The origins and early history of the pentateuchal prohibition against eating finless and scaleless aquatic species (Lev 11:9–12; Deut 14:9–10) has yet to merit a detailed investigation. The present study is an initiatory attempt to attend to this lacuna by analysing 56 zooarchaeological assemblages of fish remains from 30 sites throughout the southern Levant from the Late Bronze Age through to the end of the Byzantine period (ca. 1550 BCE to 640 CE). A central conclusion of the study is that consumption of scaleless fish— especially catfish—was not uncommon at Judean sites throughout the Iron Age and Persian periods. Unlike the pentateuchal prohibitions against eating pork, the ban against finless and scaleless aquatic species apparently deviated from longstanding Judean dietary habits. The pentateuchal writers appear to have legislated this dietary restriction despite the lack of an old and widespread dietary tradition at its root. This conclusion should encourage us to rethink commonly held assumptions that other pentateuchal dietary proscriptions emerged out of earlier dietary ‘taboos’.

中文翻译：

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根据古代鱼类遗骸对无鳍无鳞水生生物的五经饮食禁忌

五经禁止食用无鳍和无鳞的水生物种的起源和早期历史（利未记 11:9-12；申命记 14:9-10）尚未值得详细调查。本研究首次尝试通过分析从青铜时代晚期到拜占庭时期末期（约公元前 1550 年至公元 640 年）整个黎凡特南部 30 个地点的 56 个动物考古学鱼类遗骸组合来解决这一漏洞。该研究的一个核心结论是，在整个铁器时代和波斯时期，在朱迪亚地区食用无鳞鱼——尤其是鲶鱼——并不少见。与五经禁止吃猪肉的禁令不同，对无鳍和无鳞水生物种的禁令显然偏离了犹大人长期以来的饮食习惯。尽管从根本上缺乏古老而广泛的饮食传统，但五经作家似乎已将这种饮食限制立法。这一结论应该鼓励我们重新思考普遍持有的假设，即其他五经饮食禁忌源于早期的饮食“禁忌”。