La Cartuja/Spain: anthropogenic ichthyocenosis of culinary nature in a paleocultural context

By Eufrasia Reselló Izquierdo, Arturo Morales Muñiz and Dolores Carmen Morales

Abstract

Archaeo-ichthyological research can be most properly interpre-ted when other sources of hypothesis-testíng can be used in order to verify or eventually refute conclusions. The present paper shows how documentary information is of particular relevance in the case of complex societies. Without it, the analysis introduced in our work would have led us to completely incorrect thinking about the meaning of the peculiarly diversified fish fauna re­ce vered.

Keywords: Spain - fishes - diet - 15th century - 14th century -Carthusian

1. Introduction

To a large extent, archaeological interpretation relies on the de-tection of consistent regularities among faunal samples. Since in most cases these patterns are barely insinuated, the need of com-plementary information becomes vital for making adequate infe-rences (KLEIN/CRUZ-URIBE 1984).

Our goal in this paper lies not so much in the description of a most interesting ichthyo-archaeological fauna from a strictly con-ventional perspective as it does in the demonstration of some in-ductive flaws which apply to most archaeozoological interpreta-

tions. Before doing this we must make a very general acquain-tance with the contextual framework and, in particular, with the Carthusian monastic order

The Carthusians arrived in Seville around 1400 A.D. at the re-quest of archbishop Gonzalo de Mena. The monastery they star-ted to build on the island of La Cartuja (Fig. 1) around the middle of the 15th century, Santa María de las Huertas, was the eighth one of this order in Spain and was finished in the 17th century (CUARTERO y HUERTAS 1950; GÓMEZ 1984). It was occupied by

monks until the 19th century, when the building was turned into a world famous porcelain factory.

Carthusians lived in an eremitic way in their monasteries. Each monk was assigned a living quarter which included a small patch of land for the growing of vegetables, fruits or the keeping of some barnyard animáis. The Carthusian economy had its main emphasis on being self-sufficient thus mostly avoiding buying from the outside world. Surplus goods, however, were regularly used in trade with surrounding communities (CUARTERO y HUER­TAS 1950). Among other precepts, Carthusians were devoted ve-getarians, though they were allowed to consume "fish" (sensu lato). As a matter of fact, their "terrapene soup" became a highly appraised dish for many centuries (GARANDE 1972; MORALES-PADRÓN 1980).

Although (or perhaps because) they were strictly isolated, Car­thusian monasteries became fashionable resting places for the Spanish royal families and for members of the nobility as well.

a

Fig. 1. General location of the site of La Cartuja, Seville/Spain.

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Table 1. La Cartuja, Seville. Number of identified specimens per fish taxa per level in the prior's cesspool (C-139).

Species 115 111 105 102 97 95 89 85 83 79 67 64 40 Total

Chondrichthyan 1 . - i . . . . . . - i . . 2 Chondrichthyan 2 .-.5. ..5. -.4. 14 Chondrichthyan 3 ...5-I---..2-8 Acipenser sturio - - 3 5 6 1 5 6 - 1 - 12 - 39 Alosasp. - - - \ 1 Alosa alosa - - - 1 4 3 10 15 - - - 1 - 34 Alosa fallax - - - i . 1 Sardina pilchardus - - - - -1--2-11- 5 Muraena helena - - - - \. . \ Congerconger 1 - 1 43-61--2 11130 Anguilla anguilla - - - - . - . i . . . . . 1 Barbiis b. sclateri - - - \ \ Merluccius merluccius 1 4 1 4-261 - --10-29 Gadusmorhua ......-.-.31.4 Epinephelus sp. - - - ... i ..... . 1 Epinephelus guaza - - - ....... \ - 3 Dicentrarchus labrax - - - ... \. . \ Dicentrarchus punctatus - - - - 3. .--i-. - 4 Pomatomus saltatrix - - -812------ - 11 Parapristipoma sp. - - - - - - . i . i . . . 2 Argyrosomus regius - - 2 6 6 11 13 12 - 1 - 7 1 59 Sparidae - - - - 8 - - 1 1 - 2 8 1 21 Dentex dentex - - - .. ^ ..... i - 4 Dentex gibbosus ... 2 - - - 1 ----- 3 Dentex macrophthalmus - - - ...... \ 2 - 3 Dentex maroccanus - - - . \ . \ . . ^ . 7 Dentex maroc/macro. - - - - -5----7 10-22 Pagellus acame - - - . . . . ^ . . . ^ . 8 Pagellus bellotti - - - 3 3 Pagellus erythrinus 2 - 5 -------- 5 Sparusaurata - - - - . . 2 - - - - - - 2 Scombridae --2---2---3--7 Thunnus thynnus - - - i .. - \ Stromateusfiatola - - - .. 2 ------ - 2 Mugilidae - - - 8 - - - 2 - - - 2 - 12 Chelon labrosus - - - ........ \ \ Liza ramada - - - - -- 62--52- 15 L. aurata/O. tabeo - - - . ... i .... . 1 Triglidae - - 1 4 - 5 Eutrigla gumardus -23----1--11-8 Aspitrigla aff. cuculus 17 - - - 2 - 19 Halobatrachus didactylus " " - 18 1 1 1 2 ----- 23 Solea aff. vulgaris " ..i-i--.---.-2 Pleuronectiformes - - - - ...-..-i - 1

