15000-Year-Old Evidence of Fishing From an Ice Age Site Found Engraved on Rocks Leaves Experts Stunned
Engravings recently analyzed in Germany indicate that fishing was a highly revered act during the Ice Age. The depictions were found in Gönnersdorf and as per experts could be the oldest drawings associated with fishing, All That's Interesting reported.
Researchers have claimed that an Ice Age civilization existed in the area 15,800 years ago. They have found dwellings, weapons, and jewelry from the Ice Age on the site with the fish drawings adding to the growing list of discoveries. Findings regarding the fishing depiction have been published in the journal PLOS One.
| Photo by Pavel Danilyuk)
The engravings were made on stones located in Gönnersdorf, an Ice Age archeological site discovered in 1968, Smithsonian Magazine reported. Some of the plaquettes found on the site were singled out by certain experts because of the unique engravings visible on them. These plaquettes contained depictions that looked like imprecise grid patterns and ovals.
To fully understand what the engravings exactly meant, researchers from Monrepos Archaeological Research Center and Museum for Human Behavioral Evolution (a department of the Leibniz Center) and England’s Durham University collaborated and used advanced imaging techniques to get the answer.
According to researchers, a few from the singled-out collection depicted fish being caught in nets. The experts applied a technique known as reflectance transformation imaging which brought into focus subtle details of the engravings. The method showcased how grid patterns were linked to fish figures in the drawings and acted as a "deliberate combination portraying the use of fishing nets," as per the study.
The study claimed the engravings provided "nuanced depictions of fishing practices previously unrecorded for the Upper Paleolithic." The Upper Paleolithic era was during the last ice age and lasted from 35,000 to 10,000 years ago. Researchers were aware that humans during that time were hunter-gatherers, and the drawings now will enable them to understand how they managed to hunt fish in particular.
"This study provides the first unambiguous visual evidence of fishing nets in European prehistory, based on the engraved motifs of fish within grid-like patterns," lead author Jérôme Robitaille, an archaeologist at Monrepos explained.
Robitaille claims that the engravings are proof that fishing as an activity was revered in Ice Age communities. Not only was it crucial for subsistence but was also celebrated through drawings. She added that there was an "artistic focus" on the activity and the group could have treated it as a "structured, social and possibly seasonal activity." Researchers believe the discovery is crucial and "expands the known repertoire of Ice Age art."