Hello Kevin,
I am not aware of directly relevant literature from your area, but
Roel Lauwrier may be able to help. I do know that at Red Bay on coastal
Labrador, Canada, Basque whalers killed and butchered many baleen whales
for the oil from their blubber. Such butchery would look quite different
from that which was designed to retrieve meat, baleen, bone or bone oil.
Trophyism (skull removal) would have a different butchering signature
yet again. Without knowing details (type of mark, location of mark,
orientation of mark, number of marks, ) of the "extensive butchery" you
describe it is difficult to speculate about the purpose of the butchery
or its practice at the time in question. My experience with aboriginal
whaling on Canada's west coast suggests that the purpose was blubber
removal, pectoral flipper removal, head (skull and jaws separately)
removal, then meat/muscle removal, bone (ribs, vertebrae) removal and
viscera and internal fat removal. All of this was done with very fine
cutting edges, although gouging and adzing were used in extracting oil
from bones. You may find some historical documentation in Scandanavian
literature, particularly Norwegian, since they still actively hunt
whales. Perhaps NE United States accounts might be available. The
practices there might mirror fairly closely those in Britain in the same
general time.
Regards,
Greg
On 10/21/2010 4:36 AM, Kevin Rielly wrote:
>
> Dear all,
>
> I'm presently working on a Northern Right whale skeleton which had
> been deliberately beached on the foreshore of the Thames at Greenwich.
> It includes most of the vertebral column and ribcage as well as most
> of the 'forelimb' parts. Dating is a problem, there are no associated
> artefacts, but it has been butchered, including probable decapitation.
> It is assumed, based on its size and extensive butchery, that this
> whale was captured and beached sometime during the commercial whaling
> period, probably dating to the 18^th /19^th centuries. There are
> records of large whales in the Thames in the 17^th century, which were
> killed and then put on show. Unlike this specimen, it would appear
> that showing off such a monster of the deep was deemed more important
> than its meat or baleen. The question I'd like to pose is whether
> anyone knows of any studies on the butchery practised on large baleen
> whales during this period, either based on an archaeological find or
> finds or on historical accounts?
>
> All the best
>
> Kevin
>
--
Gregory G. Monks, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Anthropology
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, MB
Canada R3T 5V5
ph. (204) 474-6332
fax (204) 474-7600
Ancora Imparo