Total 2 6 17 69 38 32 53 73 3 6 26 98 3 426

When staying in the monastery, these visltors lived in the prior's quarters since these had a series of commodities (space, among other things) which the monks' lacked. As payment for these stays, people either gave money or special goods to the commu-nity Starting in 1501, for example, the king decided to grant the

monastery five tuna fish every year, a custom that kept on for at least a couple of centuries afterwards (CARANDE 1972).

As a part of the construction works undertaken on the island of La Cartuja on the occasion of the 1992 World Fair (Expo '92), a great portíon of the monastery was thoroughly excavated during

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Table 2. La Cartuja, Seville. The fauna arranged in size groups. In cases in which elements were broken or otherwise damaged so that a size estimation was not possible, they were assigned to individuáis of infered size from the same level. Acipenserid remains were assigned to their size class by simple guessing whereas chon-drichthyans were assigned by indirect inference by comparing vertebral sizes with those of specimens of known standard length in our comparative coUection. NISP « Number of Identified Specimens.

more than 1 m Acipenseridae (39)

(NISP - 101 [23.7 %1) Serranidae (4)

Sciaenidae (50)

Scombridae (8)

50 cm - 1 m Stromateidae (2) Gadidae (4)

(NISP - 147 [34.5 % D Haemulidae (2) Merlucciidae (29)

Pomatomidae (11) Congridae (30)

Moronidae (5) Muraenidae (1)

Sparidae (39 - 50 %)

Chondrichthians (24)

25 - 50 cm (NISP - 164 [38.5 %])

Clupeidae (.Alosa) (36) Mugilidae (29)

Anguülidae (1) Triglidae (32)

Cyprinidae (1) Sparidae (39 - 50 %)

Batrachoididae (23) Soleidae (3)

less than 25 cm Clupeidae (NISP - 14 [3.3 %1) (Sardina) (5)

Sciaenidae (9)

Table 3- La Cartuja, Seville. Bumed and fracturad bones of fishes arranged by families. NISP = Number of Identified Specimens.

Bumed Fractured Total

Taxon NISP % NISP % NISP

Chondrichthyan 12,5 18.75 16 1+2 (sharks) 2 12,5 3 18.75 16

Chondrichthyan 25.0 25.00 8 3 (rays) 2 25.0 2 25.00 8

Acipenseridae 2 5.1 1 2.60 39 Clupeidae 9 21.9 1 2.40 41

Muraenidae 1 100.0 0 - 1

Congridae 20 66.0 0 - 30

Anguülidae 0 - 0 - 1

Cyprinidae 1 100.0 0 - 1

Merlucciidae 26 89.6 1 3.40 29 Gadidae 0 - 1 25.00 4

Serranidae 0 - 3 75.00 4

Moronidae 2 40.0 0 - 5

Pomatomidae 2 18.2 0 - 11

Haemulidae 2 100.0 0 - 2

Sciaenidae 25 42.4 15 25.40 59 Sparidae 14 18.0 2 2.50 78

Scombridae 0 - 0 - 8

Stromateidae 2 100.0 0 - 2

Mugilidae 12 41.4 0 - 29 Triglidae 4 12.5 3 9.40 32

Batrachoididae 2 8.7 0 - 23 Soleidaa 0 - 0 - 3

Total 128 30.0 32 7.50 426

1988 and 1989 under the direction of D r F. de Amores from the Department of Archaeology of the University of Seville. Most of the excavated material was taken out of the soil as blocks embed-ded i n paraffin that have been stored in special warehouses for study i n the future.

