{"title":"Biodiversity in the Late Middle Ages: Wild Birds in the Fourteenth-Century County of Holland","authors":"S. Govaerts","doi":"10.3197/096734022x16627150608122","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"This article provides a preliminary overview of the species of wild birds that lived in the fourteenth-century County of Holland, now the Netherlands, on the basis of archaeological and historical sources. It argues that scholars should devote more attention to the Late Middle Ages (1300–1500) as a historical baseline for the study of biodiversity, and demonstrates the value of using medieval financial administration (accounts) as a source for such research. The article identifies 46 species of birds, most of which had substantial socio-economic value (birds of prey, wildfowl, herons and spoonbills). Because some bird populations were actively managed to secure a steady supply, it is possible to gain insight into historical population dynamics. This study can also serve as an example in designing similar research on other species and geographical regions.","PeriodicalId":45574,"journal":{"name":"Environment and History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8000,"publicationDate":"2023-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Environment and History","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3197/096734022x16627150608122","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This article provides a preliminary overview of the species of wild birds that lived in the fourteenth-century County of Holland, now the Netherlands, on the basis of archaeological and historical sources. It argues that scholars should devote more attention to the Late Middle Ages (1300–1500) as a historical baseline for the study of biodiversity, and demonstrates the value of using medieval financial administration (accounts) as a source for such research. The article identifies 46 species of birds, most of which had substantial socio-economic value (birds of prey, wildfowl, herons and spoonbills). Because some bird populations were actively managed to secure a steady supply, it is possible to gain insight into historical population dynamics. This study can also serve as an example in designing similar research on other species and geographical regions.
期刊介绍:
Environment and History is an interdisciplinary journal which aims to bring scholars in the humanities and biological sciences closer together, with the deliberate intention of constructing long and well-founded perspectives on present day environmental problems. Articles appearing in Environment and History are abstracted and indexed in America: History and Life, British Humanities Index, CAB Abstracts, Environment Abstracts, Environmental Policy Abstracts, Forestry Abstracts, Geo Abstracts, Historical Abstracts, History Journals Guide, International Bibliography of Social Sciences, Landscape Research Extra, Referativnyi Zhurnal, Rural Sociology Abstracts, Social Sciences in Forestry and World Agricultural Economics.