5 a) Bry) Eee RISD Ta A RUN ’ + Bono wae iA Ln aed fo Pret en e ae s i aati eer n BUS nN eer) ‘ DORE Rg CC Og Oe) ) wt in Na HD " mt) “ RAND 7 DOH t ! A ie) re re ie DNR MRE Tey ee eed A nae ie nin RRO PN Rn SOON) hi ay Hay nh why } ho 4 CKod ry) DOC EY 4 RT AN ee AO MRE RRR RORY Ni \ ny MAIC Na fy DON RAT Ri i) » fem) G OF es) AAEM) rey Tn I A So NNT eE TO RRR Cea f a Rane s Son) SOD Ke er 0 CO) re Ahir WC omer Rts Rane Boog OO aaah ay Py an ree aN U oe Bist wien) Nac bs 7, i Ree Re ti 7 Bis ein eRe RNS Pure ‘ oe 0 Cea ORR ahh A EARS a A hn DEES hee Ua ae Brier iene rh) DOOR GSD PE es ay ve Oo Dae See at ny ay stad San i ie ta tai : 57 Teter: breetetes 2 ps Z ae ah Dou eet Br DEN oy ‘i - ea ee) POORER Be Q i aK ‘sina .) (nen PERS oe One it At ee ne oe hy i ion f by ERS ia: Pen ty pari Pee nt ORO RN fn ret 4 ehh . Pa Bedit eae Ah apa ae Gen ne TU Te peitt| Serr: w. ey ot ee ix aK f ‘ Pat ms es Mae Am Rete reat reid PCr fee : sat “3 =H Ef Siavarhts he! ein) PreK pene oe Sone im aay oes Se feat pls oom ars Se? Im anno ot Beer w yi teen aL * ay atlas tre e): pine ae eee eile mo Dk snoh Ft Sawtireee rt he Rees aon oo Sern pros OD Sone oy < cy a ia} Sea Sane Rao Ree eae Si ee. po ai et) wie See iS oe ch a Bae at eae, Che ihe eae oe ennai main ety Sih a xen PN hei Se a oe seat a eee Coen rae " Wie oats A i ay o “ ee ; Pt vs PEM} oh WMD Baa bite MOT es K) ‘ ¢ iG a ae oa Oy Swan a wa a i cay ba CG Puan TRAN Abbe AN Beattie one AS Ii nha ick fe wit NP x ve at NRA ea an NOR Cora hii: pee ahs Wet errr, aaa: pies et ‘orn gta oi lta oe és esters) be hetalas SER i beaks aes mes ces 2 Ried Reece Sonecreni. pa kabraeel 2 i ae 7 ry ¢ Nine a cy a5 are : Sig sat NATURAL SIZE. BRONZE FISH-HOOK FROM A LACUSTRINE SETTLEMENT NEAR MORGES, LAKE OF GENEVA, SWITZERLAND. SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO KNOWLEDGE. sO PREHISTORIC FISHING IN KUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA. BY CHARLES RAU. WASHINGTON CITY: PUBLISHED BY THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 1884. JUDD & DETWEILER, PRINTERS, : WASHINGTON, D. C. ADVERTISEMENT. THE author of the following memoir was requested to prepare an article on “the methods and apparatus of prehistoric fishing,” for the Report of the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries; but the work grew to such propor- tions that it was deemed advisable to consider the propriety of its publication in the Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge. In accordance with the rule of the Smithsonian Institution, the work was submitted for examination to a commission of experts, consisting of Dr. DANIEL G. Brinton, of Philadelphia, and Professor Henry W. Haynes, of Boston. These gentlemen having recommended its publication, it was accepted by the Institution, and is herewith presented as an important contribution to the sum of human knowledge. The memoir, for the most part, is based on the materials contained in the archzeological division (under the direction of Dr. Rav,) of the United States National Museum, of which establishment the Smithsonian Institution has the charge. SPENCER F. BAIRD, Secretary Smithsonian Institution. SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, Washington, December, 1884. Il PREFACE. This volume should have been written by one not only acquainted with the details of prehistoric archzeology, but also well informed regarding all matters pertaining to fishing as practised in our time. Unfortunately, I cannot lay: claim to any knowledge of the piscatorial art; for, after a single unsuccessful trial in angling, made in the days of my boyhood, I gave up all further attempts, and thus it happened that I never caught a fish in my life, either with hook or net. I should add that, owing to more pressing occupations, this want of prac- tical experience has not in any way been supplemented by the study of works treating of fishing; and, as a consequence, many points doubtless have escaped my notice, which would have elicited comments on the part of an expert. Thus, in describing the ancient fish-hooks, he would have conjectured, from their form and size, what species of fishes were caught with them; the character of net- sinkers, perhaps, would have suggested to him that of the nets; and so in other instances. Yet, I must not omit to state that, while composing this work, I derived great advantage from being placed in circumstances of close association with some members of the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries; for these gentlemen assisted me with great readiness whenever I had occasion to appeal to their knowledge of the details of fishing. In treating of prehistoric fishing in Europe, I have used all the literary material within my reach; but certain data relating to the subject have doubtless been omitted—for the simple reason that the writings containing them were not at my disposal. Critical readers in Europe will bear this in mind.* If the work had been exclusively designed for the initiated, I might * After the text of the first part of this work had been electrotyped, I had occasion to examine a pamphlet by Professor C. Grewingk, of Dorpat, entitled ‘‘Geologie und Archaeologie des Mergellagers von Kunda in Estland’ (Dorpat, 1882). The author describes and figures a number of neolithic bone harpoon-heads extracted from marl. I would have reproduced his illustrations, if it had not been too late. I may say, however, that they present types similar to the European forms brought to the reader’s notice in the first part of this volume. The portion of the second part in which North American fish-hooks are described, also was electrotyped, when a short article by Miss Margarette W. Brooks, relative to bone fish-hooks found in a shell-heap near Narra- Vv Wal PREFACE. have considerably abbreviated its first part by excluding much introductive and descriptive matter not immediately connected with fishing. Yet, as it probably will also be read by non-archzeologists, it has been thought necessary to dwell on the differences between the paleolithic and neolithic ages, to give accounts of the tool and bone-bearing drift-beds, of cave-habitations, artificial shell-deposits, lake-dwellings, and, finally, to present a brief characterization of the bronze age. These intercalated portions were in part taken, with or without modifications, from “ Early Man in Europe,” a small volume embracing a series of articles, which I had written in 1875 for “ Harper’s New Monthly Magazine.” The articles in question, notwithstanding their popular character, embodied the results of a careful study of original sources, and it is hoped that the extracts from them, utilized in the present case, will meet with the approbation of com- petent judges. In the introduction to the second part of this work I have briefly stated my views concerning palzeolithic man in North America. It would then have afforded me special pleasure to refer to Professor W. Boyd Dawkins’s excellent article on early man in America, published in the “ North American Review” (October, 1883), the more so, since his conclusions and mine point in the same direction; but the pages in which I alluded to the subject were already electro- typed before the publication of that article. A work like that here presented must, from its very character, in a great measure be a compilation from preceding writings. There are authors who, in such cases, will slightly alter the text of their predecessors, and thus make it their own, though not without mentioning the sources from which they have drawn. I have preferred the mode of verbal quotation, not on account of being the easier one, but because I was actuated by the desire of doing full justice to those by whose labors I have profited. I have been much assisted in my work in various ways, and it is but proper that I should express my acknowledgments. Reference was made to the advan- tages I derived from my acquaintance with members of the United States Fish gansett Pier, Rhode Island, appeared in “Science” (Vol. 2, p. 653). There are figures of one perfect fish-hook and of fragments of three others given. The perfect one, of whose representation I would have published a copy, if it had been feasible, bears some resemblance to the original of Fig. 189 on page 127 of this work, yet is smaller and clumsier in shape. Owing to an oversight, a prehistoric Nova Scotian bone harpoon-head, figured on page 137 of Professor J. W. Dawson’s “ Fossil Men” (Montreal, 1880), has not been noticed in this work. Such drawbacks seem to be unavoidable. PREFACE. iva Commission. My principal adviser among these gentlemen was Captain Joseph W. Collins, who very obligingly aided me with his great experience whenever I had occasion to ask him for an expression of his opinion. The Trustees of the Peabody Museum of American Archeology and Ethnology, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, kindly loaned for my use, at the request of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, their collection of Swiss lacustrine articles employed in fishing, and I was thus enabled to extend my observations and descriptions. In connection with the Peabody Museum, I have to mention its Curator, Professor F. W. Putnam, by whom the objects, accompanied with full descriptions, were forwarded to the Smithsonian Institution. Many other gentlemen have manifested their interest in my work by loan- ing me specimens, or transmitting photographs or drawings, always with the necessary—sometimes quite lengthy—explanations, and to some I am under obligations for accounts of explorations of artificial shell-deposits carried on by them. Yet, as in all instances the names of these co-laborers are given in the text, in connection with the information furnished by them, I may here confine myself to a general expression of my gratitude. The illustrations in this work were nearly all made under my immediate supervision by the skillful artist, Mr. Charles F. Trill, and may be relied on as being either faithful copies of already published designs, or correct representa- tions of objects specially drawn for this work, the majority of the latter being specimens belonging to the United States National Museum.