Some áreas, however, were excavated following conventíonal methods and their material is being studied at the moment. From this material our Laboratory received two samples, bird and fish remains, from one of the cesspools in the prior's quarters which had been completely excavated and water-sieved.

2. Material and methods

The remains analyzed all come from the prior's cesspool (or sterquilinium) C-139. This was located at a depth of 2.20-3.02 m below ground level and, within it, a total of 17 strata have been defined on the basis of physical differences in the sediment (mainly coloration, secondarily texture as well as sealings across the sedimentary column).

The cesspools of Carthusians were polivalent units being si-multaneously used, among other things, as latrines and refuse pits. Periodically, or when one monk died, the cesspools were le-vel led and sealed so that more material could be dumped in. We assume that this process involved a great deal of mixing. When

the fiUings came cióse to ground level, the cesspools were finally sealed and abandoned (DE AMORES/CHISVERT in press). For al l these reasons, the stratigraphy is, in the words of the excavators "more of a w o r k i n g methodology than an established fact" (de Amores pers. comm.).

Though we have no definite dates so far, the whole sequence starts w i t h the construction of the monastery and covers most, if not a l l , of the 16th century as far as artifactual evidence has been able to show.

Identification and most of the deductions conceming the size of specimens were accomplished w i t h the a id of our comparative coUection. The sizes of cod remains were estimated w i t h the equa-tions provided by RojO (1986). Detailed descriptions, including measurements of all the taxonomically and anatomically identi­fied fragments, are part of the sepárate faunal report (ROSEL-L O / M O R A L E S in press).

.3. Results

O n l y 13 of the 17 levéis contained fish remains, though bird and m a m m a l bones were found in all of them.

Table 1 provides a complete list of the N u m b e r of Identified Specimens (NISP) per taxon in the different strata. These are ar­ranged from right to left, f rom the most recent one (40) to the oíd-

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Table 4. La Cartuja, Seville. Ecological groups within the ichthyocenosis (anthropogenic thanatocenosis).

freshwater 1 (0.2 %) amphidromous 76 (+ 34 ?) (17.8-25.8 %) marine 315 (+34?) (74.0-82.0%) A

demersal 245 (57.5 %) Chondrichthyes, Acipenseridae, Anguilliformes, Gadiformes, Sciaenidae, Soleidae, Triglidae, Batrachoididae

pelagic 142 (33.3 %) Clupeidae, Pomatomidae, Haemulidae, Sparidae, Scombridae, Stromateidae

others 39 (9.1 %) remaining families Cyprinidae, Serranidae, Moronidae, Mugilidae ®

imported 4 (0.9%) Iberian 422 (91.2%) C

est (lowest) one in the column (115). N o trend toward correlation of NISP w i t h depth (i.e. age) seems to exist.

Table 2 shows taxa arranged according to estimated size groups, while Table 3 provides the percentage of burned or frac­tured finds of families (mostly w i t h a single species). Table 4 pro­vides a very rough ecological división of the fauna whi le Table 5 shows the frequency of skeletal elements of the nine more abun­dant taxa (species or families) in the assemblage.

Fishes have been of great help when testing the vai idi ty of the levéis. In the case of taxa of intermedíate abundance, that is taxa w i t h a neither occassional (1-3 levéis) ñor constant presence (more than 10 levéis), a rather peculiar pattern of "contagious" appearances seems to exist: Whenever one taxon happens to have a máximum frequency in one level, chances are large that levéis immediately above and below w i l l show secondary peaks in abundance (Fig. 2). The same pattern is blurred away i n abundant taxa by their more regular appearance throughout all levéis (se­condary peaks are not so distinct; Table 1). This pattern is con-firmed by the discovery of obvious skeletal complementarity in adjacent strata. In the most extreme case, the shad (Alosa alosa) sample of level 85, more than 93 % of the NISP is represented by cranial bones, whi le the preceding level (89) has exactly the oppo-site situation (10 % cranial vs. 90 % vertebral bones). Cleariy, lea-king of remains occurred throughout the co lumn (as previously predicted) and was detected both i n other faunal samples (AGUI-

NISP

Conger eel, Conger conger

1 1 . 1 . .11 1 . I l . l

115 111 105 102 97 95 89 85 83 79 67 64 40

Hake, Merluccius merluccius

Fig. 2. L a Cartuja, Seville. N u m b e r of Identified Specimens' (NISP) stratigraphical distributions of two medium-abundance

species (conger eel and hake) w i t h i n the sediments' sequence.

