漁的大歷史: 大海如何滋養人類的文明？

by Brian M. Fagan, 布萊恩‧費根, 黃楷君 (Translator)

人類首先成為漁夫，文明才會開始。

全球第一本涵蓋人類各文明的漁業全史！
台灣建立「海洋文明」的第一步。

　　沒有魚乾就沒有金字塔？中國人為何飼養鯉魚？紐芬蘭鱈魚漁場如何消亡？
　　兩百萬年來，討海捕魚壯大了人類、改寫了文明。
　　然而，以海為師、適應自然的智慧，竟讓人不自覺地掏空了海洋！

　　長期以來，捕魚與人類歷史的發展有著密切的關係。在人類開始耕作以前，採集、打獵與捕魚是人類從野外獲取食物的主要方法。但三者之中，只有捕魚在農業普及之後，仍然是人類重要的經濟活動，甚至商品化、產業化，歷經工業革命後，迅速成長為供應全球人口的國際產業。然而，我們長期以來關注農業對文明演進的影響，忽略漁業對人類的重要性其實不亞於農業，更是推動文明誕生、城市興起，以及現代世界的崛起的關鍵之力。

　　●古代人類之所以能在多種環境生存，貝類是最大功臣？
　　●最早前往美洲的人類，不是大型哺乳動物的獵人，而是漁民？
　　●魚才是蘇美及印加文明的經濟支柱？
　　●不只是中國人，羅馬人、夏威夷人都曾熱衷養魚？
　　●如果沒有洞里薩湖的水上人家及鯰魚，吳哥窟就建不成？
　　●是鹽漬魚與魚乾，讓人類足跡一路從地中海擴及波斯灣與印度洋？
　　●鱈魚產業在大西洋三角貿易中所累積的利潤，超過在美洲找到的所有黃金收益總和？

　　《漁的大歷史》作者布萊恩・費根是全球知名的考古學家，也是史前文化研究權威。藉由本書，他提醒我們，漁業作為人類至關重要的為生方式，長期以來被嚴重忽略，更缺乏全面的歷史研究。一萬五千年前，世界經歷全球暖化，海平面的上升促使食物豐足、樣貌多元的自然地景隨之出現，以捕魚為生的人口增長、展開定居生活，更與遠方社群建立長久的經濟與社會關係。但漁民向來生性隱密，很少在歷史紀錄上留下痕跡。他們對環境的知識與捕魚的技藝代代口傳，使用的漁具大多由易腐爛的材料製成，只留下魚骨、貝塚等遺存供考古學家深入研究。

　　然而，費根在本書指出，漁業是促成人類社會與文化複雜化的關鍵因素，賦予了民族、城市與國家繁榮發展、向外擴張的養分。從埃及的金字塔到柬埔寨的吳哥窟，人類歷史上的大型建設計畫都仰賴居住在城市邊緣、默默無名的漁民提供大量糧食給建設工人，才造就了文明的奇蹟。鯖魚製成的魚乾重量輕、便於攜帶，成為羅馬軍隊的理想糧食，而將魚血和魚腸泡在鹽水裡發酵製成的魚醬更是帝國經濟的重要貨品。此外，隨著不斷攀升的人口促使人對魚的需求高漲，水產養殖在西元前2500年首次出現於埃及與中國，以供應更多糧食，並且作為應對原有漁場遭過度捕撈的策略。

　　漁業不僅是人類適應自然的智慧的展現，更是人類與自然共生的結果。但在十九世紀過後，當工業革命帶動漁業科技的革新，人類面臨前所未有的海洋危機。各式各樣的漁具如海底拖網，雖然提升了捕魚的效率，卻破壞了海床。蒸汽引擎、柴油動力問世，雖讓漁民可以在遙遠的外海停留更久，卻使漁場資源迅速耗盡，導致漁場永久關閉。人類不能再假定海洋資源取之不盡、用之不竭。今日，氣候變遷的威脅壟罩漁場，人類不僅面臨在2050年需要餵養超過九十億人口的挑戰，也得思索在2014年，人類所消耗的魚肉中，養殖魚的數量首次超越野外的漁獲一事所標誌的意義。

