Animal bones from archaeological contexts can reveal the interplay between past environments and human societies. Resource acquisition shaped many aspects of past societies and influenced the development of trade networks and migration. Fish have been a cornerstone of human subsistence for millennia, yet the rise of commercial fishing and trade was complex. Here, we synthesised a database of ∼1.9 million zooarchaeological fish records spanning 2000 years across Europe. Using machine-learning of catch compositions alongside fish thermal tolerances, we show that fisheries became less local over time, with homogenisation coinciding with Little Ice Age-associated cooling, a period of documented resource scarcity, concurring with growing trade. Moreover, increased proportions of marine taxa and more specialist marine fisheries were observed in the preceding Medieval Climate Anomaly, to sustain concurrent urban and population growth. Enhanced use of marine protein buffered food insecurity, whilst signalling the transition from localised to trans-regional trade networks. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. European Research Council, https://ror.org/0472cxd90, 951649

Small pelagic fish support profitable fisheries and are important for food security around the world. Yet, their sustainable management can be hindered by the indiscriminate impacts of simultaneous exploitation of fish from multiple distinct biological populations over extended periods of time. The quantification of such impacts is greatly facilitated by recently developed molecular tools—including diagnostic single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) panels for mixed-stock analysis (MSA)—that can accurately detect the population identity of individual fish. However, the biological relevance of such tools over longer periods of time remains unknown. Here, we demonstrate that diagnostic SNP panels designed for contemporary MSA in Atlantic herring have a millennium-long biological relevance and applicability. We assign the population identity of ancient Atlantic herring specimens—obtained through famously profitable historic fisheries—up to 1300 years old from eight archaeological sites across Europe. Analyzing contemporary and ancient whole-genome data, we obtain evidence for the long-term mixed-stock exploitation of Atlantic herring. Despite such mixed-stock exploitation, we exclusively identify autumn-spawning herring amongst these archaeological remains, indicative of a specific biological availability or cultural preference for certain herring ecotypes in the past. Moreover, our results show that herring demographic patterns were relatively stable until the dramatic disruptions and stock collapses during the 20th century. We find small but significant reductions in genetic diversity over time, indicating long-term evolutionary consequences from 20th-century stock declines. The long-term applicability of diagnostic SNP panels underscores their biological relevance and cost-effective application for the genetic monitoring of herring stocks and highlights the utility of ancient DNA to obtain insights in herring ecology and population dynamics.

Atlantic herring populations have been the target of highly profitable coastal and pelagic fisheries in northern Europe for well over a thousand years. Their complex and intermingled population dynamics have sparked extensive debate over the impacts of historical overfishing and have complicated their sustainable management today. Recently developed tools – including diagnostic SNP panels for mixed-stock analysis – aim to improve population assignment for fisheries management, however, the biological relevance of such tools over long periods of time remains unknown. Here, we demonstrate the millennium-long applicability of diagnostic SNP panels and identify population perturbations associated with increasing exploitation pressure and climate change by analyzing whole genome data from modern and ancient herring specimens. We find that herring demographic cycles were likely within healthy ecosystem boundaries until the dramatic disruption of these cycles in the 20th century. We find only autumn-spawning herring in our archaeological remains spanning 900 years from 8 sites across Europe, supporting observations that the numerical dominance of specific spawning populations can demographically outcompete other herring types. We also obtain pre-archival aDNA evidence for the famous, cyclical “Bohuslän periods,” during which mass quantities of North Sea autumn-spawning herring congregated in the Skagerrak. Finally, the long-term applicability of diagnostic SNP panels underscores their highly cost-effective application for the genetic monitoring of herring stocks. Our results highlight the utility of ancient DNA and genomic analysis to obtain historical and natural insights in herring ecology and population dynamics with relevance for sustainable fisheries management. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.

The field of ancient DNA (aDNA) typically uses between 50 and 200 mg of minimum input weight of bone material for the extraction of DNA from archaeological remains. While laboratory and analysis techniques have focused on improved efficiency of extracting useable sequence data from older and poorer quality remains, bone material input requirements have rarely been critically evaluated. Here, we present the aDNA analysis of 121 size-constrained Atlantic herring remains - weighing between <10 and 70 mg - that were individually sequenced to explore the capacity of successful aDNA retrieval from small archaeological remains. We statistically evaluate the relationship between bone weight and several response variables, including library success, endogenous DNA content, and library complexity, i.e., the number of unique molecules that are obtained. Remarkably, we find no relationship between bone weight and library success, levels of endogenous DNA, or library complexity. Our results imply that - at least in the case of fish bone - even minute bones can yield positive results and that the presumed minimum sample size required should be re-evaluated. Archaeological site, instead of bone size, is the primary driver of DNA sequence quality. Our work expands the number of specimens considered suitable for aDNA analyses, and therefore facilitates efforts to minimize the destructive impact of aDNA research and mediate some of the ethical concerns surrounding destructive analysis.

ABSTRACT Often mentioned as an afterthought in sentences about her more (in)famous husband, Sally R. Binford has long been a focus of feminist archaeological discussion. She helped create the ‘New Archaeology’ and thus set the stage for an academic revolution, yet she has become one of the discipline's hidden figures, overshadowed by the lengthy career of Lewis Binford. Sally's own words allow us insight into the dynamic between the two Binfords; a case study on academic exploitation that may be more of a rule than of an exception. Rossiter's (1993) ‘Matthew/Matilda effect’—the paradigm whereby the work of influential scientific men can often be directly attributed to their unpublished or otherwise disenfranchised wives—is a useful analytical lens with which to expand discussions of ethics in citation, collaboration, and mentorship. How does archaeology as a discipline reconcile the legacy of unattributed fieldwork and research that has bolstered its growth? A review of publicly available documents on authorship and attribution reveals a lack of clear guidance on the subject. Institutional frameworks can ensure that students and faculty have these types of discussions early and often.

Boston’s “Big Dig” construction project resulted in the excavation of multiple archaeological sites dating from the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, including the Great House/Three Cranes Tavern in Charlestown, Massachusetts (USA). An otherwise unremarkable pit below the tavern foundation contained bones originally identified as a cat skeleton, which has subsequently been reidentified as a dog. This paper discusses site context, osteological evidence for the dog’s reclassification, and the shifts in cultural meaning this may indicate. Employing an osteobiographical approach, it draws together points of connection between the modern skeletal assessment, a series of 1980s excavations, and the motivations of eighteenth-century tavern inhabitants.