L A R / H E R N A N D E Z in press) and in artifacts (de Amores pers. comm.). Due to these cases, we think that M N I (Mínimum N u m ­ber of Individuáis) is not an adequate descriptor of diversity in the assemblage.

Consider ing the characteristics of the faunal assemblage, a sample of barely 400 taxonomically identified remains (estimated total M N I = 145) corresponding to 44 taxonomic groups, is truly impressive by its sheer diversity. This stands in contrast to most European ichthyo-archaeological assemblages, where far more l imited numbers of taxa are retrieved. A t the same time, domi­nance valúes are rather l o w w h i c h is normal in Spanish coUec-tions (MORALES et al. in press; ROSELLÓ 1989). Thus, the most abundant species (meagre, Argyrosomus regius) does not even reach 14 % of the total N I S P

That this fauna mainly represents an imported component, is readily seen when one considers that only a single barb (Barbus bocagei sclateri) bone, a mere 0.2 % of the NISP, can be considered as being of cleariy local or igin , from the waters of the Guadalqui ­v i r r iver One can add 76 + 34(?) further bones of amphidromous species potentially fished i n the local waters around the monas­tery and hereby raise the percentage coming from autochthonous fishing to 18-26 %. Strictly marine species, on the other hand, re-present no less than 74 % of the N I S P and include the most i m -portant taxa (Table 4).

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I

Table 5. La Cartuja, Seville. Skeletal representation of the main teleost taxa in the samples. 1 = Clupeidae (Alosa); 2 -Conger conger, 3 = Merluccius merluccius-, 4 = Gadus morhua; 5 = Argyrosomus regius-, 6 = Sparidae; 7 = Mugilidae; 8 " Triglidae; 9 - Halobatrachus didactylus.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Neurocranium 5 3 - - 2 17 3 14 -

Praemaxillare - 2 - - 2 4 - - -

Maxillare - - - - - - - 1 -

Dentale - 2 - - 1 7 - 2 3 Articulare - 2 - - - 4 - 1 2

Quadratum - 3 - - - 1 - - -

Hyomandibulare 3 2 - - - 2 1 - 1

Praeoperculare 2 - - - 2 2 - 2 -Operculare 6 - - - - 1 6 - 1

Suboperculare - 2 - - - - - - -

Interoperculare - 1 - - - 1 - - -

Keratohyale 1 - - - - - - - 1

Posttemporale 1 - - - - - 2 - -

Cleithrum 1 3 9 1 1 - 1 3 2

Supracleithrum - - - - - - 1 - -

Scapula 1 - - - - - - - -

Coracoideum - - - - - 1 - - -

Basipterygium - - 3 - 2 1 - 2 -

Truncal vertebra 5 1 - - 8 10 3 2 -

Truncocaudal vertebra 5 - 3 - 8 9 7 - -

Caudal vertebra 5 - 12 3 12 19 - 1 -Unspecified vertebra 1 4 2 - 9 - 5 3 13

Pterygiophori - - - - 2 - - 1 -Branchiostegal rays - 5 - - - - - - -

Actinotrichia - - - - 10 - - - -

Total 36 30 29 4 59 79 29 32 23

The allochthonous component of the fauna is reinforced by the presence of the first positively identified cod (Gadus morhua) bones i n an Iberian excavation (three caudal vertebrae and one cleithrum) as an indication of long-range commerce. The relative frequency of certain skeletal elements and in particular the type of fracturing shown by the bones of the pectoral girdle (Fig. 3) in­dícate salt-drying and processing in much the same way as is the case today for commercially preserved cod meat. It is important to remark that the same skeletal representation of the cod, some-what enlarged due perhaps to a greater sample size, is exhibited b y the hake (Merluccius merluccius) (Table 5, column 3), a local fish st i l l abundant in Iberian waters. If it was not for this fact, we w o u l d conclude that this fish, highly appreciated by Spanish con-sumers, was also part of a long-range commerce (many cleithra exhibited fractures and cutmarks in the same región of the cod's c le i thrum, a further confirmation of similar processing of both species).

