The Prehistory of the Sea

In February, James Barrett of the McDonald Institute was invited to speak on the prehistory of intensive sea fishing to begin a conference at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium. The meeting was held to celebrate the research of Professor Daniel Pauly, the renowned marine ecologist, who was awarded an honorary degree.

James’ latest research, on the origins of commercial sea fishing in Northern Europe, is supported by the Leverhulme Trust and by HMAP, the historical branch of the Census of Marine Life. Together with postdoctoral fellows Jen Harland and Cluny Johnstone – and a team of international collaborators – he has just published the project’s first results in the Journal of Archaeological Science:

Barrett, J., C. Johnstone, J. Harland, W. Van Neer, A. Ervynck, D. Makowiecki, D. Heinrich, A.K. Hufthammer, I.B. Enghoff, C. Amundsen, J.S. Christiansen, A.K.G. Jones, A. Locker, S. Hamilton-Dyer, L. Jonsson, L. Lõugas, C. Roberts & M. Richards. 2008. Detecting the medieval cod trade: A new method and first results. Journal of Archaeological Science 35: 850-61.