Saving an endangered species: archaeological fish specialists in decline

Specialists in the analysis of archaeological fish remains are in danger of becoming as extinct as the ancient species they study, the UK's zooarchaeological community has warned. Their expertise provides a historical narrative of the fish that swim our seas, enabling us to chart their decline and gain a clearer picture of overfishing, while providing a fascinating insight into the human relationship with marine life around our shores. With the number of fish archaeologists suffering a serious decline worldwide, academic archaeology departments across the country — led by The University of Nottingham — have joined forces to nurture a new generation of experts. In a partnership with English Heritage and the Natural History Museum, they have devised a series of workshops for students that will bring some of the UK's last remaining experts together to pass on their expertise. The project also incorporates an e-learning element and will produce a free, searchable database of fish skeleton images that can be accessed by anyone in the world interested in developing expertise in the topic or who simply need help in identifying fish archaeological specimens. Dr Naomi Sykes, in The University of Nottingham's Department of Archaeology, said: "Analysis of archaeological fish remains is a very niche specialism. The problem we have is that experts in this area are a dying breed and there is a huge skills gap opening up.