T w o species might indícate commerce with the south. The sea bream (Pagellus bellottii) is presently not part of the Spanish fauna, reaching only to the Canary Islands and coasts of Morocco (WHITEHEAD et al. 1986). The same applies to the grunts of the ge-nus Parapristipoma which nevertheless occassionally appear in A n d a l u s i a n fish markets (our identified caudal vertebrae do not a l l o w distinction between P. octolineatum, the northernmost spe­cies, and P. humile, the strictly African one). It could be that these

species were more w i d e l y distributed in the past than they are at present. Alternatively, one can consider fishing and trading i n northern Afr ican and Cañarían waters as the Canary Islands were invaded by Portuguese and Casti l ian sailors in the 15th century.

The remaining species can be found in Iberian waters today and, more specifically, along A n d a l u s i a n coasts. They indicate i m -port of animáis into the monastery. The biological preferences of the taxa (almost 60 % come from demersal species, whi le 33 % are from strictly pelagic ones) indicate that different types of fishing gear might have been employed (Table 4). This can be assumed although the large sizes of most of the specimens favour hooks i n -stead of nets, due to the fact that adult animáis of most of these taxa tend to be solitary or, at least, not as gregarious as the non-adult cohorts w i t h a very few exceptions (i.e. bluefin tuna, Thun­nus thynnus, and grey muUets, Mugi l idae) .

One should not be too dogmatic about any of these results since so many Unes of evidence point to a great taphonomic loss. This can easily be seen w h e n one considers that each recognized indiv idual is barely represented by three bones ( N I S P / M N I = 2,9). One w o u l d expect the larger and better ossified species to be less affected, but ampie evidence demonstrates the opposite, for example the case of b i g tunas. O n l y one left scapula of a fish lon-ger than 150 c m was positively identified as Thunnus thynnus (the remaining Scombridae are represented by seven dorsal fin pterygophores of w h i c h the species cannot be determined).

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C l e i t h r u m

Fig. 3. L a Cartuja, Seville. Fracturing of cod remains (in black) found at the site.

F ig . 4. La Cartuja, Seville. C o m m o n fracture types found in the sample. A Cle i thrum of a gurnard (Eutrigla gumardus) cut in a way sug­gestive of beheading (B and C). D Praeoperculare of a meagre (Argyrosomus regius) w i t h successive choppings suggestive of a secondary

fracture pattern.

Fig. 5. La Cartuja, Seville. A Sagittal cuts found on the vertebrae of meagre (Argyrosomus regius). This type of chopping, commonly found on the remains of domestic mammals , is reported on fishes from Spanish sites for the first time. B Size variation of the meagre. To the left (above) a vertebra from an i n d i v i d u a l w i t h an estimated size of over 200 cm (the máximum recorded at present for the species).The smal-

lest vertebrae come from a specimen not bigger than 20 cm. Both, A and B, natural size.

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Yet we know from historical records that five tunas came to L a Cartuja by royal command every year, d u r i n g the whole of the 16th century. Where are their bones? Of course they can be else-where in the monastery but this is only a part of the answer as one expects the prior, or rather his noble guests, to get more than a fair share of these animáis. Alternatively, the possibiUty exists that the tunas were not always brought as whole carcasses, but rather as processed fish. In this case, marinated or oiled meat w o u l d not i n ­clude that many bones and some of the conservation l iquids, vinegar in particular, must have been extremely destructive for bone tissue. Tuna fish preparation is not only an oíd speciality of the Andalus ian gastronomic tradition (PONSICH/TARRADELL 1965; PONSICH 1988) but w o u l d also assure a longer lasting of the meat itself and thus a more rational use of the resource. One w a y or the other, the point is that, without adequate documentary evidence, one could have never guessed the importance of tunas in the mo-nastery's gastronomic schemes.

