Studies of the organic residue on potsherds from the Outer Hebrides and Shetland reveal contrasting diets and resource exploitation among different people.
Contrasting Patterns of Resource Exploitation on the Outer Hebrides and Northern Isles of Scotland during the Late Iron Age and Norse Period Revealed through Organic Residues in Pottery
By Lucy J.E. Cramp, Helen Whelton, Niall Sharples, Jacqui Mulville and Richard P. Evershed
In: Journal of the North Atlantic 2015, Vol 9: pp. 134-151
ABSTRACT:
The study of preserved ancient biomolecules can offer new insights into the substances processed or contained in unglazed vessels. In a recently published study, archaeologists and scientists investigated pottery from two distinct settlements. One is in Bornais located on the western coast of South Uist which was inhabited from Ad 200 – 1400. Here pottery from the 5th – 14th century was analysed. Another is Jarlshof located near Sumburgh Head on Shetland. Pottery from the 12th – 13th centuries was investigated. All-in-all 158 sherds were studied of which 56 had visible residues left.
The main results are that the sherd from Bornais had contained animal and dairy fats. This is supplemented by analysis of faunal remains, which indicates that cattle, sheep and deer contributed significantly to the diet. The results indicate that the site was characterised by a dairy economy from the the Late iron Age and all the way through to the Norse period. “Thus there is no clear association of Marine product intensification with the beginning of the Viking Age”, write the authors. (p. 139).
As opposed to this, the pottery from Shetland revealed the presence of monounsaturated fatty acids, indicating a much more marine diet. “Marine resources seem to have been widely and intensively processes in pottery at Jarlshof”, they conclude (143). However, the archaeologists speculate whether diary-products might have been somehow processed without the use of pottery.
These data confirm intensive and/or specialized processing of marine products in pottery on Shetland, either for consumption or other uses, such as rendering of oil from fish livers to be used for lightening; an oil lamp made of steatite have been found in the excavations there. In contrast, at Bornais, little increase in the intensity of marine product exploitation can be identified between the residues from the Later Iron Age and Norse phases; however, an emphasis on dairy products is identifiable throughout all phases and pottery types. Nevertheless, it should be considered to what extent pottery would be used for processing herring, which has otherwise been detected in archaeological excavations at Bornais. At Jarlshof, the use of steatite bowls might have been common.
“While the findings from these two sites clearly cannot be extrapolated as entirely representative of the wider respective regions, what emerges is further evidence for diverse economic or cultural patterns at different locations within Scandinavian Scotland”, concludes the authors.