* All of Mr. Trill’s drawings were reproduced by the New York Photo-engraving Company (67 Park Place). In addition, I had the use of a number of cuts which had pre- viously served to illustrate Smithsonian publications or other works. I am indebted to Messrs. Harper & Brothers for electrotypes of Figs. 29, 382, and 37, used in my small work “ Early Man in Europe” (copyrighted in 1876); of Figs. 111, 112, and 113, published in Mitchell’s “ Past in the Present” (not copy- righted); and of Figs. 396 to 404, illustrating Squier’s “ Peru” (copyrighted in 1877). To these latter special reference is made in a note on page 332 of this work. To Colonel Charles C. Jones I am under obligations for the loan of the block of Fig. 337; Dr. Emil Bessels placed the cuts of Figs. 19, 20, and 21 at my disposal, and Professor Putnam accommodated me with those of Figs. 352 * To these illustrations the catalogue-numbers of the originals are always juxtaposited. VIII PREFACE. and 353. LElectrotypes of Figs. 109, 212, 254, and 255, finally, were sent, with others, by Messrs. F. Vieweg and Son, of Braunschweig. These last-mentioned illustrations are taken from the “Archiv fiir Anthropologie,” published by that well-known firm. In conclusion, I would say that, whatever may be thought of this work, it will go far to illustrate anew the parallelism in the technical progress of popu- lations totally unknown to each other, and for which only the common bond of humanity can be claimed. The designs of European and North American fishing-implements in this work bear witness to the statement. It will be noticed how slowly man in Europe arrived at the idea of barbing the fish-hook. None of the European hooks of bone or horn figured in this work is properly barbed, excepting the one shown in Fig. 91 on page 71, and this hook may post- date the neolithic period, and pertain to a time during which barbed fish-hooks of bronze were not uncommon. Among the prehistoric American fish-hooks which I was enabled to represent by designs in this publication, only one has a point armed with a barb on the inner side, namely, the deer-horn hook from New York delineated in Fig. 193 on page 128, which, as stated, is supposed to have been made after a European pattern. Yet, I would not venture to say that barbed fish-hooks had been unknown in America in ante-Columbian times; I simply state that none have fallen under my notice. Indeed, the halibut-hook of the Northwest Coast, doubtless an old aboriginal invention, may be classed among barbed fish-hooks (Fig. 9 on page 15). Further analogies (and also differences) in the character of the prehistoric fishing-implements of Hurope and America will easily be discovered by those who peruse the pages here offered. SMITHSONIAN InsrirruTion, CHARLES Rav. June, 1884. 1.—PALOLITHIC AGE General Characteristics The Drift Implements and Animal Remains CONTENTS. PART I.—EUROPE. Implements used as Ice-picks (?) Caves and Rock-shelters Retreats of Man during the Reindeer-period Fish-remains Fishing and Fishing-implements : Delineations of Fishes and Aquatic Mammals 2.—NEoLITHIC AGE General Characteristics Artificial Shell-deposits Fishing-implements and Utensils not found in Lacustrine Settlements Character Capture of Mollusks and Fish Lake-dwellings Character Fish-remains Fishing-implements Boats General Remarks . Double-pointed straight Bait-holders Fish-hooks Harpoon-heads Arrow-heads . Sinkers Boats Anchor-stones 3.—BRONZE AGE General Characteristics Lake-dwellings Fishing-implements and Utensils not d *2 Character Fishing-implements Boats . . erived from Lake-habitations . PAGE. A BH Io I2 27 32 32 33 33 36 37 37 45 46 66 68 68 69 69 72 84 84 gl 94 95 95 97 97 99 T05 109 xX CONTENTS. PART II.—NORTH AMERICA. PAGE. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS : ; ° , : z a 5 ; 5 5 : 113 FISHING-IMPLEMENTS AND UTENSILS : as ; , - 6 : : ; 117 Double-pointed straight Bait- folders : 5 5 . : ° . Tee Fish-hooks : ; . 5 : : ; . 5 2 . . : 120 Harpoon and Arrow-heads ; : ; : : c : 6 ; : 141 Nets : : : : 5 , ; : 6 : : zi . : 155 Sinkers é 5 7 2 5 5 : ; . : 5 i : 156 Fish-cutters . : : ; ; : : 3 : : - f : 183 Boats AND APPURTENANCES . : : . 4 : A : : 5 : 188 Boats. : 5 : : : : 5 5 - : . : ; 188 Bailing-scoops : ; : : : : : : 0 ; 2 2 190 Paddles . ; : ‘ : : : ; ; : : p : 191 Anchor-stones : : ; : : : : 2 ; 5 ; : 192 PREHISTORIC STRUCTURES CONNECTED WITH FISHING : 0 7 5 : 5 : 197 Fish-preserves : : ; : ; : 5 : ; : 5 : 197 Fish-pens : : : . : . 5 . : : 200 REPRESENTATIONS OF FISHES, NGUNEE Magnan: THANG : : a : c : 204 Pipes. : : : ; : f . . : : : 205 Imitations in Stone are Shell ; ; : : , : 5 . : 200 Clay Vessels : ; : : ; : 5 : : 5 5 : 2u1 Delineations : : : : , ; . : : 5 : : 213 ARTIFICIAL SHELL-DEPOSITS ; : ; : ; ; , : 7 0 : : 216 Introductory Notices 2 ‘ . ‘ ; c : . , j 216 Greenland : : : : 2 < : 3 3 5 : : : 218 Nova Scotia a 4 : : 7 : : f . : 221 New Brunswick and New England c ; 5 : : 5 : 222 New York . -—& : : : i : : . ; , ; : 225 New Jersey . A , 5 7 . : . : : 7 ; 227 Delaware : : : . e ¢ : : c : ; : ; 230 Maryland 3 5 : , : 5 0 : ; ; : 235 West Virginia i 0 - c 6 : : c . : , < 239 Ohio : : : : é : , : 2 : 3 : ; . 241 Tennessee : : 5 ; ; , . . ; i 2 0 241 Towa : : ‘ : fi : q , c : . . 3 241 Georgia ; 5 ; zi 5 : : : : : 5 242 Florida : 3 : c 7 F - 5 : 5 : : 243 Alabama . 7 i : x a , . ‘ ; : ; 5 249 California and Oregon. : . ; : : ; ; : 5 . 249 Alaska. : . : ; : . ; : : : : : : 256 EXTRACTS FROM VARIOUS WRITINGS OF THE SIXTEENTH, SEVENTEENTH, EIGHTEENTH, AND NINETEENTH CENTURIES, IN WHICH REFERENCE IS MADE TO ABORIGINAL FISHING IN NortH AMERICA a : : : ¢ : : , : % ' : ; 201 Egede (Hans) 3 é . 5 , J : 5 5 : : 261 Crantz (David) : 7 : : : ‘ : : : F : : 261 Lloyd (T. G. B.) . : : : : ‘ 5 : ‘ : ; ; 266 De Laet (Joannes) , , : ; : . 3 : : : : 267 De Champlain (Le Sieur) Sagard Theodat (Le F. Gabriel) Le Jeune (Le P. Paul) Charlevoix (Father) Henry (Alexander) Hearne (Samuel) Mackenzie (Alexander) Williams (Roger) : [Johnson (Captain Edward) ]} Ogilby (John) Josselyn (John) ; : Van der Donck (Adriaen) Kalm (Peter) Morgan (Lewis H.) _ Loskiel (George Henry) De Bry (Theodorus) Smith (Captain John) [Beverly (Robert) ] Lawson (John) Brickell (John) Adair (James) Du Pratz (M. Le Page) Wyeth (Nathaniel J.) Catlin (George) Powers (Stephen) The same : ‘ . Stone (Livingston) : Dunn (John) 7 . Swan (James G.) . . The same 5 . : The same : : : Meares (John) Cook (Captain James) and King APPENDIX. NOTtICES OF FISHING-IMPLEMENTS AND FISH-REPRESENTATIONS DISCOVERED SOUTH OF MEXICO Nicaragua Costa Rica Chiriqui, State of Panama, United States of Colombia CONTENTS. (Captain James) State of Cauca, United States of Colombia Peru . WWW WwW nb Ne ish (op Key We) Ww nN nN 324 Fig. Fig. Figs. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Figs. Fig. Fig. Fig. Figs. Figs. Figs. Figs. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Figs. Figs. Fig. > Fig. Figs. Figs. Fig. Figs. Figs. Fig g- Fig. Figs. Fig. Fig. Fig. Figs. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Figs. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 1.—Drift-implement. Saint-Acheul, France . 2 7 A , : : 2.—Double-pointed bone implement used in catching birds. Eskimos, Norton Sound, Alaska 3-8.—Double-pointed bone implements. La Madelaine, France 9.—Hialibut-hook. Makah Indians, Cape Flattery, Washington Territory 10.—Codfish-hook. Makah Indians, Cape Flattery, Washington Territory 11.—Harpoon-head of reindeer-horn. La Madelaine, France 12.—Harpoon-head of reindeer-horn. Bruniquel, France 13-15.—Harpoon-heads of reindeer-horn. La Madelaine, France 16.—Iron-headed Sioux arrow : ; : 5 17.—Harpoon-head of reindeer-horn. La Madelaine, France . ; 5 0 5 . . . 18.—Harpoon-head of reindeer-horn. Laugerie Basse, France Ig-21.—Harpoons. Eskimos, Alaska : fi 2 : : . : 22-23.—Harpoon or arrow-heads of reindcer-horn. La Madelaine, France é : . . 24—28.—Harpoon-heads of reindeer-horn (?). Kesslerloch, Switzerland . : ° ° 29-30.—Harpoon-heads of reindeer-horn (?). Kent’s Cavern, England ; 5 ° 31.