Since the fishes were processed and served as dishes, one should also expect butchering and cooking to take a heavy toll on the bones themselves. Table 3 partly helps to confirm this by showing almost a third of the bone sample w i t h signs of b u m i n g . Taxonomically these percentages oscillate from as l o w as 5 % (sturgeon) to as high as 90 % (hake) (valúes of either O % or 100 % have not been taken into account as they involve uncommon taxa). The assumption that sedimentary decay might be a reason for a lower percentage of obviously intentional fractures (only 7,5 % of the NISP) can be indirectly confirmed by the fact that most of these were recorded for large (50-100 cm) or very large (more than 100 cm) specimens. Still , intentional fracturing is very common in La Cartuja when one compares its frequency w i t h that of similar aged sites in Spain (ROSELLÓ 1989).

Fractures were div ided into two somewhat arbitrary categories (Fig. 4-5):

1. Primary fractures: result of butchering and preparing a fish for transport or consumption in general. M a n y upper cleithral halves, as were regularly recorded for cod, hake and the gumards (Fig. 3; 4, A - C ) are believed to be the products of a beheading with simultaneous removal of the visceral mass. Similarly, trans­versal fractures of vertebrae are believed to be the result of prepa­ring Spanish-style filets (transversal sections). These have been recorded in Cartuja for a wide number of species from a large range of sizes (Table 2).

Other less conventíonal fractures which we believe are of this type were spotted in the largest meagre's vertebrae (Fig. 5, A ) . Here the bones were sectíoned in the sagittal plañe as it often happens w i t h the bones of domestic mammals. Whether this type of fracturing is a trace of dissectíon w i t h the intentíon of facilita-ting carcass transport or it indicates a special type of butchering for very large fishes we do not know. Local fishmongers we asked were totally unacquainted w i t h it. This type of butchering was re­corded by one of us (Arturo Morales) in the A m a z o n , o n carcasses of piranucu (Arapaima gigas) longer than 100 cm.

2. Secondary fractures: These, we assume, were not directly a im-ed at butchering an animal for transport or consumption but, ra­ther, at getting secondary use from the bones. For example, the i n -tentíonal fracturing of the prootíc bone was aimed at extracting the otoliths. One meagre and one sea bream (Dentex maroccanus) gave clear evidence of such types of fractures, though other cases of damaged neurocrania probably tell the same story. Otoliths of

the meagre are still valued as amulets in Andalus ia , a custom some think dates back to the Phoenicians (Ruiz-Mata pers. comm.). A s a matter of fact, one fishmonger in the Cádiz market has specialized in selling meagre otoliths to the public. If confir­med, these details w o u l d mean the retention of pagan customs in a monastic community! Another explanation, w h i c h w o u l d keep the monks ' reputation intact, is that the otoliths were probably re­moved prior to the fishes being delivered to the monastery. Figure 4, D shows a preopercle from a very large meagre w i t h a sequential series of fractures. It looks as though the intentíon was to get a regularly-shaped bone fragment, but perhaps the idea was to boi l the bone to extract some fat in order to a d d flavour to a soup. A similar type of fracturing has been recorded in many Román mili tary camps. In these cases, the polygonal bones were epiphysial and distal fragments of mammal ian appendicular ele­ments and the reason was the making of a more substantial broth for the troop ( V A N M E N S C H 1974; MORALES et al . 1989).

Almost half of all fractured bones (12 out of 32) showed signs of burning, indicating that both phenomena go hand i n hand. Cut­marks were only recorded on eight occasions (barely 2 % of the NISP). Perhaps this is also due to sedimentary decay of the bones as cutmarks are usually the most superficial manipulatíve pheno­mena. A t the same tíme, not a single bone showed traces of having been digested. One single caudal vertebra from a hake (Merluccius merluccius) was crushed, though it is difficult to say whether this resulted from chewing or from diagenetic causes.

One last comment about fish sizes: Some of these were inferred by means of comparison w i t h recent specimens though many fragments d i d not al low the application this procedure. In those cases, the fragments were either assigned to specimens of estíma-tedly corresponding size from the same level or roughly evalua-ted into one of the four size categories of Table 2. Though results are tentatíve, most fishes from a particular family (except for the sparids) fell into one particular size group. The table, moreover, shows a strong bias in favour of large and very large animáis (al­most 60 7o of the NISP) and an underrepresentation of small f i ­shes (around 3 % of the NISP).

