Fishing from the earliest times - Blog

NO PALAEOLITHIC HOOK 31distinct from Gorges) or of anything resembling Hooks proper—viz. hooks made out of one piece, recurved, and with sharpenedends—being used by the Old Stone Man.De Mortillet, it is true, writing in 1867,1 states that " hooksbelonging to the reindeer epoch have been found in the Cavesof Dordogne. Along with those of the simple form (thegorges) others were met with of much more perfect shape."In his later work [op. cit.) of i8go he contents himself withclaiming the existence of a hook, but of very primitive type," a small piece of bone tapered at either end " —in fact, nothingmore than the Gorge. 2S. Reinach, again, instances " three fish-hooks," but whittlesthem away till they become " two sharp points more in thenature of a gorge." ^ Osborne, commenting on the numerouspigmy flints discovered in the Tardenoisian debris, writesthat " it would appear that a large number of these wereadapted for insertion in small harpoons, or that those of thegrooved form might even have been used as fish-hooks." *With the opinion of Christy (co-explorer with Lartet of LaMadelaine) that those pointed bone rods or gorges " may haveformed part of fish-hooks, having been tied to other bones orsticks obliquely," ^ the evidence in favour of the Hookpractically finishes.The case, I venture to maintain, breaks down. And this,too, in spite of the view expressed and the evidence adduced byso eminent an authority as Abbe H. Breuil, and in spite of thegravure de Fontarnaud figurant un poisson mordant (?\—theLes Origines de la Peche et de la Navigation, Paris.^^ An excellent monograph, with hundreds of illustrations, by E. Krause(" Vorgeschichtliche Fischereigeriite und Neuere VergleichsstUche ") contained inthe magazine, Zeiischrift fur Fischerei, xi. Band 3/4 Heft (Berlin, 1904), p. 20S,states that hooks of the Stone Age are numerous, but unfortunately he does notdiscriminate between the Old and New Stone Ages. Palasolithic finds mentionbut once in his 176 pages.* Types de la Madelaine, p. 222, fig. 78.* H. J. Osborne, The Men of the Stone Age (1915), p. 465.* Reliqui(B AquitaniccB (London, 1875), ii. p. 58. Christy's solitarybuttress for his opinion is a reference to " a Nootka Sound lishing implement,"which is identical (according to Rau, fig. 9) with a hook described inMr. J. G. Swan's The Indians of Cape Flattery, as used by the Makahs solely(and successfully) for the halibut, because " its mouth is vertical, instead ofhorizontal, like most fish." The absence of halibut from debris or representationsscarcely strengthens Christy's opinion.