Dear Mat,

My colleagues and I touched on this issue as a corollary of a fish trade study in a methodological paper from 2008:

Barrett J, Johnstone C, Harland J, Van Neer W, Ervynck A, Makowiecki D, Heinrich D, Hufthammer AK, Enghoff IB, Amundsen C et al. . 2008. Detecting the medieval cod trade: A new method and first results. Journal of Archaeological Science 35(4):850-861.

Over the last two years we have been collecting data to address the question directly for the southern North Sea, but it will be at least a few months before we are ready to publish. Meanwhile the following papers may also be of interest:

Barrett JH, Orton D, Johnstone C, Harland J, Neer WV, Ervynck A, Roberts C, Locker A, Amundsen C, Enghoff IB et al. . 2011. Interpreting the expansion of sea fishing in medieval Europe using stable isotope analysis of archaeological cod bones. Journal of Archaeological Science 38:1516-1524.

Orton DC, Makowiecki D, Roo Td, Johnstone C, Harland J, Jonsson L, Heinrich D, Enghoff IB, Lougas L, Neer WV et al. . 2011. Stable isotope evidence for late medieval (14th-15th C) origins of the eastern
Baltic cod (Gadus morhua) fishery. PLoS ONE 6(11):e27568. doi:27510.21371/journal.pone.0027568.

Best wishes,

James

On Oct 29 2013, Matthew Campbell wrote:

Hi all

A colleague asked me if I knew of any isotopic studies of fish bone,
particularly looking at changes in diet due to changing nutrient flows
following changes in land cover such as deforestation.

Sounds like the sort of study that if it hasn't been done, then someone
should do it. But any help gratefully received.

Cheers

Mat



******************************

Matthew Campbell

CFG Heritage Ltd

PO Box 10 015

Dominion Road

Auckland 1024



ph: 09 309 2426

mobile: 021 437 555

www.cfgheritage.com

-- Dr. J.H. Barrett Deputy Director, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research; Reader in Medieval Archaeology, Department of Archaeology and Anthropology (Archaeology Division)