On the hunt for medieval whales : zooarchaeological, historical and social perspectives on cetacean exploitation in medieval northern and western Europe / Youri van den Hurk.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hurk, Youri van den, author.

Contributor:

University College, London. Institute of Archaeology, issuing body.

Series:

UCL Institute of Archaeology PhD series ; volume 4.

BAR international series ; 2998.

UCL Institute of Archaeology PhD series ; volume 4

BAR international series ; 2998

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Whaling--Europe--History--To 1500.

Whaling.

Marine mammal remains (Archaeology)--Europe.

Marine mammal remains (Archaeology).

Europe.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxii, 230 pages) : illustrations (black and white, and colour), maps (black and white, and colour).

Place of Publication:

Oxford : BAR Publishing, 2020.

Summary:

Medieval cetacean (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) exploitation has frequently been connected to various medieval societies, including the Basques, Norse, Normans, and Flemish. Primarily for the ninth to the twelfth centuries AD, it has been argued that the symbolic significance of cetaceans surpassed their utilitarian value and that their consumption was restricted to the social elite. The extent to which active whaling was practised remains unclear. The identification of zooarchaeological cetacean fragments to the species level is hard and as a result they are frequently merely identified as 'whale', resulting in a poor understanding of human-cetacean interaction in the past. Zooarchaeological research as part of this study has revealed that medieval cetacean exploitation was widespread, especially of the harbour porpoise, common bottlenose dolphin, and the North Atlantic right whale.

Notes:

Also issued in print: 2020.

Includes bibliographical references.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (viewed on September 28, 2020).

ISBN:

9781407357218

1407357212

OCLC:

1222213681