Food for the Soul: the social dynamics of marine fish consumption along the southern North Sea coast from AD 700 to AD 1200

It is now widely recognised that the archaeological representation of fish remains on Anglo-Saxon sites increases dramatically after 1000 AD, with evidence suggesting a shift in supply from local fishing to international long-distance trade. The impetus for this uptake of fishing and fish consumption has, however, remained elusive. Historians and archaeologists frequently allude to the role of elites in the instigation of early marine fishing practices but there has been little opportunity to investigate these claims from an archaeological perspective: up to now few Anglo-Saxon elite sites have yielded fish remains. Recently large fish assemblages have been recovered from a number of Anglo-Saxon sites of high status and, for the first time, it is now possible to examine inter-site variations in fish procurement and consumption. This has the potential to inform on the social context of fish consumption and production, how the taste for fish developed and spread through levels of society, whether there were any ideological implications behind its consumption as well as shedding light on site classification based on provisioning and consumption. To address these issues a combination of both quantitative and qualitative data, coupled with anthropological parallels of fishing cultures, are being used to elucidate the role of fish in the economic and social development of Anglo-Saxon England. This poster presents the results achieved from the first year of doctoral research.