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Archaeologists unearthed six fishhooks that date to 12,300 years ago, with one made from a 19,000-year-old mammoth tusk.
By Tia Ghose
LiveScience
Scientists have unearthed six fishhooks, the oldest of which was made from a 19,000-year-old mammoth tusk.
Hunters of ice age reindeer around 12,300 years ago likely left the fishhooks, along with mammal and fish bones, in an open field in what is now Wustermark, Germany. The fishhooks, which are the oldest found in Europe, suggests humans developed fishing tools earlier than previously thought, probably to catch fast-moving fish that appeared in lakes as the climate warmed.
"These people had strong ideas to use the new resources of this changing environment," said Robert Sommer, a paleoecologist at the University of Kiel in Germany. The eel, perch and pike that entered lakes are too fast to snag with a harpoon or a spear, Sommer added.
The findings are detailed in the May 2013 issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science.
Ancient seafood
Most archaeological evidence for ancient seafood consumption has washed away with rising sea levels. In 2011, scientists discovered the world's oldest fishhooks in coastal caves in East Timor (formerly part of Indonesia). But because the hooks were not complete, they relied heavily on nearby fish bones to draw their conclusions.
And until now, archaeologists in Europe thought hunter-gatherers around 12,000 years ago speared slow-moving fish like salmonin shallow streams, but didn't use hooks until much later, Sommer told LiveScience. [The 10 Biggest Mysteries of the First Humans]
Fish eaters
Sommer and his colleagues unearthed several Paleolithic finds during a routine environmental assessment prior to building a shopping mall 12.4 miles (20 kilometers) west of Berlin.
The site, which was once an open field near an ancient lake, revealed six fishhooks, along with animal and fish remains. One of the fishhooks was carved from ivory from a mammoth tusk, while the rest were made of reindeer or elk bones closer to 12,300 years old.
Because mammoths went extinct before the fishermen lived, the people probably found a whole tusk and used it millennia later, Sommer told LiveScience.
Confirms fishing
The fishhooks are impressive because they show the sophistication of ancient hunters, said Sue O'Connor, an archaeologist at the Australian National University, who found the East Timor fishhooks, but was not involved in this study.
"There's a lot of planning that's gone into the development of these particular hook shapes," O'Connor told LiveScience. "You've got to have it at the right angle so it actually hooks the fish, otherwise the fish just gets off."
Follow Tia Ghose on Twitter @tiaghose. Follow LiveScience on Twitter @livescience, Facebook or Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com.
Leave a Comment:
I wonder how popular was fly fishing back in those days?
It's hard to imagine now looking back, but think about how utterly brilliant someone was to be the first person to come up with the idea of using hooks and bait to catch a fish. "I've got this idea I'm going to try..." Brilliant! Seriously brilliant!
I agree it was truly brilliant. It would be challenging to catch a fish with one of those hooks. Most modern day recreational fisherman can buy razor sharp hooks,line that fish can't see,fresh live bait and still would starve to death if they had to depend on their skill at fishing.Inventing and making a fish hook,weaving your own line and crafting your own pole(although they may have hand lined)...brilliant is the word!
I've built better fish-hooks in my easy-bake oven, no wonder why the nenandernthalls went extinct if the only thing keeping them from starvation was this little fish-tickller.
Once again, scientists never gave the prehistoric hunters and fishermen any credibility for being able to invent and use tools of the trade to survive. I believe ancient humans were as intelligent as we are -- maybe more so -- because they had to survive out in the open and invent everything as they went along. Why couldn't their IQ's have been just as high as most scientists? Just because they didn't have all the stuff we now have doesn't mean they were stupid!
They weren't stupid. They had to be intelligent to survive without fangs or great speed or any of that other crap. When you use 25% of your calories to run your brain, it had better be able to help you survive.
We know more than they knew, and in that sense we are smarter. But in terms of pure reasoning power I'd bet you are right in saying that they were as intelligent as you or I today.
give a man a fish and feed him for a day. teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime.
hello-different situation-i am now age 76-i have financed dozens of difficult projects[offshore resorts]and i can find experienced banking execs to support equity/const loan requirements-i had a south american case-huge project-submission one of the best-these were canadian execs-i went to my govt connections-was offered contractors bank guarantees[large const budget]partners remain incommunicado-there are to many obstacles to reaching success these days..........[no spell check]
Has anyone ever seen prehistoric evidence of the straight hook design, which doesn't require any barb to hold onto the fish? You use a single stick sharpened at both ends to catch the fish, by first pushing this two pointed sharp stick deep into a piece of bait with your fishing line tied in the very middle of the stick. When the fish swallows the bait and the fishermen pull on the line, the two pointed sharp stick pulls out of the bait and rotates sideways to pierce and lodge in the gullet of the fish on both sides. You must be careful to tie your line to middle of this straight hook so it won't slip out of the fish's throat. - RC