Early Evidence for Northern Salmonid Fisheries Discovered using Novel Mineral Proxies.

ABSTRACT: Salmonid resources currently foster socioeconomic prosperity in several nations, yet their importance to many ancient circumpolar societies is poorly understood due to insufficient fish bone preservation at archaeological sites. As a result, there are serious gaps in our knowledge concerning the antiquity of northern salmonid fisheries and their impacts on shaping biodiversity, hunter-gatherer adaptations, and human-ecological networks. The interdisciplinary study presented here demonstrates that calcium-magnesium phosphate minerals formed in burned salmonid bones can preserve at ancient northern sites, thus informing on the early utilization of these resources despite the absence of morphologically classifiable bones. The minerals whitlockite and beta magnesium tricalcium phosphate were i

SUBMITTER: Butler DH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6335411 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature