Freshwater exploitation at Ajvide - Pitted ware culture fishing practises investigated through laser ablation facilitated strontium isotope analyses

Abstract

The importance of marine resources for the Neolithic hunter-fisher-gathers of the Pitted Ware Culture of Gotland, Sweden, is well documented through zooarchaeological analyses and diet studies of human remains. Terrestrial areas were important for living and supplementing the diet but the extent of the terrestrial territories and regions of land use for different groups is largely unknown. The presence of euryhaline species in recovered zooarchaeological assemblages indicates that freshwater fishing or fishing in the brackish estuaries of the Baltic Sea was part of the subsistence practises. To explore if the inland freshwaters of Gotland were used and, if exploited, where they were located, 18 teeth from euryhaline fish from the Pitted Ware Culture site Ajvide on Gotland were selected. The ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr isotope ratios in the fish teeth were analysed using laser ablation-multi collector-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry and correlated with an updated bioavailable baseline of Gotlandic water sources. Through this approach, the habitational origin of the fish was shown to primarily stem from at least six freshwater sources located in the west-central area of Gotland, in close relation to the site, with a few individuals originating from within the Baltic Sea. The study highlights the significance of ichthyoarchaeological analysis in understanding the territorial practice of past foraging societies and recommends further studies on euryhaline species to expand our knowledge of fish habitat, human resource utilization and land use.