—Representations of fishes and a horse on a baton of reindeer-horn. La Madelaine, France 32.—Drawing of a fish on a piece of reindeer-horn. La Madelaine, France . 0 6 ° . 33-—Figure of a pike engraved on a drilled bear’s tooth. Duruthy Grotto, France 34--—Outline of a fish (Sgaa/ius ?) on a reindeer-jaw. Laugerie Basse, France 35.—Tracing of a fish on a baton of reindeer-horn, Cave of Goyet, Belgium 36.—Rude drawing of a fishing-scene on the scapula of an ox. Laugerie Basse, France 37-—Outlines of two heads of the aurochs, a human figure, an eel (?), two horse-heads, and three rows of marks on a piece of reindeer-horn. La Madelaine, France 38.—Figure of a seal traced on a drilled bear’s tooth. Duruthy Grotto, France 39-40.—Double-pointed bone implements. Wangen, Baden : 41—42.—Double-pointed bone implements. Lake of Neuchatel, Switzerland . . 43.—Bone arrow-head (?). Saint-Aubin, Switzerland 44.—-Fish-hook of deer-horn. Wangen, Baden ; : : 45-46.—Fish-hooks made of wild boars’ tusks. Moosseedorf, Switzerland 47-48.—Bone fish-hooks. Wangen, Baden . : ; 5 : 49.—Double fish-hook (?) of deer-horn. Saint-Aubin, Switzerland . 5 : I 5 3 50-51.—Bark floats. Robenhausen, Switzerland 7 52-53-— Wooden implements used for recovering fishing-lines. Robenhausen, Switzerland . 54.—* Arpion” : 5 5 . z : - : c 3 = . : . : 55-—‘ Devil’s claw grapnel.”” Massachusetts . ; f ° : A . . . 56-58.—Deer-horn harpoon-heads. Saint-Aubin, Switzerland : : ' . ° . . 59.—Bone harpoon-head. Concise, Switzerland ; ; Fi S 2 5 . . . ° 60.—Harpoon-head of deer-horn. Concise, Switzerland 5 . . . . ° ° . 61.—Harpoon-head of deer-horn. Wauwyl, Switzerland : 0 . A ° . 62-—64.—Harpoon-heads of deer-horn. Lattringen, Switzerland " . f 65.—Arrow-head of deer-horn. Saint-Aubin, Switzerland 5 - : 5 : : ° 66.—Flint arrow-head. Robenhausen, Switzerland 3 5 : ” Z A . 67.—Flint arrow-head. Bodio, Italy 5 : : : , 0 . . . : . 68.—Fragment of fishing-net. Robenhausen (?), Switzerland . : . . . 69-70.—Stone sinkers. Allensbach, Baden 2 5 ‘ f f 5 ; , . XII PAGE, nun nm fF FW N XIV Fig. Figs. Fig. Fig. Fig. Figs. Fig. Figs. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Figs. Fig. Figs. Figs. Fig. Fig. Fig. Figs. Fig. Figs. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 71.—Stone sinker. Estavayer, Switzerland . . . . 72—-73.—Stone sinkers(?). Saint-Aubin, Switzerland . 74.—Stone sinker (?). Saint-Aubin, Switzerland . 0 a 75-—Clay sinker (?). Nidau-Steinberg, Switzerland 76.—Clay sinker (?). Inkwyl, Switzerland . 5 : - 77.-—Bark float. Robenhausen, Switzerland 5 f ° 78.—Wooden implement for arranging nets. Wangen, Baden 79-80.—Implements made of boars’ tusks. Nussdorf, Baden 81.—Perforated bear’s tooth. Nussdorf, Baden = : = 82.—Netting-implement. New England : 0 : . 83.—Netting-implement. Eskimos, Nunivak Island, Alaska . 84.—Netting-implement. Eskimos, Chirikoff Island, Alaska 85.—Netting-implement. McCloud River Indians, California 86.—Boat. Robenhausen, Switzerland ; . ; a 87.—Boat. Moéringen, Switzerland : d . ° . 88.—Flint fish-hook. Oresund, Sweden : s : A 89.—Flint fish-hook. Kranke Lake, Sweden . ° . go.—Flint fish-hook (?). Scandinavia . . . . . 91.—Bone fish-hook. Scania, Sweden . «3 . 92.—Bone fish-hook. Pomerania, Prussia. : . . 93-—Fish-hook of reindeer-horn. Lapland, Norway . . 94-96.—Bone harpoon-heads. .Scania, Sweden. . . 97.—Bone harpoon-head. Seeland, Denmark 5 . 5 98.—Fish or bird-spear-head of bone. Arctic America A 99.—Prong of fish or bird-spear-head of bone. Scania, Sweden 100.—Bone harpoon-head. Fiinen, Denmark 5 Fs D 1o1.—Bone harpoon-head. Seeland, Denmark 2 : . 102.—Bone harpoon-head. Tierra del Fuego : , . . 103-104.—Harpoon-heads of ox-horn. Poland 105.—Bone harpoon-head. Victoria Cave, England 106—108—Javelin-heads of bone with inserted flint-flakes. Scania, Sweden 109.—Javelin-head of elk-bone with inserted flakes. Eastern Prussia 110.—Scanian flint-point set in wooden socket 111.—Sink-stone of steatite. Shetland . ° . 112-113.—Sink-stones. Wells, Shetland 4 O a 114.—Stone sinker. Burns, England 5 ‘ . 115-116.—Stone sinkers. Ireland 0 7 6 3 . 117.—Stone sinker. County of Down, Ireland . ° 118.—Stone sinker. County of Westmeath, Ireland . 119.—Stone sinker. Seeland, Denmark 120.—Stone sinker, Denmark : 2 : C . 121.—Stone sinker. District of Soré, Denmark 122.—-Stone sinker. District of Viborg, Denmark 123.—Stone anchor (?). Bohusland, Sweden 124.—Fishing-implement (?) of bronze. Switzerland 125-137.—Bronze fish-hooks, Nidau-Steinberg, Switzerland . 138.—Bronze fish-hook. Font, Switzerland . 7 : . 139-140.—Bronze fish-hooks. Cortaillod, Switzerland 141-143.—Bronze fish-hooks. Montellier, Switzerland 144.—Bronze fish-hook. Mouth of river Scheuss, Switzerland 145.—Bronze fish-hook, Lattringen, Switzerland 146.—Bronze fish-hook. Romanshorn, Switzerland 147-148.—Bronze fish-hooks. Unter-Uhldingen, Baden 149.—Bronze fish-hook. Roseninsel, Bavaria . . Fig. 190.—Bone fish-hook. Mound Lake, Cass County, Illinois . - z ° . Fig. 191.—Bone fish-hook. Madisonville, Ohio , 5 . f A 5 : 3 Fig. 192.—Bone fish-hook. Madisonville, Ohio : 6 . . . Fig. 193.—Fish-hook of deer-horn. Onondaga (?) County, New York . 2 ° . Figs. 194-195.—Bone fish-hooks. Santa Cruz Island, California . . ° : . Figs. 196-199.—Bone fish-hooks. Santa Cruz Island, California S c : : . Fig. 200.—Bone fish-hook. Eskimos, Greenland . : 7 . : . . Fig. 201.—Fish-hook of reindeer-horn. Eskimos, Chesterfield Inlet, British America 7 Figs. 202—203.—Shell fish-hooks. Santa Cruz Island, California ; x ' : 5 Figs. 204—205.—Shell fish-hooks. Santa Cruz Island, California 5 ' i F a D Fig. 206.—Shell fish-hook. San Nicolas Island, California Figs. 207—210.—Shell fish-hooks. Santa Cruz Island, California ; ; ° 0 Fig. 211.—Shell fish-hook. San Miguel Island, California : z : . . . Fig. 212.—Series of designs illustrative of the method of making fish-hooks of shell ° Fig. 213.—Samoan fish-hook of shell with stone sinker . ° . . d . . Fig. 214.—Fish-hook of turtle shell (?). Serle Island. : 5 5 : : - Fig. 215.—Bone fish-hook. New Zealand. “ : : : 5 . . . Fig. 216.—Copper fish-hook. Mouth of Oconto River, Wisconsin . : ¢ ° ° Figs. 217-—219.—Fish-hooks made of cactus-spines. Mohaves, Arizona. : . Fig. 220.—Honey-locust twig with spine, cut to resemble a fish-hook - : 3 = : Fig. 221.—Bone harpoon-head. Goose Island, Casco Bay, Maine . . . . . Figs. 222-223.—Bone harpoon-heads. San Nicolas Island, California . . . : Figs. 224—-225.—Bone harpoon-heads. Unalashka Island, Alaska. . . ° . Fig. 226.—Bone harpoon-head. Greenland Cove, near Damariscotta, Maine . . 4 Fig. 227.—Bone harpoon-head. Livingstone County, New York : ° . . Fig. 228.—Bone harpoon-head. Puget Sound, Washington Territory a . . . Fig. 229 —Harpoon-head of deer-horn. Onondaga County, New York . . . LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. » 154—155.—Barbed bronze rods not yet bent into the form of fish-hooks. Peschiera, Italy XVI LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE. Fig. 230.—Harpoon-head of elk-horn. Honeoye Falls, New York . : . . . ° f 5 146 Fig. 231.—Bone harpoon-head. Detroit, Michigan , 5 . : . . . . . . 146 Fig. 232.—Bone harpoon-head. Madisonville, Ohio . 7 ‘ . . . . ‘ . C " 146 Fig. 233.—Bone harpoon-head. Atka Island, Alaska. < ° . . . . . ° . . 147 Fig. 234.—Bone harpoon-head. Port Mdller, Peninsula of Aliaska O . . . . : 2 “ 147 Fig. 235.—Bone harpoon-head. Amaknak Island, Alaska 5 . ° : . . . . : : 147 Fig. 236.—Bone harpoon-head. Hodgdon’s Island, Maine. “ . . . . . . : z 148 Fig. 237.—Bone harpoon-head. Muscongus Sound, Maine . . . . . . . . - : 148 Fig. 238.—Bone harpoon-head. Stikine River, Alaska . : : ° . . . ° . . , 149 Fig. 239.—Bone harpoon-head. Fort Wayne, Michigan : , : . . . : 5 149 Fig. 240.—Harpoon-head of deer-horn. Onondaga County, New York 7 . . . . . . Fl 149 Fig. 241.—Bone dart-head. Ontario County, New York : : ; : f : . ° , 5 150 Fig. 242.—Bone dart-head. Goose Island, Casco Bay, Maine . 0 . . ° . ° . , 150 Figs. 243-244.—Bone dart-heads. Adakh Island, Alaska . fs : O Q O : . f . I51 Fig. 245.—Bone dart-head. Amaknak Island, Alaska . : ° a . : : . . 5 I51 Figs. 246-248.—Harpoon-heads of deer-horn. Elbridge, New Work. : Oo 0 . . C 6 152 Fig. 249.—Copper dart-head. Fond du Lac, Wisconsin 5 7 . . . . . . ° 153 Fig. 250.—Copper dart-head. Waukesha County, Wisconsin . : . . . . : : : 153 Fig. 251.—Copper dart head. Fond du Lac, Wisconsin 7 . . . . . : : 5 153 Fig. 252.—Copper harpoon-head. ‘Thlinkets, Baranoff Island, Alaska . . . . . . I : 154 Fig. 253.—Modern stone sinker. Dunkirk, New York . : ° . . . . . . : 5 157 Figs. 254-257.—Stone sinkers. Muncy, Pennsylvania 7 7 . : . G . . r 5 158 Fig. 258.—Stone sinker. Muncy, Pennsylvania : : . . . . . . . . : : 159 Fig. 259.—Stone sinker. Muncy, Pennsylvania - ° Q . . . ° . . 6 A 160 Fig. 260.—Stone sinker. Tennessee ; E = ° . . . . . . . . > : 160 Fig. 261.—Stone sinker. Santa Maria Petapa, Mexico . . : : : . . . . ° : 160 Fig. 262.—Stone sinker. Tiverton, Rhode Island . ' Fi . 5 5 o 5 . A * - 161 Fig. 263.—Stone sinker. Dos Pueblos, California : . . . . . . . . : 5 161 Fig. 264.—Stone sinker. Chilmark, Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts . ri . . C 0 2 : 162 Fig. 265.