　　《漁的大歷史》闡述了人類、海洋與海產漫長的互動歷史。費根從兩百萬年前，巧人徒手捉住第一隻鯰魚開始，以重大考古發現談論埃及、羅馬、中國、日本、地中海與波羅的海、中南半島、安地斯山脈、大洋洲等各個文明社會如何在不同的地理與氣候條件下，藉由掌握海洋與各種魚類的特性而生存下來。同時，他深入當代，完整爬梳冰島海域、北海、紐芬蘭島及新英格蘭漁場的興盛、危機與衰亡。藉由爬梳漁業的歷史與當代危機，費根揭示了另一種了解自身歷史的可能，而陸地與大海從不是兩個各自獨立的世界。

　　台灣四面環海，海洋提供了我們豐沛的飲食資源，也豐富了我們的文化。台灣漁業實力雄厚，但從魚類的濫捕、海洋的污染，到遠洋漁業對外籍漁民的剝削，台灣人如何從靠海為生走向與海共生，仍需要我們持續探究。這本《漁的大歷史》所提供的文明視角將對我們有所啟發。

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Science, Food, Archaeology, Audiobook, Nature

437 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 26, 2017

About the author

Brian Murray Fagan was a British author of popular archaeology books and a professor emeritus of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Reviews

[Steve Wiggins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not a fisher. In fact, I’m a vegan. Stat doesn’t mean, however, that the history of civilization isn’t important to me. Something that I’d never considered, and indeed, which is often overlooked, is just how important fishing has been for civilized society. Brian Fagan argues that it could not have developed without fishing.

Following roughly a chronological/geographical scheme, Fagan takes us from prehistoric times up to the modern era where technology has led to over-fishing and depletion. There’s quite a bit of nitty-gritty on fishing here, and for those who feel for animals, it’s not the easiest read. It is nevertheless interesting. I know that when I think of the broad sweep of civilization, I always think about agriculture. Learning to plant and grow allowed for stable settlements. Fish played a part too.

I guess since I don’t eat fish, I haven’t paid much attention to the plight caused by over-fishing. We tend to think the oceans too vast to be depleted. As I mention on my blog (Sects and Violence in the Ancient World), technology makes such things possible. One of the things that bothered me about this book was the sense that there was little concern for the fish themselves. Making them into an industry masks the fact that, despite their numbers, fish are creatures just trying to survive.

That’s why I don’t often read about food. The notion bothers me. Even eating plants feels, at times, like exploitation. Like many kids, I used to fish. I gave up because I never caught anything. The truth is, I wouldn’t have known what to do with a fish if I caught it. My guess is that I wouldn’t have ground it up to feed herbivores, however, which is what happens to large parts of today’s catches. A vegan just wouldn’t do that.

[Shotabdi · Rating 4 out of 5]

সভ্যতার সাথে সমুদ্রের সম্পর্কটা এখানে আলোচিত হয়েছে বৃহৎ পরিসরে। সমুদ্র তো অনেক কিছুর উৎস, শরীরের জ্বালানিরও বটে।
৩.৫/৫

[Vivek KuRa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Being an avid fisherman myself, who has done my fair share of fishing in lakes, rivers, surfs, and deep seas of North America, I was naturally drawn to this book when I saw it in hoopla. I have caught quite a few fish species using different tackle in my life and was always interested in the history of fishing itself and its techniques and equipment’s evolution. This book did help me with that to some extent. But not to the level I hoped it would. Unlike other books of Brian, this book’s content was extremely dry and textbook like. Also, the lay out of the book is not in any logical or chronological order and is all over the place which was frustrating and off-putting. So, I ended up skimming through the book quickly and finished it. In the end, I cannot really say that I learned things I already didn't know from this book.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not a fisherman. I rarely eat seafood. And (thankfully) this is not a book about those things, it is about how civilization was supported by and relied on the food from the seas. And so I enjoyed this latest work by Brian Fagan (the third book of his that I have read). Starting from distant pre-history in Africa to modern struggles with sustainable fishing, the book explores the archaeological evidence for humans using the sea as a source for food. For some people, fish and mussels were sources for lean months supplementing other foods, while other groups could be more reliant on seafood.