4. Discussion

The cesspool assemblage contains remains fiom table-fishes w h i c h , though transported, butchered and cooked or processed in different ways, do not show evidence of digestión or chewing. This leads to the assumption that the sterquil inium functioned as a refuse pit but not as a latrine, like in the monks ' cells. Perhaps the prior 's quarters had other means of satisfying these needs, a question w h i c h we have not been able to settle yet.

Another important point is that, due to the peculiarities of the people lodged at the pr ior 's quarters, the fish assemblage not only fails to provide reliable data about the Carthusian diet (abundant m a m m a l and bird bones were also retrieved) but also gives a misleading impression of the types of fishes consumed by average people of those times or the ichthyological diversity of lo­cal waters.

A third point worth some comments is our suspicion that i n d i ­v i d u a l gastronomic preferences might have had a lot to do w i t h the diversity and taxonomic abundance of the material. Whi le at the monastery, distinguished guests were not only dispensed from the strict dietary rules of the Carthusian order, but were even encouraged to ask for those dishes they were most fond of (CUARTERO y HUERTAS 1950; COLEANTES DE T E R A N 1977). These i n -

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div idua l preferences might have contributed to a h igh diversity and a l o w dominance of species to a degree we cannot quantif y at the moment. O n the other hand, some w e l l represented (constant) species, such as the meagre, seem to have been as popular as they are today. Some eleven taxa (up to 25 % of the total) appear only in a single " l e v e l " though in most cases they do not represent new species (Table 1). Do they indicate unusual preferences?

Fourthly, one must speak about the regularities found in the fauna. Most , if not al l , of the species represent non-local (i.e. ma­rine) and highly valued fishes which at present command the highest prices i n Spanish markets (exceptions being clupeids and the barb). Even species that are not w e l l k n o w n outside A n ­dalusia, like the toadfish (Halobatrachus didactylus) have excellent meat, very much valued by local "connaisseurs". That the selec-tion of quality was systematic is shown by the presence of h ighly-priced fishes w h i c h could be products of long distance commerce (cod, but also possibly grunts, a sea bream and hake). One should not be surprised to find cod, a most popular Lent-fish since me­dieval times (ROEHL 1987), for ampie documentary evidence i n d i -cates that sea commerce i n Seville developed very fast d u r i n g the 15th century (GARANDE 1972; MORALES-PADRON 1980). The records show that an important fish trade w h i c h included the import of whale meat was started w i t h merchants from Galicia and Portu­gal. Another possible source is commerce w i t h the Basque coun-try, whose fishermen were catching cod off Scottish and Irish w a ­ters as early as the U t h century (Ruiz DE LA PEÑA 1981; A L V A -RINO/CASTRO 1955) or w i t h other European nations, for the 16th century witnessed the European expansión of the Spanish em-pire.

The presence of species l i v i n g further south today (Parapristipo­ma sp. and Pagellus bellottii) might s imply be a sign of wider dis-tribution i n the past. Pagellus bellottii can easily be confused w i t h the common Pandora (Pagellus erythrinus), except for a few crani­al bones like the praemaxillare, so chances are that it has passed undetected i n other southern Spanish sites.

The presence of very rare pelagic species like the pámpano (Stromateus fiatola), also an extremely desired catch, reinforce the idea of a most selectíve, and therefore highly "art i f ic ia l" fish fau­na.

Sizes are the last topic to discuss. We strongly suspect that beyond those already mentioned there might be other reasons be-h i n d the bias of the size spectra towards large specimens. It is true that, for a single species, fishermen and customers tend to favour b i g animáis instead of small ones. Accordingly, no one w o u l d se-riously doubt that small fishes must be systematically underre-presented in an archaeozoological sample, no matter how careful-ly excavated and analyzed. But there is another important reason for favouring b i g fishes i n L a Cartuja: b ig fishes stay fresh longer.