—Stone sinker. Newport, Rhode Island c : . . . . . . . : S 162 Figs. 266-267.—Stone sinkers. Wickford, Rhode Island 7 0 ° fs . . ° . ; : 163 Fig. 268.—Stone sinker. Tiverton, Rhode Island . ° ° . : . . . ° : : , 163 Fig. 269.—Stone sinker. Milledgeville, Georgia . a ° . ° . ° . 7 3 163 Figs. 270-271.—Stone sinkers. Oregon : s : . ° : . 6 A . 7 164 Fig. 272.—Stone sinker. La Patera, California . . . . . . . . . : . 4 164 Fig. 273.—Stone sinker. Georgia 5 ° ° ° : . ° ° . . ° 5 164 Figs. 274—275.—Stone sinkers. Columbia Chinen Geos a fs . . . . : 6 : 104 Fig. 276.—Stone sinker. Mitchell County, North Carolina . . . . . . . : 6 7 105 Fig. 277.—Stone sinker. Putnam County, Georgia : I = . A . 0 . : o 166 Fig. 278.—Stone sinker. Middleborough, Massachusetts . . ° ° . : . 2 z : 166 Fig. 279.—Stone sinker (?). Santa Cruz Island, California. ' O : : 6 . fs ; 166 Fig. 280.—Stone sinker. Ohio : . z : : : . C . . . ° . . ; 167 Fig. 281.—Eskimo stone sinker. Arctic America . . : . . . . ° . ° 0 : 167 Fig. 282.—Stone sinker. Mound, Licking County, Ohio - . : . ° . . . : 5 169 Fig. 283.—Sinker of specular iron. Hancock County, Illinois : : . : ; . . : : 169 Fig. 284.—Stone sinker. Santa Rosa Island, California : . ° . . . 3 ° : : 169 Fig. 285.—Cast of stone sinker. Louisiana . : : . . : . . . . . : 169 Fig. 286.—Stone sinker. Tennessee 5 : : : . . . . . ' 5 170 Fig. 287.—Stone sinker. Morehouse Parish, ine . . : . . . . . 5 170 Fig. 288.—Sinker of specular iron. Carroll County, Tennessee ; A - 0 ; . . S 7 170 Fig. 289.—Sinker of red hematite. Saint Charles County, Missouri ‘ = . . . . ° . 170 Fig. 290.—Stone sinker. ‘Tampa Bay, Florida ; 0 7 : : . . . . . , 171 Fig. 291.—Sinker of clay-iron stone. Shell-deposit near Mobile, Alabama ° . . . . . 17! Fig. 292.—Sinker of specular iron. Huntington, Cabell County, West Virginia 0 0 . . ° ° 171 Fig. 293.—Sinker of specular iron. Morehouse Parish, Louisiana. : . . ° . . 8 0 171 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. XVII PAGE. Fig. 294.—Stone sinker. Mound, Henderson County, Illinois : ¢ ° 5 : . 7 : : 171 Figs. 295-296.—Stone sinkers. Manatee County, Florida 5 . ' 5 c1 6 S ' : é 172 Fig. 297.—Cast of stone sinker. Ohio . 5 A m . . . ; 5 e . . a q 172 Fig. 298.—Stone sinker. Franklin County, Ohio. - a : A “ 7 ‘ 7 ci ' 172 Fig. 299.—Sinker of specular iron. Mound, Licking County, Ohio 2 ° 2 . . 5 : : 173 Fig. 300.—Stone sinker. Beverly, Massachusetts . 5 . 0 f . a . | a ; 5 174 Fig. 301.—Stone sinker. Eastport, Maine . 7 a A : 5 3 : fi . : 174 Fig. 302.—Stone sinker. South Kingston, Rhode ised a a s 0 . 0 . ° A A 174 Fig. 303.—Stone sinker. Guadaloupe, California . : ° ° . . = - . 4 k . 175 Fig. 304.—Stone sinker. Massachusetts , . . O G ci A 7 * ; . 3 175 Fig. 305.—Stone sinker. Marblehead, Mreereecon: f O . * 5 5 ' . PS Fig. 306.—Stone sinker. Sarasota Bay, Florida . : 7 < . Z ° : : c ' - 175 Fig. 307.--Stone sinker. Middleborough, Massachusetts A 4 fs - 2 . . 5 : ‘ 175 Fig. 308.—Stone sinker. Santa Cruz Island, California . . . . : . . . , . 175 Fig. 309.—Stone sinker. Santa Rosa Island, California a 7 r a ; 3 : A : 176 Fig. 310.—Stone sinker. Saint Croix River, Maine : A e fs 4 ; 5 ; rs 4 176 Fig. 311.—Stone sinker. Santa Cruz Island, California : q 5 : . ' Q . f : 176 Tig. 312.—Stone sinker. California : : ° . : . . 5 ° : : 176 Fig. 313.—Stone sinker (?), San Miguel island California . . . ° : . . ° - : 177 Fig. 314.—Sinker of specular iron. Morehouse Parish, Louisiana . A : : cC - 0 ; : 177 Fig. 315.—Stone sinker. Arkansas : : , ° q ° . . , ° 0 : 177 Fig. 316.—Stone sinker. San Miguel Island, California 4 . . . . . c . c . 177 Fig. 317.—Stone sinker. Chester, Illinois . a : 5 x ‘ . < : 3 fs 2 F 177 Fig. 318.—Stone sinker. Northwest Coast . : f ° : . . . ; : : F : 178 Fig. 319.—Cast of stone sinker. California . 6 : . : ; ° ; 2 < é : 178 Fig. 320.—Stone sinker. Cleveland, Ohio . o : : a . . : . : " 3 178 Fig. 321.—Eskimo stone sinker. Ukivok Island, ee ; : 7 : ; . c : 6 : 179 Figs. 322-323.—Stone sinkers. Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming . 4 : . ; . . ; 180 Fig. 324.—Copper sinker. Mound, Marietta, Ohio : 5 8 ; 6 3 : 5 ° : : 181 Fig. 325.—Copper sinker. Mound, Lake County, Ohio . . : . ° : : : ‘ . : 181 Fig. 326.—Cast of shell, prepared to serve as a sinker(?). Florida . : : . ° é 7 182 Fig. 327.—Shell sinker. Sarasota Bay, Florida 5 5 5 : : . : : : : : 182 Fig. 328.—Cast of shell sinker. Florida 6 : . . ° . 5 C ; : 182 Fig. 329.—Shell sinker (?). Shell-deposit, Blennerhassett’s Island, West Virginia ° ° . ° q : 182 Fig. 330.—Stone fish-cutter. Blackstone, Massachusetts : : . : : ' 5 . : : 154 Fig. 331.—Cast of stone fish-cutter. Newark Valley, New York : A Q : , e 2 , ss 184 Fig. 332.—Stone fish-cutter, Norristown, Pennsylvania . : 5 : 5 . : 9 : , . 185 Figs. 333-334.—Stone fish-cutters, one in wooden handle. Eskimos, Norton Sound, Alaska , ; ; : 186 Figs. 335-336.—lIron and stone fish-cutters, that of iron inserted into a wooden handle. Makah Indians, Neah Bay, Washington Territory . 4 ; : : F , 5 : ; 187 Fig. 337-—Boat, exhumed near Savannah, Georgia : 188 Fig. 338.—Wooden toy-boat. Santa Cruz Island, California . c : : 5 5 F _ . : 190 Fig. 339.—Wooden bailing-scoop (?). Santa Cruz Island, California F 5 ° ° ° : 6 : IQ! Fig. 340.—Paddle. Long Island, New York e : ; e : : : : . A 0 : IgI Fig. 341.—Anchor-stone. Susquehanna River, near Sayre, Pennsylvania 7 5 c ° . : . 193 Fig. 342.—Anchor-stone. Illinois River, near the mouth of the Sangamon, Illinois : ; . : : 194 Fig. 343.—‘ Underrunning rock.’ Gloucester, Massachusetts 6 : é ; . 6 ‘ c z 196 Fig. 344.— Killick.” Rockport, Massachusetts . : : . : 2 5 ; C i ; ‘ 197 Fig. 345.—Earthworks in the Etowah Valley, Georgia 198 Fig. 346.—Stone fish-pen. Saratoga County, New York : : : 5 . F : ran . 201 Figs. 347—348.—Stone pipes representing a heron feeding on a fish, and an otter with a fish in its are Mound near Chillicothe, Ohio , F 6 5 5 : " : . . : . . 205 Fig. 349.—Clay pipe in the shape of a fish (?). Chattanooga, Tennessee : A . 5 5 : ; 206 Fig. 350.—Piece of slate worked into the likeness of a fish. Stikine River, Alaska 3 j : , . 207 Fig. 351.—Fish-shaped object of /e/iofés-shell. San Nicolas Island, California : . ; : . : 207 <3 XVIIT LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Figs. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Figs. Fig. > Figs. Fig. Figs. Figs. Fig. Figs. Fig. Fig. Figs. Figs. Figs. Fig. Fig. Figs. Figs. Figs. Fig. Fig. > 352.—Stone carving representing a fish. Ipswich, Massachusetts . é . 353-—-Stone carving in the form of a cetacean. Seabrook, New Hampshire j 254.—Stone carving representing a cetacean. San Nicolas Island, California . 355-—-Stone carving in the shape of a seal. San Nicolas Island, California . 356.—Clay vessel made in imitation of the sun-fish. Phillips County, Arkansas 357.—Fish-shaped clay vessel. Southeastern Missouri 0 5 é ° 7 ‘ ‘ : 358-359.—Fac-simile delineations illustrating Aztec navigation and fishing. From the Mendoza Codex 360.—Plan showing the location of the principal shell-deposit at Keyport, New Jersey 361.—Section of under-ground part of a hut. Oregon 362.—Canoe of the Beothucs. Newfoundland : fs c 363.—Methods of fishing practised by the Virginia Indians. After De Bry 364.—Virginia Indians smoking fish. After De Bry 365.—Virginia Indians engaged in boat-making. After De Bry ff 366-367.—Bull-hide boat and paddle of poplar wood, made by Minnetarees at non Berthold, Davats. 368.—Makah harpoon-head and line : . 369-370.—Makah whaling-canoe and paddle 371.—Makah canoe showing method of scarfing : q . fs 372-373-—Stone sinkers. Ometepec Island, Nicaragua 7 ; . ‘ 374-377.—Sinkers made of fragments of clay vessels. Ometepec Island, Nicaragua 378.—Stone carving in the form of a fish. Costa Rica 379-380.—Fish-representations of gold. Chiriqui, United States of Gnlenbia 381.—Gold fish-hook. State of Cauca, United States of Colombia . 382.—Wooden mask with appended bags. Peru 5 383-384.—Reel with line and two copper fish-hooks, and stone sinker. Peru . 385-387.—Copper fish-hooks. Ancon, Peru . 0 F 7 . 0 7 358—389.—Portions of nets. Ancon, Peru 5 . 0 ° ° 390.—-Fish-shaped clay vessel. Peru ; : : . . . . . 391.—Fish-shaped clay vessel. Arica, Peru Q 3 ° ° 3 . 392-393.—Fish-shaped clay vessels. Trujillo, Peru qi . : > 0 394-395.—Clay vessel and ornamentation on it enlarged. Peru 6 396-403.—Fish-shaped silver ornaments. From one of the Chincha Islands, Peru 404.—Fish-shaped silver ornament. Gran Chimu, Peru. . 6 . . 405.—Piece of cloth with inwoven fish-designs. isco, Peru . . . . PART I.—EUROPE. 1—PALAOLITHIC AGE. