Ancient Fishing And Fish Processing In The Black Sea Region

by Bekker-Nielsen, Tonnes

• ISBN13: 9788779340961
• ISBN10: 8779340962
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-06-30
• Publisher: David Brown Book Co

Summary

This volume challenges the orthodox view that fishing and fish played only a marginal role in the economy of the ancient world. In fact, there is archaeological evidence for ancient fish processing on a commercial scale not only in the Mediterranean itself, but also on the Atlantic coast and in the Black Sea region, especially the Crimea. Our literary sources testify to the widespread culinary and medicinal use of salted fish and fermented fish sauces in antiquity, and especially in the first centuries AD. In this book, the authors assess the present state of research on ancient fishing and discuss its implications for the history of the Black Sea region, especially the period of Greek colonisation along its shores. While grain has traditionally been viewed as the main export commodity of the Pontic colonies, the existence of salting-vats on the coast of the Crimea indicate production of salt-fish or fish sauce on a large scale, presumably for export. However, many questions remain unanswered: for instance concerning ownership and organisation of the processing facilities, or how the finished product was transported to distant markets.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 13
Fish as a source of food in antiquity	p. 21
Sources for production and trade of Greek and Roman processed fish	p. 31
The archaeological evidence for fish processing in the western Mediterranean	p. 47
The technology and productivity of ancient sea fishing	p. 83
The reliability of fishing statistics as a source for catches and fish stocks in antiquity	p. 97
Fishery in the life of the nomadic population of the northern Black Sea area in the early Iron Age	p. 105
Fish and money : numismatic evidence for Black Sea fishing	p. 115
The archaeological evidence for fish processing in the Black Sea region	p. 133
A fishy business : transport amphorae of the Black Sea region as a source for the trade in fish and fish products in the classical and Hellenistic periods	p. 161
Size matters : estimating trade of wine oil and fish-sauce from amphorae in the first century A.D.	p. 171
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