During the 13th century the supply of fish to London dramatically changed from a local supply to one important from outside England. These findings are contained in a new article in the journal Antiquity.
‘Fish for the city: meta-analysis of archaeological cod remains and the growth of London’s northern trade’ is based on research by archaeologists from University College London, the University of Cambridge and the University of Central Lancashire. By examining data from about 3000 cod bones found in and around London, they were able to determine where these fish originally came from.
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During the early 13th century there was a sudden change in where the fish being eaten in London had come from. Up to this point most nearly all fish were caught locally, but afterwards one can find large-scale imports coming from the waters off of Northern Norway.
Dr David Orton of the UCL Institute of Archaeology, said, “It’s a truly remarkable shift. We had expected a gradual increase in imports as demand grew along with the city’s medieval population – thought to have quadrupled between AD 1100 and AD 1300 – but this is something else: evidence for locally caught cod drops off suddenly when the imports come in.
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“What did this mean for the local fishing industry? Until we’ve looked at other fish species and other towns we can’t be sure, but the start of this long-range trade may well be an important message about changes in supply and demand.”
Co-author Dr James Barrett of the University of Cambridge, added, “This discovery clarifies an important rapid shift in the demand for distant food resources of one of Europe’s major centres. It shows us that local fishing could no longer keep up with this demand, that London’s ecological footprint was increasingly extensive and that growing trade connections were making the world a smaller place in the century before the spread of the Black Death”.
The research also shows a temporary drop in imports in the late 14th century that might reflect the Black Death’s impact on European trade, plus a further surge in imports from around the year 1500 – coinciding with the beginnings of trans-Atlantic trade and the arrival of cod from Newfoundland on European markets.
During the 13th century the supply of fish to London dramatically changed from a local supply to one important from outside England. These findings are contained in a new article in the journal Antiquity.
‘Fish for the city: meta-analysis of archaeological cod remains and the growth of London’s northern trade’ is based on research by archaeologists from University College London, the University of Cambridge and the University of Central Lancashire. By examining data from about 3000 cod bones found in and around London, they were able to determine where these fish originally came from.
During the early 13th century there was a sudden change in where the fish being eaten in London had come from. Up to this point most nearly all fish were caught locally, but afterwards one can find large-scale imports coming from the waters off of Northern Norway.
Dr David Orton of the UCL Institute of Archaeology, said, “It’s a truly remarkable shift. We had expected a gradual increase in imports as demand grew along with the city’s medieval population – thought to have quadrupled between AD 1100 and AD 1300 – but this is something else: evidence for locally caught cod drops off suddenly when the imports come in.
“What did this mean for the local fishing industry? Until we’ve looked at other fish species and other towns we can’t be sure, but the start of this long-range trade may well be an important message about changes in supply and demand.”
Co-author Dr James Barrett of the University of Cambridge, added, “This discovery clarifies an important rapid shift in the demand for distant food resources of one of Europe’s major centres. It shows us that local fishing could no longer keep up with this demand, that London’s ecological footprint was increasingly extensive and that growing trade connections were making the world a smaller place in the century before the spread of the Black Death”.
The research also shows a temporary drop in imports in the late 14th century that might reflect the Black Death’s impact on European trade, plus a further surge in imports from around the year 1500 – coinciding with the beginnings of trans-Atlantic trade and the arrival of cod from Newfoundland on European markets.
Source: University College London
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