Fish
The number of fish bones recovered and studied is large, comprising more than 34,000 remains, of which more than 24,000 identifiable, representing at least 28 species. Marine fish are dominant (tables 7, 8, 9). Cartilaginous marine fish are rare and are represented by two ray species, Raja clavata (thornback ray) and Raja montagui (spotted ray) and possibly sharks, although this could not be attested beyond doubt. Amongst the group of marine fishes with a bone skeleton, herring (Clupea harengus) is the most common species. A number of skeletal elements belonging to the herring family (Clupeidae sp.) could not be identified to species and possibly represent small specimens of allis shad or twaite shad (Alosa sp.), two anadromous species (see infra). Possibly, amongst the smaller, unidentified clupeid remains, sprat (Sprattus sprattus) is also present although it remains striking that not a single positive identification could be made. If it is assumed that all smaller skeletal elements amongst the clupeids do represent herring, then remains of this fish form about half of the fish material. Most of the herring had a standard length (measured from the tip of the snout to the base of the tail) of 20-25 cm. The form in which the animals arrived at the site is difficult to ascertain. They were certainly not gutted (‘gekaakt’, resulting in the absence of certain skeletal elements of the gill cover and the shoulder girdle) but arrived whole. These whole fish were most presumably not fresh, but processed (salted or smoked) in some way.
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Table 7 Fish remains from the 4, 2 and 1 mm fractions of the sieved residues (specimen counts, except for finds indicated as ‘+’, which were present but not quantified).
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Table 8 Standardised counts of the fish remains. These reconstructed data give an inventory of the contents of the excavated parts of the cesspits as if the total volume would have been sieved using a 1 mm mesh width, and alle residues would have been sorted (*: of which 19 skeletal elements of the same individual).
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Table 9 Relative frequencies (%) of the fish remains, calculated on the basis of the reconstructed counts (see table 8) (*: of which 19 skeletal elements of the same individual).
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From the gadid family (Gadidae sp.) three species were found, viz. whiting (Merlangius merlangus), haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) and cod (Gadus morhua). Their remains form a minor part of the assemblage, but will have been important for the food supply in view of their dimensions and meat weight. The whiting show standard lengths of 25-35 cm, the haddock of 40-50 cm (fig. 21). From both species, all skeletal elements were found in representative numbers, indicating that these fish arrived whole (fresh?) at the site. Cod, however, shows a bimodal distribution with peaks around 65 and 95 cm (fig. 21). It has been investigated whether one of these two groups could represent stockfish (beheaded, dried fish typically produced in northern regions) but no clear conclusions could be made. The cod consumed was possibly processed in some way but not as stockfish, of which the large scale import probably only started after the period studied here.
In Flemish late medieval inland sites, next to herring and gadids, flatfish are typically one of the three important groups of marine fish consumed. At the site, most of the flatfish consumed was plaice (Pleuronectes platessa, 80%) while flounder (Platichthys flesus) reached considerably lower frequencies and material from dab (Limanda limanda) was extremely rare. Plaice, showing standard lengths of most frequently 20-30 cm but occasionally up to 45 cm (fig. 21), must have been fished at sea but the flounder could have come from the Scheldt river basin. It tolerates freshwater conditions and is represented by much smaller specimens, most commonly 10-20 cm standard length (fig. 21). Of minimal importance for the food supply were turbot (Psetta maxima), a flatfish species mostly fished in northern waters, and sole (Solea sp.). The marine fish spectrum is completed by low numbers of horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus), thinlip mullet (Liza ramada), at least one member of the searobins (Triglidae sp.) and mackerel (Scomber scombrus).
Anadromous fish live in the sea but migrate into freshwater river systems in order to spawn. Representatives found are allis shad or twaite shad (Alosa sp.), smelt (Osmerus eperlanus), whitefish (Coregonus sp.) and at least one member of the trout family (Salmonidae sp.), most probably salmon (Salmo salar) or seatrout (Salmo trutta trutta). Within this group, smelt was the most common species to be served at the table. However, these fish were of small size: only 5-15 cm standard length. For further interpretation, it should be remembered that whitefish and trout are fish that store a lot of fat in pores inside their bones, which therefore dissolve easily in the soil, due to the transformation of fat into fatty acids, which dissolve the surrounding mineral (calcium) component of the bone (Mézes & Bartosiewicz 1994). These species are thus probably underrepresented.
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Fig. 21 Standard lengths (SL: length from the snout to the base of the tail) of a number of fish species consumed in Het Steen (cesspits 2 and 4 combined).
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Freshwater fish comprise only a fifth of the fish remains identified. Within this group, cyprinids (Cyprinidae sp.) and eel (Anguilla anguilla) are the most frequent. The eel bones represent average sized specimens (mostly 30-40 cm standard length, fig. 21). About one tenth of the cyprinids could be identified to species, showing the presence of roach (Rutilus rutilus), at least one Leuciscus species (chub, dace, ide), bream (Blicca bjoerka) and carp (Cyprinus carpio f. domestica). Most of these fishes were caught at young ages, showing small sizes, viz. standard lengths of less than 20 cm (fig. 21). The (small number of) carp deserves some attention since this fish was only introduced into the Low Countries during the late medieval period (Hoffmann 1994). At first, it was kept in ponds managed by noble households and abbeys but soon carp escaped into the wild, while medieval towns also started to breed the species in their moats (Deligne 2009). The small carp found in the cesspits could thus well have been fished in the town waters and do not necessarily bear any status. Other remains of freshwater fish found in the contexts investigated include small numbers of skeletal elements of burbot (Lota lota), pike (Esox lucius), three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) and perch (Perca fluviatilis).