The Curious Case of the Tauranga Bay Snapper Fishery: Otolith Isotopic Chemistry in Northern Aotearora

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Evolutionary and Ecological Perspectives on Oceanic Archaeology: Papers to Honor the Contributions of Melinda Allen" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

During my doctoral studies under Professor Allen’s guidance, I sought to explore the long-term human ecodynamics of Māori peoples’ fisheries in northern Aotearoa. I hypothesized that decreasing sea surface temperatures during the Little Ice Age could have been one of several major drivers of fisheries change, but unfortunately there were no environmental reconstructions available for coastal waters in Aotearoa over this critical time-period. I aimed to address this issue using oxygen isotopes from archaeological snapper (Chrysophrys auratus) otoliths to estimate changes in sea surface temperatures, but I was only able to access snapper otoliths from one early archaeological deposit, and the isotopic chemistry of each individual otolith revealed extremely variable patterns in marine conditions for a brief, local set of fish catches. The results of this pilot study highlight that while fish remains can provide unique records of past enviornmental conditions, they are themselves the product of challenging interactions between climate, fisheries ecology, and human-environment interactions. In this presentation, I will explore the complex socioenvironmental processes of Māori fisheries that are reflected in isotopic and archaeological evidence from Tauranga Bay, Te Tai Tokerau, Aotearoa.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• Evolutionary and Ecological Perspectives on Oceanic Archaeology: Papers to Honor the Contributions of Melinda Allen

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 51221