Fish farming tracked from fragmentary remains using a universal bone barcode

在中世纪英国工作的考古学家和历史学家早就认识到鱼类消费的社会和象征意义。与禁食作为基督教日历的一个特征有关，鱼在饮食中的重要性增加了。公元1000年：这种海洋鱼类消费量的增加被称为“鱼类事件视界”，在许多考古遗址和人骨稳定同位素记录中都可以看到。淡水鱼养殖在诺曼征服后的几年里被引入英国，它们作为礼物的流通似乎鼓励了许多教会和世俗精英场所的鱼塘的扩散。然而，历史学家和考古学家目前在一些问题上不敢苟同。其中，英国的鲤鱼养殖引起了很大的争议。鲤鱼是作为一种理想的鱼类养殖品种被引入西欧的。到了世纪中期，它们在法国被养殖，从世纪开始，在西欧变得相对普遍。来自英国的当代历史记录描述了当地鲤鱼类的养殖，如鲷，但直到世纪中期，鲤鱼才出现在文献中，导致一些历史学家得出结论，“.到十六世纪末.鲤鱼已经成为英国最受欢迎的淡水鱼。这一切听起来令人信服，但有一个根本问题。考古记录中根本找不到这种所谓的流行程度的增长。诊断元素的偶然存活意味着我们现在拥有英国鲤鱼最早的考古证据，与第一次历史记录在同一个世纪。尽管如此，鲤鱼在中世纪和后来的英国考古遗址中还是很少见的--这与欧洲大陆的证据形成了鲜明的对比。造成这些观察和意见分歧的原因可能有几个，但至少有一点是明确的。许多鱼骨组合的特征和条件使得区分鲤科鱼类和单个物种非常困难。这就是ZooMS -质谱动物考古学的简称-的用武之地。即使是最小的骨头碎片也含有胶原蛋白序列形式的蛋白质“条形码”。利用蛋白质质谱分析法，我们可以快速而廉价地鉴定出每一种鲤科鱼类的元素，甚至是鱼鳞。联合收割机将丰富的蛋白质与灵敏的检测方法结合起来，你就有了一个快速、廉价的鉴定系统。我们可以使用ZooMS来监测不同鲤科鱼类的频率随时间的变化。这不仅可以澄清鲤鱼养殖是如何以及何时在中世纪世界变得重要的。它还将使我们能够检查中世纪水质的变化（如鲤科鱼类物种分布所反映的）。如果ZooMS被证明是成功的，我们可以使用100 mm的岩心快速调查“鱼塘”中的鲤科鱼类种群。事实上，对每一种骨骼元素（哺乳动物、鸟类、鱼类）进行指纹识别的能力，有可能给考古调查带来革命性的变化。

Archaeologists and historians working in medieval Britain have long acknowledged the social and symbolic importance of fish consumption. Associated with fasting as a feature of the Christian calendar, fish grew in importance to the diet c. 1000AD: this increasing in marine fish consumption has been called the 'fish event horizon' and is visible on numerous archaeological sites, as well as in the human bone stable isotopic record. Freshwater fish farming was introduced to Britain in the years following the Norman Conquest, and their circulation as gifts seems to have encouraged the proliferation of fish ponds on many ecclesiastical and secular elite sites. There are, however, a number of points on which historians and archaeologists currently beg to differ. Among these, the farming of carp in Britain is a source of considerable controversy.Carp were introduced to western Europe as an ideal species for fish farming. By the mid 13th century they were being farmed in France, becoming relatively common across western Europe from the 14th century onwards. Contemporary historical records from Britain describe the farming of native cyprinids such as bream, but it is not until the mid 15th century that carp appear in documents, leading some historians to conclude that '...by the end of the sixteenth century... the carp had become the most popular freshwater fish in England'. This all sounds convincing, but there is a fundamental problem. This claimed growth in popularity cannot be traced at all in the archaeological record. Chance survival of diagnostic elements means that we now have the earliest archaeological evidence for British carp, in the same century as the first historical record. Nevertheless carp are rare on medieval and later archaeological sites in Britain - in sharp contrast to the continental evidence.There may be several reasons for these differences of observation and opinion, but one thing, at least, is clear. The character and condition of many fish bone assemblages makes it very difficult indeed to differentiate cyprinids to individual species.This is where ZooMS - short for Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry - comes in. Even the smallest fragment of bone contains a protein 'barcode', in the form of a collagen sequence. Using protein mass spectrometry we can rapidly and cheaply speciate every cyprinid element, even fish scales. Combine an abundant protein with a sensitive method of detection, and you have a fast, cheap identification system. We can use ZooMS to monitor changes in frequency of different cyprinids over time. This will not only clarify just how and when the farming of carp became significant in the medieval world. It will also allow us to examine changes in medieval water quality (as reflected in cyprinid species distribution).If ZooMS proves to be a success we could rapidly survey cyprinid stocks in 'fishponds' using just 100 mm cores. Indeed, the ability to potentially fingerprint every bony element (mammals, birds, fish) has the potential to revolutionise archaeological survey.