Estimating European Pilchard ( Sardina pilchardus ) Total Length: New Equations for the Ichthyoarchaeological Record

Throughout its area of distribution, in particular in the Iberian Peninsula, the European pilchard ( Sardina pilchardus Walbaum 1792) has been an extensively exploited species since Prehistoric times. Our knowledge of the past fisheries of this clupeid nevertheless remains limited due to a scarcity of ichthyoarchaeological data, which reflects, among other things, a lack of systematic fine sieving in archaeological excavations until recent times. Specifically, although predictive equations to infer fish size from archaeological remains provide valuable information about past fisheries, published data for the European pilchard are still comparatively rare. This study presents 33 new equations based on selected cranial elements to estimate total length that considerably expand the number thus far available for the European pilchard. Also, given that the number and size ranges of specimens used to build these models are greater than those from previous studies, our equations provide a higher degree of accuracy, offering more reliable tools for reconstructing the size from archaeological sardine bones. These equations, along with previously published ones, were tested on European pilchard collections from medieval and Modern Age Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain). Although some of the previously published equations provide acceptable overviews of size distributions, the new equations allow for a more precise reconstruction of captures, underscoring their potential to improve our understanding of the historical European pilchard fisheries. The differences in size classes between the two sites in Barcelona unravel some details about the fishing techniques, fishing grounds, and commercial tendencies over time.