Highly productive fishing in Lake Onega? New data on the subsistence basis of the Late Stone age populations in Russian Karelia

Archaeozoology Supports a Holistic View on Fish Assessments in Large Rivers—A Case Study from the Volga River: From Quantitative Data and Ancient DNA to Biodiversity Analysis

“…Quantitative analysis was performed using a counting unit: the number of identified specimens of bone remains or scales-NISP (number of identified specimens) and determined the minimum number of individuals (MNI) for each fish species (Table 1). Fish remains from archaeological sites provide substantial information on the biology and ecology of fish from past historical epochs, including the estimated length, age, and period of death (catch) of subfossil fish individuals [4,[23][24][25][26][27]. The estimation of fish body length for the species of the families Acipenseridae, Siluridae, and Lotidae included the total length (TL) reconstruction; for Esocidae, Cyprinidae, and Percidae, the standard length (SL); and for Salmonidae, Coregonidae, and Clupeidae, the fork length (FL).…”

“…where XL is the measurement of the bone size (mm). Bones of the fish skeletons were measured according to published guidelines [4,[27][28][29][30]. Calculations were made in MSExcel and PAST based on a reference database of measurements of bone/scale sizes and lengths of modern fish species.…”

“…Calculations were made in MSExcel and PAST based on a reference database of measurements of bone/scale sizes and lengths of modern fish species. The regression equations were obtained from the database of an osteological collection of bones and scales from recent (20th-21st century) specimens from the Volga River basin [4,14,27,30]. The type of regression model and the assessment of its accuracy were determined by the coefficient of determination, R 2 [31].…”