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. THE long period during which man in Europe was not acquainted with the use of metal, and made his implements and weapons of substances less service- able, yet more immediately offered by the hand of nature, such as wood, bone, horn, but especially stone, is generally termed the Stone Age. It has been divided into two epochs, namely, the earlier or palzeolithic (old-stone) age, and the later or neolithic (new-stone) age, these divisions marking unlike conditions in the existence of the ancient inhabitants of Europe. During the palzeolithic age the climate of Europe was colder than at present, owing to a refrigeration caused by glacial influences, and man then co-existed, at least in some parts of the continent, with animals forming a fauna distinct from that of later times. The evidences of his presence at that remote epoch, in the shape of relics left by him, have been derived from quaternary drift-beds and from caves, and will be more minutely considered under these heads. This age presents man under somewhat differing aspects, a separate treatment of which appears preferable to a synoptical description. As a special feature of the period, however, it should be mentioned that the stone implements pertaining to it, and nearly always made of flint, are, so far as known, simply fashioned by flaking and chipping, the practice of improving such implements by grinding and polishing being con- sidered as characteristic of neolithic times. The art of making vessels of clay, it may also be added, appears to have been unknown to paleeolithic man. DERE Dik Ent: Implements and Animal Remains—The flint implements found in the qua- ternary deposits along certain rivers in France and England are the oldest objects fashioned by man of which we thus far have any positive knowledge.* These * The existence of “tertiary man” in Europe, still involved in uncertainty, is not touched upon in this (1) publication. 2 PREHISTORIC FISHING. drift-beds, formed by layers of sand, gravel, and loam, also contain the bones of animals of that period, some of which are now extinct, like the mammoth and a few other species of elephant, several kinds of rhinoceros, the urus, and Trish elk; while others, as the hippopotamus, the cave-bear, cave-lion, and cave-hyena, may still survive under more or less modified forms. Certain quadrupeds, which have left their osseous remains in the quaternary deposits of Western Europe, still exist as before, but no longer in their ancient habitats, as, for instance, the reindeer and the musk-ox. The former inhabits now the coldest district of Europe, and the musk-ox, entirely extinct in that part of the world, is at present confined to the snow-regions bordering on Hudson’s Bay. On the whole, the fauna of the European drift was richer and more varied than that of our time, for it comprised, besides the extinct mammalians, most of the now existing species. Yet, as mentioned, the temperature of Europe was lower than at present, or else such quadrupeds as the mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, reindeer, and musk-ox—all fitted for a cold climate—could not have subsisted in the lati- tudes where their fossil bones now occur. The preceding condensed statements were made for the purpose of indicating, to some extent at least, the surroundings of the human beings who lived at the long-past period here under consideration. That they occupied a very low position in the scale of human development is shown by the character of the flint tools preserved in the quaternary deposits. These ‘ drift-implements” were first discovered, about forty years ago, by M. Boucher de Perthes, in the ancient eravel-beds of the river Somme, in the neighborhood of Abbeville, in Picardy, and afterward found at Saint-Acheul, near Amiens, in the same province. They have subsequently been exhumed from corresponding deposits in other parts of France, and in various localities of England. The implements were split from nodules of flint so frequently occurring in the chalk; some of them even exhibit portions of the chalky crust which usually surrounds these flinty bodies. The prevailing forms of the flint tools are those of very roughly wrought large spear- heads, and of oval or almond-shaped flattish pieces, sharpened around their edges, and likewise exhibiting, at least in most cases, no high degree of skill on the part of their makers. The tools of the latter kind are sometimes denomina- ted “ hatchets,” it being believed that a number of them were inserted in cleft sticks, and fastened with sinews or strips of hide of animals, thus fulfilling the purpose which their name implies. To these forms must be added flakes of various shapes and sizes, many of which, doubtless, were split off during the process of fashioning the more finished tools already mentioned. Others may have been detached intentionally, to serve as cutting-tools, and a few are worked into a rude scraper-form. The shape of the implements designated as spear- heads and hatchets depended, in all probability, much on the original outline of the chalk-flints from which they were manufactured. These nodules are mostly DRIFT-IMPLEMENTS. 3 of a roundish or elongated form; and in making their tools the ancient people knocked two of them together, until flattish fragments of suitable size came off, which they brought into the required shape by blows aimed at their circumference. Hence many of the implements are not exactly of oval or spear-like forms, but present shapes intermediate between them. As a rule, the narrower or more pointed end of these instruments is the one adapted for cutting. The tools of the spear-head type usually vary in length from six to eight inches, though larger ones have been found. Many of them seem to have been used with the hand, the end opposite the pointed part being often thick and massive, to facilitate handling; and in some the lower end is not fashioned at all, but left in its origi- nal state, when the form of the flint presented a suitable handle. Others, which are worked thinner at the lower end, perhaps were fastened to poles, and thus actually served as spear-heads. Arrow-points have not been found in the drift, and hence it appears probable that the drift-people were ignorant of archery. It can hardly be supposed that the types of implements here briefly noticed exhaust the stock of tools or weapons used by the early contemporary of the mammoth, for others, made of less durable materials, such as bone and horn, may have decayed in the gravel-beds, leaving no traces to indicate their former presence. None of the latter kind, as far as I know, have been discovered in the drift-deposits. Fra. 1.—Drift-implement. Saint-Acheul. (85095). 4 PREHISTORIC FISHING. Implements used as Ice-picks (?)—Though the savage men who formed the simple stone instruments under notice depended for subsistence on the chase and, presumably, on fishing, we are in the dark as to the methods employed by them in these pursuits. The quaternary beds have yielded no objects directly referable to fishing; yet it has been thought that some of the thick-handled pointed flint implements may have been used for making holes in the ice, in order to catch fish or aquatic mammals frequenting the great rivers at that time. In the arctic regions, it is known, the natives dig holes in the ice, and patiently wait for hours at the apertures, until the seals, coming to the surface to breathe, can be struck and secured for food. Amphibious animals, perhaps, ascended the quater- nary rivers, and were captured as stated.* I give in Fig.1 on page 3 a representation of a drift-implement from Saint- Acheul, near Amiens, which may have served as an ice-pick. The lower part, or handle, as will be seen, shows the unaltered surface of the chalk-flint; the worked portion is somewhat chisel-shaped. It belongs to the series of European drift-implements exhibited in the United States National Museum. JAVES AND ROCK-SHELTERS. Retreats of Man during the Reindeer-period—More definite results bearing upon the condition of the early inhabitants of Europe have been obtained of late years by the careful exploration of caves in England, France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, and other European countries. The caves to which I shall refer were resorted to by palzeolithic man,; who has left in them such traces of his occupancy as enable us to form a more or less distinct view of his mode of life. Explorations of these early sheltering-places of man, I may state, are carried on with great energy in Europe, and already have given rise to a literature of considerable extent. The results, however, present only local differences, while, on the whole, the conclusions arrived at are the same, namely, that in times anteceding any historical record or tradition, tribes ef savage men lived in cer- tain parts of Europe contemporaneously with various species of animals, which have either become extinct, or have migrated to other parts of Europe, or even to other continents. However, as it is not my purpose to give an account of cave- researches in Europe, but of prehistoric fishing, my observations will chiefly refer to those caves which have furnished the most abundant material for illus- trating the latter subject. Among them a group situated in the valley of the * Sauvage (Dr. H. E.): On Fishing during the Reindeer-Period; Reliquiw Aquitanice; 1,p.219. The editor of this work, Professor T. R. Jones, adds in a note: ‘Some roughly dressed flints found in the quaternary gravels may have been ‘sinkers’ and imitation baits, such as the Eskimos use in fishing and angling.’’