Tracing 600 years of long-distance Atlantic cod trade in medieval and post-medieval Oslo using stable isotopes and ancient DNA

Abstract

Marine resources have been important for the survival and economic development of coastal human communities across northern Europe for millennia. Knowledge of the origin of such historic resources can provide key insights into fishing practices and the spatial extent of trade networks. Here, we combine ancient DNA and stable isotopes (δ13C, δ15N, non-exchangeable δ2H and δ34S) to investigate the geographical origin of archaeological cod remains in Oslo from the eleventh to seventeenth centuries CE. Our findings provide genetic evidence that Atlantic cod was obtained from different geographical populations, including a variety of distant-water populations like northern Norway and possibly Iceland. Evidence for such long-distance cod trade is already observed from the eleventh century, contrasting with archaeological and historical evidence from Britain and other areas of Continental Europe around the North and Baltic Seas, where such trade increased during the thirteenth to fourteenth centuries. The genomic assignments of specimens to different populations coincide with significantly different δ13C values between those same specimens, indicating that multiple Atlantic cod populations living in different environments were exploited. This research provides novel information about the exploitation timeline of specific Atlantic cod stocks and highlights the utility of combining ancient DNA (aDNA) methods and stable isotope analysis to describe the development of medieval and post-medieval marine fisheries.