Not only large land animals
“For a long time the view prevailed that hunter-gatherers through history lived mainly off large land game,” says Svein Vatsvåg Nielsen, senior curator of the Stavanger Maritime Museum. This assumption rests on studies of present-day hunter-gatherer communities, which over the centuries settled in remote and less fertile regions. After the end of the ice age, as the population grew, people began to adapt to life on the coast, where fish became a crucially important source of food. “We now know that large hunter-gatherer populations very often oriented themselves precisely towards marine resources; a marked reliance on large land animals alone is in fact characteristic of smaller communities,” the researcher explains.
Trapped in a lagoon...
How did tuna and whales get there? Researchers have concluded that 5,000 years ago the present-day bog was a lagoon. Stone Age settlements lay in the surrounding area, which today have “risen” some 12 metres above sea level. Chasing shoals of herring, tuna and killer whales swam into the lagoon and were trapped, unable to find their way back. The local inhabitants immediately took to their boats, armed with fishing gear and harpoons. The idea was simple: to strike the killer whales and tuna with harpoons, let them bleed and prevent them from escaping.
Mountains of oyster shells
The whale bones mentioned in the study were found in artificially formed mounds of shells and fish bones known as sambaquis. Similar sites, so-called kitchen midden sites, are also found in Denmark. Enormous heaps of oyster and other shells were discovered, preserved from the period of the Ertebølle culture, which between 5200 and 4000 BC was widespread in southern Scandinavia and northern Germany.
The Jortveit farm in southern Norway
...is one of the most unique Stone Age archaeological sites in Scandinavia. The first finds date from 1931, when workers in the boggy area of the Jortveit farm first came upon ancient bone tools together with a large quantity of fish and whale bones. In our own time excavations took place in 2018-2019. Svein Vatsvåg Nielsen, an archaeologist at the Stavanger Maritime Museum, began more detailed research.
A layer of mud some 1.2-1.3 metres deep created an oxygen-free environment, so the 5,000-year-old organic materials, unburnt bones and wooden tools, have survived in impeccable condition, which is a great rarity in Stone Age archaeology.
What exactly was found?
In the mud researchers found both a whole Neolithic fisherman’s “arsenal” and the catch. So-called toggling harpoons were found, with specially shaped harpoon heads of bone which turn crosswise after striking the prey, preventing the animal from tearing free. This technology came into Scandinavia through the trade networks of the time with Central and Eastern Europe. Most of the bones found belong to the Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus). That proves the ancient inhabitants were not merely passive shore fishermen but were able to hunt very fast and powerful fish in an organised way at sea. Alongside the tuna bones, killer whale bones were also found, which confirms the theory that the marine mammals trapped in the lagoon were purposefully hunted for food and materials.
Historical significance
Scientists date this site to the period between 3700 and 2500 BC. That overturns the old theory that with the arrival of agriculture, the so-called Neolithic revolution, people immediately stopped hunting and fishing. The Jortveit finds prove that the ancient Norwegians were “fisher-farmers” who combined primitive agriculture with highly specialised and dangerous sea hunting to great effect.