Industrial-scale whaling in the 19th and 20th centuries nearly drove many whale species into extinction. But it turns out that whaling’s effects on where whales live go back much deeper into human history. As early as 8,000 years ago, humans carved their attempts to capture whales into South Korean cliffs. More recently, medieval texts described the whaling preferences of Europeans. So he and his colleagues examined 719 pieces of whale bones collected at archaeological sites from Norway to Portugal.

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Persons: Moby, Dick, ”, Ahab, Ishmael, van den Organizations: Royal Society Open Science, Norwegian University of Science, Technology Locations: Norway, Portugal