our understanding of Early Holocene sedentism among northern hunter-fisher-gatherers. By applying advanced strontium isotope analyses to archaeological material integrated into an ecological setting, we present a methodology that can be used elsewhere to enhance our understanding of the otherwise elusive indications of storage practices and fish exploitation patterns among ancient foraging societies.
在瑞典南部的诺尔扬桑松，人们对一个全新世早期的定居点进行了研究，该定居点出土了世界上最早的发酵证据，这被解读为一种管理长期大规模食物剩余的方法。尽管通过回收的鱼骨数量表明当时已经存在先进的渔业，但直到现在，人们还无法确定这些鱼的来源，也无法确定是否以及如何利用它们的季节性洄游。我们通过激光烧蚀多接收电感耦合等离子体质谱法，对该遗址出土的 16 颗鲤鱼牙齿和 8 颗梭鱼牙齿中的锶同位素比值（87Sr/86Sr）进行了分析。这些牙齿样本既来自发酵坑内部，也来自发酵坑外部的不同区域。我们的研究结果表明，该遗址出土的鱼类来自三个不同的区域。我们发现，最常被发酵的鱼类——鲤鱼（鲤鱼），是在秋季洄游到靠近遗址的溪流和湖泊时被捕捞的，这与来自遗址其他区域的鲤鱼不同，后者是在春季末从附近的河口和波罗的海海岸洄游时被捕捞的。发酵坑中的梭鱼是在秋季从附近的波罗的海海岸迁徙到附近的过程中作为副渔获物被捕捞的，主要目标是鲤鱼。最后，发酵坑外的梭鱼可能是在春季迁徙到遗址南部的沉积基岩地区产卵时被捕捞的。总的来说，这些数据表明，当时已经存在一种先进的渔业，能够在一年中的不同时间最佳利用季节性鱼类资源。我们的研究结果提供了对延迟回报消费模式的深入了解，为所使用的储存系统提供了更全面的认识，并增加了我们对北方狩猎采集者新石器时代定居的理解。通过将先进的锶同位素分析应用于整合到生态背景中的考古材料，我们提出了一种方法，可用于其他地方，以增强我们对古代觅食社会储存实践和鱼类利用模式的难以捉摸的迹象的理解。
