Current ICAZ Working Groups

Fish Remains Working Group—

The Fish Remains Working Group (FRWG) was created during an informal meeting held at the Zoological Museum of the University of Copenhagen in 1980. Its members are an interdisciplinary consortium of researchers (archaeozoologists, archaeologists, zoologists, ichthyologists, historians, and fishery biologists) interested not only in the study of fish remains retrieved in archaeological sites from around the world, but also on any matter dealing with fishing, the fish trade, and fish consumption in prehistoric and historic times.

One of the main aims of FRWG is to provide data that can be of use in the future management of fishery resources. The FRWG carries out its mandate by sponsoring biannual international conferences and by maintaining a web site at http://www.cs.otago.ac.nz/research/foss/ICAZ/icaz.htm.

FRWG Meetings:

1. Copenhagen, Denmark (organized by Knud Rosenlund, Inge Bodker-Enghoff, and Jane Richter), August 1980
2. Sophia Antipolis, France (organized by Jean Desse and Natalie Desse-Berset), October 1983
3. Groningen, The Netherlands (organized by Anneke Clason and Dick Brinkhuizen), August, 1985
4. York, United Kingdom (organized by Andrew Jones), September 1987
5. Stora-Korno, Sweden (organized by Leif Jonsson), September 1989
6. Schleswig, Germany (organized by Dirk Heinrich), September 1991
7. Leuven, Belgium (organized by Wim van Neer), September 1993
8. Madrid, Spain (organized by Eufrasia Rosello and Arturo Morales), October 1995
9. Panama City, Panama (organized by Richard Cooke), April 1997
10. New York city, USA (organized by Sophia Perdikaris), September 1999
11. Paihia, New Zealand (organized by Foss Leach), October 2001
12. Guadalajara, Jalisco, México, September 2003
13. Augusta Raurica, Basel/Augst, Switzerland (organized by Heide Hüster Plogmann), October 2005

There is a strong commitment to publish the proceedings of the 13th FRWG meeting in Basel. An editorial board is being recruited to peer-review the manuscripts and funding sources are currently under review.

The 14th FRWG meeting will take place in France in 2007. For more information, contact the organiser: Philippe Béarez, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Case postale 56 , 55 rue Buffon, F-75231, Paris cedex 05; E-mail: bearez@mnhn.fr. Papers on all topics associated with fish and fish bone research are invited.

FRWG Publications

It has been the policy of FRWG to make available the results of its meetings to the scientific community, although not necessarily as proceedings volumes. Only the 2nd, 3rd, and 7th FRWG meetings have produced proceedings volumes, namely:

2nd Meeting: 2nd Fish Osteoarchaeology Meeting edited by N. Desse-Berset (1984). Editions du CNRS, Paris.

3rd Meeting: Fish and Archaeology edited by A. Clason and D. Brinkhuizen (1986). BAR International Series 294. Oxford.

7th Meeting: Fish Exploitation in the Past edited by W. Van Neer (1994). Annales Sciences Zoologiques 274. Musèe Royale de L'Afrique Centrale, Tervuren.

Subsequently, selected papers were sent for publication to refereed journals such as:

• OFFA, whose 1994 issue (number 51) featured 26 papers from the Schleswig Meeting, and
• ARCHAEOFAUNA, which featured papers from the Stora Korno Meeting in Volume 3 (1994), Volume 4 (1995), and Volume 5 (a monographic issue entitled, "Ichthyoarchaeology: Fish and the Archaeological Record" (1996).

The FRWG now intends to make available, both through its website and in paper version, a catalogue of the reference collections held by its various members and the research centers in which they work.

The FRWG has been particularly keen to foster collaboration among its members, resulting in a number of joint research projects and publications.

This information has been contributed by László Bartosiewicz , FRWG Liaison to ICAZ.