If, as al l data seem to indicate, most animáis were carried to the monastery over certain distances, and if these were to be kept i n good condit ion i n order to satisfy important guests, they must have been either processed or acquired as b ig as possible (left-overs could always be used by the community) . In a cl ima te such as the one Seville presumably had 500 years ago processing works wel l w i t h " b l u e " (oily) fish but not that w e l l w i t h " w h i t e " fish, as, in fact, most fishes from La Cartuja are. Another thing is that b ig species of blue fish (tunas, in particular) are very good food but very expensive, whi le small species do not have that good a taste, are very cheap and therefore were not popular among the noble guests. Indeed they were, unt i l very recently, the cheapest food item i n Spain, occassionally below the price of bread!

N o w we think we have found evidence, even if indirect, for processing of blue fish. But only tuna remains were found as the noblemen certainly rejected poor people's food l ike sardines i n a place like La Cartuja. We assume, on the other hand, that species of white fish were not processed (exceptions being cod and, pos­sibly, hake). A n indirect indication of this phenomenon might be the relatively h igh frequency of arficulated, or semi-artículated neurocrania (Table 5). In this case of fresh consumption big size w o u l d make the meat last longer Thus, more than one explana­tion might converge to explain the size spectra which Table 2 ex-hibits.

The discussion about sizes w o u l d not be complete without a fi­nal comment on the meagre's size groups (Table 2). Al though al­most 85 % of the specimens of this species were wel l over 100 cm (occassionally over 200 cm), nine vertebrae from much smaller specimens, barely 25 cm long, were recovered as wel l (Fig. 5, B). Since the meagre is both a white fish and the most abundant tax­on at La Cartuja, the f inding of these small specimens could inva­lídate previous comments regarding the preference for big ani­máis. We do not think that these vertebrae are remains of a meal of a bigger fish since viscera w o u l d have been removed at the fishing spot, not in the monastery. Perhaps they were the result of a very short trip up the Guadalquiv i r river and were still fresh. A possible alternative w o u l d be that the specimens were spoiled and inadvertently arrived together w i t h other fishes only to be discarded later (the questions then w o u l d be: w h y the prior's cesspool and w h y only vertebrae?). The point we want to stress, however, is the fact that f ishing for small-sized specimens of that particular species might be an indication that overfishing was al­ready taking place, a fact of utmost significance for archaeo-ichthyological research and one which , no doubt, w i l l demand a more careful study i n the future.

5. Conclusions

We hope that this paper has shown that, without documentary evidence, we w o u l d have had great trouble in explaining how such a diversif ied and faunally heterogeneous assemblage of fish remains might have gathered at a place so far from any fishing ports. M o r e important than this, one w o u l d have obtained a most contorted picture of what the Carthusian fish diet looked like, since i n a monastic order whose economy was based on self-suffi-ciency one w o u l d not expect such a large assortment of imported animáis.

The assemblage also shows a w i d e acquaintance wi th fishes in late-medieval to early modern-age Andalus ia , an acquaintance consonant w i t h a diversif ied fish fauna i n local waters, reinforced by fish trade w i t h distant countries both w i t h i n and outside the Iberian Península.

Fishes, on the other hand, have proved useful in the examina-tion of a tentatíve stratigraphy w h i c h might still be val id but ne­vertheless has to be handled w i t h extreme care since mixing seems to have been a regular feature. Because of this we can nei­ther use M N I as representative measures ñor try to investígate each guest's particular dietary preferences.

It is obvious that, being a partial approach to specific diets, our analysis w i l l have to be combined w i t h others in order to provide a more reliable picture of what happened at the site. Thus, as a first step, we need to k n o w h o w other faunal group samples be-have i n this same cesspool and then compare results w i t h the samples from conventíonal monks ' sterquilinia. O n l y then can we

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start th inking about getting more reliable data for further hypo-theses.

6. Resumen

L a investigación arqueoictiológica refuerza su capacidad inter­pretativa cuando se es capaz de utilizar fuentes adicionales de comprobación y/o refutación de hipótesis. Este trabajo demue­stra hasta que punto la información documental resulta ser rele­vante en el caso de muestras faunísticas surgidas de sistemas so­cio-culturales complejos. Sin tal tipo de información a nuestra dis­posición, la lectura directa del análisis faunístico habría inducido a l investigador a alcanzar conclusiones erróneas acerca de la aso­ciación ictiológica recuperada.

7. Acknowledgements

We thank D r F. de Amores and Eloísa Bernáldez for the for-w a r d i n g of the remains and for complementary information. The w o r k was reviewed by D r Adolfo A g u i l a r

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