Reconsidering Evidence of Tasmanian Fishing

For many years it has been accepted that prehistoric Tasmanians lost the ability to fish. This has led to the suggestion that small populations can become intellectually and culturally disadvantaged as a result of isolation and population size. This conclusion was based on assumptions regarding the value of fishing and on the significance of fish fauna found within archaeological contexts. A review of this issue suggests that fish remains from Tasmania are, instead, the result of primary butchering of juvenile seals at a few unique sites and that the prehistoric and ethnohistoric records are consistent. A framework is provided to test the contrasting interpretations.