—It is questionable whether the drift-men were far enough advanced to resort to such devices. + Some caves in Europe undoubtedly served as human habitations in neolithic times. ROCK-SHELTERS. 5 Vézere, an affluent of the Dordogne, which flows through a portion of South- western France, known in ancient times under the name of Aquitania, chiefly claims our attention. The valley of the Vézére is very rich in caves, which oceur in the picturesque formations of cretaceous limestone bordering on the meandering river, and form a peculiar feature in its beautiful scenery. These caves, however, are not at all distinguished by vast proportions, some being mere hollows or “rock-shelters” (abris in French), owing their origin to the disinte- gration of soft strata which offered less resistance to atmospheric influences than the harder rocks covering them. In times long past, rude hunters and fishers used these hollowed rocks as dwelling-places, leaving there abundant tokens of their occupancy, which afford the means of judging of their conditions of existence. The best-known of these caves and shelters—situated on both sides of the Vézere at short distances from each other, and all embraced in the Department of the Dordogne—are Le Moustier, La Madelaine, Laugerie Haute, Laugerie Basse, Gorge @ Enfer, Les Eyzies, and Cro-Magnon. They were conjointly explored by M. Edouard Lartet, a distinguished French paleontologist, and Mr. Henry Christy, an English gentleman of wealth and great scientific acquirements. Their efforts resulted in the publication of the “ Reliquise Aquitanice,” a com- prehensive and richly-illustrated work, which, notwithstanding its Latin title, is written in the English language.* In prehistoric times the above-named localities, or “stations,” as they have been called, undoubtedly were inhabited by man for a lengthened period, during which the numerical proportion of some of the then existing species of animals seems to have undergone changes, while in the same epoch a decided progress is traceable in the mechanical acquirements of man. So much may be inferred from the animal remains and works of art found in the different caves of the Vézere.y Generally speaking, the refuse left by the cave-men, or troglodytes, in the caves under notice consists of bones (many of them broken for extracting the marrow), pebbles, and articles of flint, horn, and bone, intermingled with charcoal in fragments and dust: the whole often being cemented together, and forming a kind of tufa. These accumulations sometimes extend to a depth of * Reliquize Aquitanice ; being Contributions to the Archeology and Paleontology of Périgord and the adjoin- ing Provinces of Southern France. By Edouard Lartet and Henry Christy. Edited by Thomas Rupert Jones. 1865-75. London, 1875. +Sir Charles Lyell remarks, concerning the unequal representation of animal remains in the caves, as follows : ““M. Lartet has founded a classification upon the prevalence of certain animals in the débris ; the mammoth and cave-bear characterizing the earlier, and the reindeer the later deposits. But as the same species occur through- out, and as most of the remains were brought there by man, the abundance of any particular animal may not indicate the prevalence of that species at the time, but only the success of the hunters, or the sojourn of migratory animals in the neighborhood.’’—The Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man; London and Philadelphia, 1878; p. 135. 6 PREHISTORIC FISHING. eight or ten feet, and a length of sixty or seventy feet. The cave-people of the Vézere district were more advanced and lived at a later period than the men whose implements are found in the drift-beds of the Somme and of other rivers. These conclusions have been drawn from the fauna of the caves and from the greater skill displayed by the cave-dwellers in the manufacture of their imple- ments of war and peace. At the time when these caves served as the abodes of hunting-tribes, the mammoth, cave-hyena, cave-lion, cave-bear, gigantic Irish deer, and others, had not yet become extinct, but had apparently much decreased in number, while the reindeer, now inhabiting the northernmost portions of Europe, was prevailing,—for which reason this epoch has been styled the Reindeer- period by archeologists. Together with the reindeer, as common in the time of its preponderance, must be mentioned the horse, aurochs, ibex, and chamois, the last two of which have now left the lowlands and sought refuge in the more congenial temperature of Alpine heights. The Antilope saiga, an animal which now inhabits portions of Russia and Asia, belonged at that time to the fauna of Europe, as shown by a number of its bones found by M. Lartet and others. Re- mains of the mammoth and of the other extinct quadrupeds previously mentioned are of very rare occurrence in these caves, insomuch that it would appear doubt- ful whether the cave-men co-existed with them, if their representations, traced on horn and bone, or carved from such substances, had not been found in some of the caves. The character of the cave-fauna indicates a still rigid climate. The animals most frequently hunted by the troglodytes, and furnishing their principal food, were the reindeer and the horse; the first-named quadruped being of additional value to them on account of its antlers, which they worked very skillfully into implements of various descriptions. It appears, however, that they fed on every kind of animal they could obtain by force or cunning, not excepting carnivores, such as wolves and foxes. Remains of the stag are said to be rare, and still rarer those of the wild boar. At some stations bones of birds and fishes occur abundantly. Further on I shall speak more in detail concerning the latter remains. It does not appear that these people kept any domesticated animals; neither the reindeer nor the horse seems to have been tamed by them. They had no sheep, goats, or cattle, and there were no dogs to protect the cave- men’s rude dwellings or to share with them the excitement of the chase. The reindeer-hunters of the Dordogne displayed, as has been stated, much more skill in the manufacture of implements than the people whose relics are found in the river-gravels and in the cave-deposits of earlier date. Flint con- tinued to be the kind of stone almost exclusively used by them; but the articles made of this material show a great variety of forms, and sometimes a finish which almost assimilates them to the manufactures of the later or neolithic phase of the stone age. Yet, the people of the Vézere Valley were still ignorant of the art of grinding and polishing stone implements, no article thus improved having THE REINDEER-PERIOD. 7 been discovered in the cave-deposits, excepting small boulders with a shallow cup-shaped cavity ground in on one side, which were found at several stations. They may have served as paint-mortars or for bruising vegetable substances. The accumulations in the caves contain “innumerable chips and countless thou- sands of blades of flint, varying in size from lance-heads, long enough and stout enough to have been used against the largest animals, down to lancets not larger than the blade of a pen-knife, and piercing-instruments of the size of the smallest bodkin.”* Quite numerous are the so-called nuclei. or cores, that is, blocks of flint from which flakes have been detached, to be afterward prepared for definite uses, such as cutting, sawing, etc. Well-made spear-heads of flint have been found, and also objects resembling arrow-heads in size and shape. Flint scrapers, like those still used by the Eskimos for cleaning hides, have occurred in great number at different stations, as, for instance, at Cro-Magnon. The flint imple- ments of Le Moustier somewhat approach the drift-types, and are generally of a ruder character than the chipped articles found at the other stations, which fact, in connection with various other circumstances, renders it almost certain that this cave was inhabited by man at a much earlier epoch than any other of the group under notice. The contents of the caves, I may state in this place, exhibit no uniformity in the products of human industry, having been inhabited by the hunters for a very long period, during which they improved perceptibly in the mechanical arts. I must refrain, however, from entering upon a detailed descrip- tion of each cave or shelter, as it appears sufficient for my purpose to present a general view of troglodytic life in the valley of the Vézére. The implements of horn and bone, which evince still more skill and patient labor than the flint tools just briefly noticed, were likewise manufactured in the caves, many unfinished articles of this class having been discovered in the rub- bish. Among such relics I will mention chisels, awls, needles with diminutive holes, round and tapering lance-heads (with beveled lower ends for insertion into wooden shafts), harpoon-shaped darts, large and small,+ spoon-like instruments (supposed to have served for extracting marrow from bones), whistles, and various other objects, the use of which is not always quite evident. These tools and weapons are mostly cut from reindeer-horn, a material of great hardness, and therefore well fitted for the purposes to which it was applied. Generally speaking, articles of reindeer-antler are most abundant in the caves supposed to have been the later retreats of the ancient hunters of the Vézere Valley. There are indications that the cave-dwellers were not insensible to the charms of personal decoration. They probably painted themselves, in the fashion of still existing savage tribes, with red color, which they scraped off from pieces of soft * Lartet and Christy: Reliquize Aquitanice ; I, p. 21. + To be considered hereafter. 