Fish, Oyster, Whale: The Archaeology of Maritime Traditions

Part of: Society for Historical Archaeology 2023

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Fish, Oyster, Whale: The Archaeology of Maritime Traditions," at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The ways people use the sea and the structures that aid or inhibit the sea’s use are historically significant. The authors in this symposium examine the material manifestations of maritime cultural traditions -- fishing, oystering, whaling, and even mining -- in England,Scotland, Canada, the Caribbean, and the United States. Faunal remains, shoreside buildings, fishing gear, archival documents, and oral histories provide information about the economic, social, and subsistence strategies of seafaring people and the ways they resisted structures of oppression, established foodways traditions, and built transportation corridors to make the products of the sea more available. The authors also consider the heritagization of these places as they are interpreted and/or adapted for reuse, and the ways the fishermen, oystermen, and whalers are remembered and mythologized.

Other Keywords
Fishing • Oyster • Transportation • Capitalism • Shellfish • Oystering • Labor • Dredging • Foodways • Fishery

Geographic Keywords
California • Eastern North America • Southern United States • England (North East) • Eastern U.S. • Upper Great Lakes of the United States • Please select • California, USA

Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-8 of 8)

  • Documents (8)
Documents
  • Carrying Salmon to Scotland?: Late Norse Exploitation of Salmonid Fishes at Earl’s Bu, Orkney (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Liz M. Quinlan.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Fish, Oyster, Whale: The Archaeology of Maritime Traditions", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. The Late Norse site of Earl’s Bu is a high status farmstead site located in Orphir on Orkney’s Mainland. Described in the 13th-century Orkneyinga Saga, the site served not only as Earl Harald’s residence, but hosted a series of documented feasts, the largest of which reportedly took place at Christmas in 1135 CE....

  • Fish and Shellfish Exploitation During the Spanish Colonial Era in California at Mission Santa Clara deAsís. (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Linda J Hylkema.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Fish, Oyster, Whale: The Archaeology of Maritime Traditions", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Fishing played a major role among aboriginal groups in California. Published sources indicate that ethnographically, groups in the San Francisco Bay region fished for coastal and freshwater fishes. They continued these practices during the Spanish Colonial period in California (AD1769-1834), despite being subjected...

  • Gullah Geechee Fishermen in the New South: An Archaeological Perspective (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Jodi A. Barnes.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Fish, Oyster, Whale: The Archaeology of Maritime Traditions", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. In the late 19th and early 20th century, wealthy White sportsmen traveled to the former plantations of the South Carolina Lowcountry to hunt and fish. They depended upon local Black guides who knew the land and fishing holes to ensure a successful outing. Prior to the Civil War, fishing was an important social,...

  • Heritagisation of a Former Fisheries-Dependent Community: Examining the Role of Heritage-Led Regeneration at North Shields Fish Quay (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Katherine G Watson.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Fish, Oyster, Whale: The Archaeology of Maritime Traditions", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. North Shields Fish Quay has a long history as a flourishing fishing port. However, by the end of the 20th century, its reputation was of disuse and dereliction. Significant heritage-led regeneration prompted it to emerge as an attractive commercial and residential quarter. This relied heavily on the use of fishing...

  • The Pioneer Shell Company: Oyster Shell Harvesting Of The San Francisco Bay (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only R. Scott Baxter.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Fish, Oyster, Whale: The Archaeology of Maritime Traditions", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. For hundreds of years, people have used oyster shell to make cement and concrete, as a soil amendment, and as a dietary supplement for livestock. The shell has mostly been acquired as a byproduct of processing fresh oyster for food. However, in the late nineteenth century deposits of ancient, although not fossilized,...

  • The Pound Net Stake Fishery of the Upper Great Lakes of Michigan: An Initial Exploration (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Misty M Jackson.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Fish, Oyster, Whale: The Archaeology of Maritime Traditions", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. People have fished the Great Lakes of the United States and Canada for thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans. In the mid-nineteenth century a new way of procuring fish reached the Upper Great Lakes using pound net stakes. While historic documentation exists, little study has been conducted on the...

  • "The Truth in Every Myth is the Pearl in Every Oyster": Narratives of Chesapeake Bay Oystermen (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Brad Botwick.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Fish, Oyster, Whale: The Archaeology of Maritime Traditions", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Oyster fishing in Chesapeake Bay underwent significant changes during the nineteenth century. Among the most visible changes was the introduction of industrial technologies and organization. Previously, the fishery was conducted at a small scale by individuals or small teams of owner-operators. These traditional...

  • The World for Oysters - The Transportation of Oysters in 19th-Century North America and Its Impact on Inland Foodways. (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Eric Tourigny.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Fish, Oyster, Whale: The Archaeology of Maritime Traditions", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Bivalves played an important role in the diets and foodways of 19th-century North America, spawning an international industry based along the Atlantic coast that benefited from improved transport links to the interior of the continent. A case study from nineteenth-century Upper Canada demonstrates the important role...