The major criticism is that there is difficulty establishing causation for why having seafood encouraged and supported the development of civilization. This work does a good job of establishing how the sea fed civilization with its myriad of examples, but the extension seems weak. The examples do not explore this point, which is suggested from the abstract. There are other points of weakness, such as linking locations back to the maps several chapters earlier.

Overall, I enjoyed reading another book by Brian Fagan.

(This review was made possible by Goodreads and the book giveaways.)

[Steven Minniear · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very informative book that really has me rethinking my understanding of early cultures and economies. However, it so needed a very close editing. At many times I thought the author had merely strung together separate articles into a book. Read this for the content and you will appreciate the new outlook it can give you.

[LAB · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book Brian Fagan narrates the history of subsistence and industrial fishing around the world. In so doing he also demonstrates how fish enabled long distance exploration and settlement of harsh country. From individuals picking up fish in shallow ponds to deep sea ocean nets Fagan discusses fisheries and fishers and how they learned to catch and preserve the fish. Armies were sustained by dried fish, Egyptian pyramids were constructed by workers fed fish, international trade networks evolved to move fish around the world, and fish helped to create wealth and income disparity. In short: No fish, no civilization. Fagan also offers a look into the future of civilization in the absence of adequate fish supplies and does so from considerable historic perspective--over fishing devastated some populations as early as the 14th Century leaving repercussions whose ripples are still felt.

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

In a way, this book is the key to understanding why the progress is so slow, compared to what the specie could advance. The issue rests on how the Government schooling is organized: the smart ones get into technical fields, and the others are receiving compensation University diplomas so they won't feel dumb. And this way Humanity gets people like Fagan who would probably be very qualified driving a cab, or cooking in some cafeteria. Fagan lives in a world populated by gods, Civilization, Society. And his ability to synthesize is closer to the hamburgers he should have assembled for a living: it is not mass production of food, it's the god of Fishing.

[Fakhrul Izzuddin · Rating 4 out of 5]

These book are very dive deeper in explaining the history on how human started to engage in fishery activity. The author really focus on whole part of world where fishing become part of early human civilisation social economic life from Babylon to ancient Egypt then Mediterranean to Austronesia archipelago then to American. It show how the progress and development in term of techniques and technology iof fishery that keep evolving till Industrial Revolution. These book not just stop but the autbor also give his own insight about the future fishing and how ir can be more sustainable for long run.

[Marc Hutton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worth reading but contains numerous typos and just flat out errors that should have been caught by the copy reader much less the editor. The bibliography is a absolute joke for what is supposed to be a scholarly work. Much better suited for casual reader that will take what is written at face value and not really that interested in seeing if it is collaborated by other sources. Not sorry that I took the time to read it but there are much better works on the subject out there.

[Hannah Evelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book but I was almost halfway through and I felt I had learned what I needed. I feel like the chapters were disorganized and didn’t make much sense in terms of topics and themes, it all just ran together. But the content was super interesting.

[Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read! It takes a great archaeologist and historian to synthesize archaeological data and interpretation into history. Fagan does both well and his history on fishing was an awesome book!

[Charlie Rosenthal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a bunch of people ask me about this book and I don't think I did a good job of explaining it once, but, trust me, this book is fascinating.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

A survey of fishing globally from the distant past to the present. Some great facts, and the integration of archaeology and history is interesting.

[Kay]

Read with Steve, spring 2019

I may need to give up eating salmon.

[Bumjoon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last part of this book gives important message to us.

[Michelle Bizzell · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little dry, but just the kind of niche topic I like. Early civilizations, fishing history, etc.

[barbs]

I gave this book a chance, but the truth is I can't stand fish, not even their smell, so I guess I wasn't the ideal reader for this.

[Rrrrrron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dnf @60%. Not as good as his other works. Too much in the details

[Liam Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly like 50% about ice age archeology

[The Inquisitive Biologist · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fishing is a tour-de-force, rich in archaeological and anthropological detail, that convincingly shows the underappreciated but important role of fish and fisheries in the rise of human civilization. See my full review at https://inquisitivebiologist.com/2018...

[Patrick Beach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great work here