8 PREHISTORIC FISHING. red hematite. Such pieces, with the marks of scraping, have been found in the eaves. They also employed, for ornamental purposes, shells, which they pierced with holes, in order to string them together. In the cave of Cro-Magnon* were found about three hundred pierced shells (mostly Littorina littorea), all belong- ing to still existing marine species, and probably obtained from the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. At other stations pierced fossil marine shells, doubtless derived from the Faluns or shell-marls of Touraine, have occurred. They further wore small oval plates of ivory, pierced for suspension, and, perhaps, as trophies of the chase or as amulets, perforated teeth of the wolf, urus, ibex, reindeer, horse, and other animals. Strange as it appears, these people evinced, notwithstanding their otherwise low condition, a decided taste for drawing, and even for carving. Their delinea- tions, traced with a pointed flint on horn, bone, ivory, or slate, consist occasion- ally of geometrical figures composed of parallel lines, rows of dots, lozenges, ete., but mostly of outlines of fishes or of quadrupeds, such as the horse, reindeer, stag, ibex, aurochs, mammoth, and others. These animals appear either singly or in groups, and often exhibit their characteristic features in a degree to render them recognizable almost at the first glance. Sometimes, however, the drawings resemble the first attempts of children at delineating animals. Such represen- tations have chiefly been found at the stations of Les Eyzies, Laugerie Basse, and La Madelaine. Of special interest are those of the mammoth, of which several have been discovered, engraved as well as carved, and showing the characteristics of the extinct proboscidian so faithfully, that no one could have executed them who had not seen the living original. The figures of animals are often traced on the stems or beams of reindeer- antlers, which are in such cases carefully worked, and pierced at the broader extremity with round holes, varying in number from one to four. These remark- able objects cannot have served as weapons, being too light for such an applica- tion; yet their frequent occurrence and uniformity of type show that they pos- sessed a conventional significance, and therefore have been regarded as badges of authority or distinction worn by the chiefs or prominent men of the tribe, like the batons which in our day indicate the dignity of a marshal. The number of holes in these decorated reindeer-horns is thought by some to have been propor- tionate to the position occupied by the wearer. Supposing this interpretation to be correct, it would follow that the troglodytes already were sufficiently numerous to form a society in which the distinctions of rank were recognized. Before concluding this short general account of the troglodytes who once * This cave, discovered in 1868 in the course of railroad-labors, was, to judge from the different layers, first merely resorted to at different times by hunters, but afterward used as a habitation, until the accumulated rubbish gradually raised the floor so as to leave but little room between it and the roof. The cave was then abandoned by the living, but still served them asa burial-place for their dead. The remains of five individuals were found in it. THE REINDEER-PERIOD. 9 dwelled in the valley of the Vézeére, it may not be out of place to review their condition of existence in a few words, in order to show in what respects they differed from later and more advanced men of the European stone age, to whom reference will be made hereafter :— They subsisted by hunting and fishing, adding, as may be assumed, to their animal food such fruits as were spontaneously offered by nature. They had made no steps toward an agricultural state, and domesticated animals probably were entirely wanting. As dwellings they used caves, overhanging rocks, and doubt- less rude huts constructed of boughs, skins, or other materials. Their tools and weapons were made, sometimes very skillfully, of stone, horn, and bone. They employed only chipped stone implements, and were unacquainted with the art of making vessels of clay. Their dress consisted of skins sewed together with sinews. An artistic tendency, which manifests itself in primitive attempts at drawing and carving, must be regarded as a feature distinguishing them from the populations of the later stone age. As may be imagined, the stations of the reindeer-period, in France,are not confined to the valley of the Vézere, many others having been discovered in different parts of that country, and in Europe generally. But I know of a few only, in addition, which have yielded relics perhaps designed for fishing-purposes, and these are the “ Kesslerloch,” near Thayngen, in the Canton of Schaffhausen, Switzerland, and Kent’s Cavern, near Torquay, Devonshire, England. The Swiss cave contained a large number of animal remains, among them those of the rein- deer and alpine hare in greatest abundance, implements of flint, harpoon-heads and other objects of bone and horn, and even engraved designs of animals. Kent’s Cavern appears to have been resorted to by man at an earlier period than any of the French caves previously mentioned; for there were found in it abundantly not only the remains of the horse and reindeer, but also those of the cave-lion, cave-hyena, and cave-bear; and while bones of the mammoth are not very common, remains of the woolly rhinoceros have occurred quite frequently.* The flint implements of Kent’s Cavern are not unlike those from the caves of the Vézére Valley. Only a few objects of horn and bone have come to light, three of them being harpoon-heads. As far as I know, only one representation of an animal has been discovered in an English cave, namely, the delineation of a horse (head and fore-quarters) on a smoothed fragment of a rib. This specimen of ancient art was met with in the Robin-Hood Cave, at Cresswell Crags, Northeastern Derbyshire. The question to what race or races the men of the palzeolithic epoch belonged is yet undecided. Comparatively few human remains referable to quaternary times have been discovered, and the skulls which were in a condition to permit examination, exhibit both the brachycephalous and dolichocephalous types. The attempts to identify these men with historically known or still existing popula- * Teeth of the sabre-toothed tiger (Machairodus latidens), first noticed in the tertiary, were also found. 2R 10 PREHISTORIC FISHING. tions, such as Lapps and Finns, are, for the present, merely speculative in char- acter. Their surroundings compelled them to live much in the manner of the Eskimos, but this is no proof that they were Eskimos, as some are inclined to believe.* At any rate, they are regarded as men differing in race from those occupying Hurope in the later or neolithic period, to which reference will be made in the sequel. T now pass over to a consideration of the piscatorial pursuits carried on by the cave-men of the Vézére and of other districts, treating first of the fish- remains discovered in the caves, then of the implements supposed to have been employed by the troglodytes for obtaining fish, and lastly of the engraved delin- eations of fishes and aquatic mammals rescued from the cave-rubbish. Fish-remains.—They have occurred abundantly at La Madelaine, in the cave of Les Eyzies, and particularly in the rock-shelter of Bruniquel, situated on the left bank of the river Aveyron, in the Department of Tarn-et-Garonne, and not far from Montauban. In some caves of the Vézére Valley (Le Moustier, Gorge d’Enfer, Cro-Magnon), which are supposed to have been inhabited at an early time, when the reindeer was less numerous than it became afterward, no fish-bones, and hardly any bird-remains, have been found, and these are just the stations in which barbed darts of reindeer-horn were absent. ‘There was not, therefore,” says M. Edouard Lartet, ‘in the mode of living an absolute conform- ity between the people of these two periods, though inhabiting the same country, and in the neighborhood of the river, rich probably with fish then as now. Could it be that the more ancient people had no good fishing-implements? Or, per- haps, were they in the habit of eating their fish raw on the banks of the river, whilst their descendants, or successors of a different race, preferred to take their fish to the caves and shelters where they cooked their other articles of food ? Indeed, some modern travelers tell us of existing savages living near the sea and yet ignorant of the means of obtaining fish therefrom as an article of food.”