NorFish is a European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant led by Prof Poul Holm in Trinity College Dublin, focuses on the premise that a 16th century shift in marine fish pricing and supply in conjunction with the Little Ice Age and lowering of sea temperatures not only rise to the North Atlantic Fish Revolution but also forms one of the first documented examples of the disrupting effects of globalisation and climate change. The project examines the role of the Fish Revolution for a range of inter-related aspects of North Atlantic history, with NorFish’s interdisciplinary team drawing on archaeology, history, cartography, geography, and ecology to develop interpretative frameworks that synthesise a broad spectrum of source data to assess the overall objective of the project. NorFish’s interdisciplinary team draws on archaeology, history, cartography, geography, and ecology to assess the objectives of the project.

Norway has seen herring as an essential part of the its cultural heritage and is recorded as far back as the 11th century in Snorri Sturluson’s Kings’. The sea teemed with herring in this century according to Sturluson and played an important role in the growth of Norway. This dataset combines sources that provide export data for the Norwegian port of Bergen. These data are available in two tranches and typically provide values in barrels of salted herring that were transported from Bergen.