Die Vorab-Informationen der PNAS laufen schon seit ca. 2 Wochen durch die Presse, aber nun gibt es in dieser Woche auch die entsprechende Publikation dazu.
Was länger als Hypothese bekannt war, bekommt nun Unterstützung durch weitere Untersuchungen: getrockneter Kabeljau soll u.a. von den Lofoten nach Mitteleuropa, die britischen Inseln etc. als Handelsware vertrieben worden sein, möglicherweise über entsprechende "Netzwerke" des Handels.
Das jedenfalls legt eine Studie der Herkunft von 19 untersuchten Funden nahe.
Ancient DNA reveals the Arctic origin of Viking Age cod from Haithabu, Germany
conclusion:
Our discovery of distinctive genomic inversions in ancient cod specimens has made it possible to answer the long-standing question of whether dried cod was transported from northern Norway during the Viking Age (800–1066 CE), solving a mystery epitomized by the ninth-century account of an Arctic Norwegian chieftain’s voyage to Haithabu. Our findings suggest that distant requirements for Arctic protein had thus already begun to influence the economy and ecology of the north over the chronology under consideration. Our study highlights the potential of coupling modern genomics with ancient DNA to study the origins of historic trade routes in fish and other taxa.
Material and Methods:
The ancient samples (n = 19) are from the archives of excavations conducted at Haithabu (39), Schleswig (76), Bjørkum (77), Oslo (78), and Orkney (26) and are dated based on archaeological context. They come from waterlogged (Haithabu, Schleswig, and Oslo) and free-draining (Bjørkum and Orkney) deposits and have been stored dry and unfrozen in fluctuating ambient temperatures after excavation. Bones were morphologically identified as Atlantic cod and selected from different archaeological layers, from fish of differing size and/or from the same element to avoid multiple samples from individual fish
Was länger als Hypothese bekannt war, bekommt nun Unterstützung durch weitere Untersuchungen: getrockneter Kabeljau soll u.a. von den Lofoten nach Mitteleuropa, die britischen Inseln etc. als Handelsware vertrieben worden sein, möglicherweise über entsprechende "Netzwerke" des Handels.
Das jedenfalls legt eine Studie der Herkunft von 19 untersuchten Funden nahe.
Ancient DNA reveals the Arctic origin of Viking Age cod from Haithabu, Germany
conclusion:
Our discovery of distinctive genomic inversions in ancient cod specimens has made it possible to answer the long-standing question of whether dried cod was transported from northern Norway during the Viking Age (800–1066 CE), solving a mystery epitomized by the ninth-century account of an Arctic Norwegian chieftain’s voyage to Haithabu. Our findings suggest that distant requirements for Arctic protein had thus already begun to influence the economy and ecology of the north over the chronology under consideration. Our study highlights the potential of coupling modern genomics with ancient DNA to study the origins of historic trade routes in fish and other taxa.
Material and Methods:
The ancient samples (n = 19) are from the archives of excavations conducted at Haithabu (39), Schleswig (76), Bjørkum (77), Oslo (78), and Orkney (26) and are dated based on archaeological context. They come from waterlogged (Haithabu, Schleswig, and Oslo) and free-draining (Bjørkum and Orkney) deposits and have been stored dry and unfrozen in fluctuating ambient temperatures after excavation. Bones were morphologically identified as Atlantic cod and selected from different archaeological layers, from fish of differing size and/or from the same element to avoid multiple samples from individual fish
