One Hundred Rotten Fish in a Pit Historical and Archaeological Evidence of Seizure and Burial of Fish improper for sale in 15th-16th century city of Tourcoing, France
Keywords:
FISH, MARKET, ZOOARCHAEOLOGY, TOWN HALL ARCHIVES, MEDIEVALAbstract
The Main Square of the city of Tourcoing (France) underwent excavations in 1982. The dig revealed a shallow pit filled up with fish skeletons still bearing their scales. The excava- tor bulk sampled the entire filling of this AD 15th-16th century feature, and in 2016 the materials were sieved and analyzed in the zooarchaeology laboratory of the University of Lille. Over a hundred haddock skeletons, representing complete specimens between 35-71 cm (total length) were identified. The contemporaneous archives of the cities of Lille and Douai shed light on the common practice of the discard and burial of fish improper for sale and may provide an expla- nation to our unusual discovery. The paper describes how fish markets operated and the type of controls imposed upon fishmongers. Examples of violations to the rule, seizures and trials recorded in the local archives will be described.
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