Posted on 03/14/2008 7:32:05 PM PDT by blam
Beetles, Lentils and Anchovies
No, not some new dieting fad - what beetles, lentils and anchovies have in common is their value as indicators of ancient climate change. In a special issue of the journal Fisheries Research (Volume 87, November 2007), an international group of ecologists and historians have drawn upon archaeological material, tax accounts, church registers and monastic account books to present a picture of marine life in the North Sea from 7000 BC to the present.
They found that warm-water species, including anchovy and black sea bream, once thrived around Britain’s shores – notably during the warm Atlantic period that lasted from around 7000 to 3900 BC. When this warm period ended, these species rapidly disappeared from the archaeological record.
More recently, archival records from fishing communities around the North Sea indicate that the ‘Little Ice Age’, which lasted from the 16th century to the mid 19th century, had two sub-periods of particularly severe cold – 1675-1683 and 1685-1696 – when herring spawned later in the year, so that the fishing seasons started later and were shorter in duration, with substantially lower catches.
During this same mini Ice Age, nettle bugs (Heterogaster urticae), so named because they feed on stinging nettles, were absent from the North of England, whereas prior to this they are commonly found in archaeological deposits dating from the Roman and Anglo-Scandinavian periods in York. Harry Kenward, writing in The Archaeologist, says that they have become very common again in Yorkshire since 1990, after a gap of four centuries, and are now heading in the direction of Scotland.
Chris Stevens, of Wessex Archaeology, also reveals in The Archaeologist (Winter 2007) that lentils are not just the staple of recent vegetarian diets, but have been cultivated in the UK whenever their favoured growing conditions – warm summers and mild winters – have permitted. Their presence in the archaeological record in the form of charred remains at rural sites in southern, eastern and central England correlates pretty precisely to the presence of nettle bugs in the north, indicating periods of climatic warming in the period AD 800 to 1350, peaking towards the end of the 10th century, and their absence after 1300.
GGG Ping.
Sacrilege! You are ordered to burn this and any similar articles you found! Now repent, by reciting 1,300 “Global Warming’s” and 1,300 “Al Gore’s”.
Yeah whatever, we know you get all your money from Big Oil. ;-}.
Yeah whatever, we know you get all your money from Big Oil. ;-}.
“They found that warm-water species, including anchovy and black sea bream, once thrived around Britain’s shores – notably during the warm Atlantic period that lasted from around 7000 to 3900 BC.”
Wow...a 3100 year long warm period! Must have been those prehistoric SUVs.
Our current short warm spell looks like a real piker compared to that long spell!
Nah, their evil was moving into slash and burn agriculture instead of being pristine hunter gatherers.
Cheers!
This is a great magazine BTW. I’ve subscribed for years though they’ve got a little pricey on this side of the puddle since they went monthly.
Lentils and anchovies are delicious and very nutritious.
I’ll skip when it comes to the scarabs though.
I have a sort of a rule.
If it’s something that might try to eat me on the way down, it ain’t on the menu!
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Thanks Blam. I may try that -- put the bees, lentils, and anchovies in a blender, then let them ferment like liquamen... |
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Sorry to have to be the one to break it to you but Mead is not made from grapes. It is a fermented spirit made from honey, water and yeast. Oh, and by the way, Camelot didn't exist either.
> Sacrilege! You are ordered to burn this and any similar articles you found! Now repent, by reciting 1,300 “Global Warming’s” and 1,300 “Al Gore’s”.
(grin!) I am stunned that AlGore “The Inventor of the Internet” has managed to scam and mesmerize so many Pointy-Headed Intellectuals and Latter Day Hippies into believing this Global Warming crap — and so soon after Y2K, too!
People have short memories: and the scary thing is that real gummint Policy and serious Tax Dollars are being wasted on all this. And Laws are being passed, too!
“The Sky is Falling! The Sky is Falling!”
...all during a time of War, when Western Civilization itself is at risk from a relentless and ruthless enemy. How can AlGore *reconcile* this needless distraction during wartime? Surely this is reckless behavior, at very least!
Astonishing. And he even *looks* like dodgy Real Estate Agent or a shonky Used Car Salesman, too!
Crikey!
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