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Romans had whaling industry, archaeological excavation suggests
Guardian UK ^ | Wednesday, July 11, 2018 | Nicola Davis

Posted on 07/15/2018 2:09:10 PM PDT by SunkenCiv

Ancient bones found around the Strait of Gibraltar... dating to the first few centuries AD or earlier, belong to grey whales and North Atlantic right whales -- coastal migratory species that are no longer found in European waters. Researchers... add that Romans would not have had the technology to hunt whale species found in the region today -- sperm or fin whales which live further out at sea -- meaning evidence of whaling might not have been something archaeologists and historians were looking out for... The right whale was once widespread in the North Atlantic, with breeding grounds off the northern coast of Spain and north west Africa, but was hunted by Medieval Basque whalers among others, and are now only found in the Western North Atlantic. Grey whales disappeared from the North Atlantic some time in the 18th century, and are now only found in the Pacific... The team combined previous anatomical analysis with new analyses based both on DNA extracted from the bones and their collagen -- a protein whose makeup differs between groups of species, and which degrades more slowly than DNA... three were identified as grey whales, and two as North Atlantic right whales with another also suspected of being from this latter species. All were found by carbon-dating as being from either Roman or pre-Roman times -- findings backed up by dating based on information from the archaeological sites... This theory is backed up by writings from the time: Pliny the Elder -- a fervent naturalist who died down the coast from Pompeii during the volcanic disaster -- appears to reference whales calving in the coastal waters off Cadiz in the winter in his Naturalis Historia. And if the whales were present, the team say, it is possible the Romans hunted them.

(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: godsgravesglyphs; helixmakemineadouble; romanempire; romans; whale; whales; whaling
A Roman mosaic with fishing scene, found in Hippolytus House in greater Madrid, Spain. Photograph: Alberto Paredes/Alamy Stock Photo

A Roman mosaic with fishing scene, found in Hippolytus House in greater Madrid, Spain. Photograph: Alberto Paredes/Alamy Stock Photo

1 posted on 07/15/2018 2:09:10 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
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To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; 31R1O; ...

2 posted on 07/15/2018 2:09:46 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (www.tapatalk.com/groups/godsgravesglyphs/, forum.darwincentral.org, www.gopbriefingroom.com)
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To: SunkenCiv

They fished naked?


3 posted on 07/15/2018 2:16:20 PM PDT by DannyTN
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To: DannyTN
Do *not* order the oysters.

4 posted on 07/15/2018 2:24:16 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (www.tapatalk.com/groups/godsgravesglyphs/, forum.darwincentral.org, www.gopbriefingroom.com)
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To: DannyTN

No tan lines that way...

And one could always find the first mate


5 posted on 07/15/2018 2:24:47 PM PDT by teeman8r (Armageddon won't be pretty, but it's not like it's the end of the world.)
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To: SunkenCiv

6 posted on 07/15/2018 3:02:52 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: DannyTN

The poop deck was always a mess!


7 posted on 07/15/2018 3:16:20 PM PDT by SoCal Pubbie
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To: DannyTN

Fishing naked sounds dangerous. A wayward fishhook could get snagged on something.


8 posted on 07/15/2018 4:23:31 PM PDT by Flick Lives (Suddenly someone'll say, like, plate, or shrimp, or plate o' shrimp out of the blue, no explanation.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Basques were the great fisherman. They supposedly discovered the cod banks long before Columbus sailed, kept their find secret.


9 posted on 07/15/2018 4:27:22 PM PDT by Pelham (California, Mexico's socialist colony)
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To: Flick Lives

There’s that, sunburn, getting finned, mosquitos ...


10 posted on 07/15/2018 4:39:19 PM PDT by DannyTN
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To: Pelham

kept their find secret.


Fishermen always keep the hot spots secret.


11 posted on 07/15/2018 10:11:37 PM PDT by hanamizu
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