+ Dr. Paul Broca, in speaking of the earlier retreats in the Vézére Valley, expresses himself quite positively on that point. ‘ Man,” he says, “ hunted then the smaller animals as well as large game, but had not yet learned how to reach the fish.’{ It does not appear at all probable to me that the more ancient cave- dwellers should have neglected the practice of obtaining fish in some way. The absence of fish-bones in certain caves may be owing to causes which escape our perception at this time. * The Eskimos are decidedly dolichocephalous. + Lartet (Edouard): Remarks on the Fauna found in the Cave of Cro Magnon; Reliquiw Aquitanice; TI, p- 95. {Broca: The Troglodytes or Cave-Dwellers of the Valley of the Vézére; Smithsonian Report for 1872; p. 323. [Translation of an address delivered before the French Association for the Advancement of Science]. FISH-REMAINS. 11 The remains of the salmon have been found abundantly in the breccia of a number of caves in the Dordogne district and in neighboring regions in the South of France, and hence it may be concluded that this species of fish served largely for food among the people of the reindeer-age. Yet, among the numerous salmon-remains, which were carefully examined by Dr. H. E. Sauvage, not a single entire skeleton has been discovered. He has seen only portions of the vertebral column, as if nothing but the edible part of the fish had been brought to the caves. Had the salmon-heads been there, they would have been as well preserved as those of the small cyprinoids which are found in the same deposits. He refers to some species of salmon common in the Northwest of America, as Salmo quinnat, Richardson, Salmo Gairdneri, Richardson, Salmo paucidens, Rich- ardson, Salmo lycaodon, Pallas, and Salmo proteus, Pallas, and then continues :— “ Unfortunately we have no materials for the study and comparison of the osteology of these different salmons; hence it is impossible for us to refer any of the salmon-bones found in the reindeer-caves to one rather than another of these species. Indeed, we have been unable to recognize any difference between the salmon vertebrze from the caves and those of the living Salmo salar, Linne, although we have taken care to compare vertebrze from the same region and of the same size, derived from individuals presumably of the same age. “We know that the salmon has a very wide geographical distribution, the same species being met with in Scandinavia, Russia, Germany, France, Galicia, Britain, Iceland, and in North America, according to Mitchill, Storer, Richardson, DeKay, Giinther, and other naturalists; the salmon reaching very high latitudes. “The mammalian fauna of the reindeer-age is that of the boreal regions of to-day; the birds killed by the cave-dwellers of Périgord* are the birds of this region; the shells they used for ornament, obtained from the shores of the Atlantic and Mediterranean, are such as live there still. It is therefore highly probable, not to say certain, that the existing Salmo salar was the common salmon of the Dordogne, affording food to the cave-dwellers of the Vézere.”+ It is worthy of notice that at the present time the salmon does not come up as high as the Vézére, nor even to that part of the Dordogne, into which the Vézere empties. “A few leagues below the confluence of the two streams, not far from Lalinde,” says Dr. Broea, “there exists in the bed of the Dordogne a bank of rocks, which in high water forms a rapid and at low water a regular cascade, called the Saut de la Gratusse. This is the present limit of the salmon, and as, in the days of the troglodytes, they did not stop here, we must conclude that the level of the Dordogne since then has lowered, either by the wearing down of the bed * An old division of France, which now forms the Department of Dordogne and a part of that of Gironde. + Sauvage: On Fishing during the Reindeer-Period ; Reliquie Aquitanice; I, p. 221. 12 PREHISTORIC FISHING. of the river, which uncovered the rocks, or by loss of a portion of the waters.* Another fish of the salmon tribe, a trout, doubtless the common trout (Sa/mo fario or Trutta fario), was also caught by the cave-men, but it does not seem to have been extensively used as an article of food. Remains of the pike (Esox lucius) are not wanting in the Dordogne caves; but they are less abundant than those of the salmon. The pike, says Dr. Sauvage, is common throughout Europe, from Scandinavia to Turkey, Northern Asia and North America, and attains a large development in cold countries. Together with the species just mentioned, some other fishes were taken by the troglodytes of the Vézére district. Dr. Sauvage found in their hearth-stuffs the remains of the white bream (Abramis blicca), now common in Holland, Eng- land, France, and Germany; also bones of the bream or carp-bream (Abramis brama), of the dace (Squalius leuciscus), and of the chub (Squalius cephalus), all of which are now distributed from the North of Europe to the Pyrenees, and belong to the cyprinoid or carp family. “To resume, the salmon appears to have been of great importance as food with the cave-dwellers of Périgord, and it is probable that they migrated in search of this fish; whilst in their every-day fishing they caught trout, pike, bream, white bream, dace, and chub.” + Fishing and Fishing-implements—It seems to be a prevailing opinion that man was a fish-hunter before he became a fish-catcher, or, in other words, that the spearing and shooting of fish preceded the methods of capturing them by means of lines and nets. However that may be, there have been found in the eave-débris of Southern France bone implements which are identical in shape with a class still used for catching fishes and birds. I allude to small bone rods tapering toward both ends, and sometimes grooved around the middle, to facili- tate the fastening of a line. Such a primitive fishing-utensil—it hardly can be called a fish-hook—is properly baited, and when swallowed by a fish or bird, cannot be disgorged, and the creature falls a prey to man. These pointed rods are employed in fishing on the Northwest Coast of America, as, for instance, by the Makah Indians, who inhabit the region about Cape Flattery, in Washington Territory. ‘“ For very small fish, like perch or rock-fish,” says Mr. James G. Swan, “they simply fasten a small piece of bone to a line of sinews. The bone is made as sharp as a needle at both ends, and is tied in the middle.” $ I give in Fig. 2 the representation of one of a series of double-pointed and * Broca: The Troglodytes; p. 328. } Sauvage: On Fishing during the Reindeer-Period ; Reliquize Aquitanice; I, p. 225, et passim. t{Swan: The Indians of Cape Flattery, at the Entrance to the Strait of Fuca, Washington Territory ; No. 220 of Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge; Washington, 1869; p. 41. DOUBLE-POINTED BONE IMPLEMENTS. ies grooved bone implements in the United States National Museum, obtained from Eskimos of Norton Sound, in Alaska, by Mr. E. W. Nelson, who went to that region in 1877, and remained there about four years, engaged in investigations HI- Fig. 2—Double-pointed bone implement used in catching birds. Eskimos, Norton Sound, Alaska. (48571). in the interest of the United States Signal Office and the National Museum. These pointed rods, Mr. Nelson informs me, are used by the natives for catching sea-gulls and murres, which they eat, using also the skins of the latter as a material for coats. A cord made of braided grass, and from fifteen to eighteen inches long, is looped to the groove of these pointed bones, and fastened laterally with the other end to a trawl-line kept extended by anchored buoys,* the bone being baited with a small fish, into which it is inserted lengthwise. The trawl- lines, with the short baited cords attached to them at intervals, are set near the breeding-places of those birds. Fic. 4. All + Fias. 3-8.—Double-pointed bone implements. La Madelaine. Similar bone rods, as stated, have occurred in French caves inhabited during the reindeer-period. Figs. 3 to 8} represent a number of such pointed implements *The buoys are either worked blocks of wood or inflated bladders of seals, walruses, etc., and the anchors ordinary stones of suitable size. The stone is attached to the buoy by a raw-hide line. + Reliquie Aquitanice; Figs. 10-15 on B Plate VI. 14 PREHISTORIC FISHING. of different sizes, all found at the station of La Madelaine, which, however, is not the only one in Southern France that has furnished such objects. Two of those here figured show notchings, and there is at least some probability that they served in the manner before described. M. Lartet, however, gives it as Mr. Christy’s opinion “that they may have formed part of fish-hooks, having been tied to other bones or sticks obliquely ; and, indeed, in the specimen Fig. 12 (here Fig. 5) there are notches made at intervals along the stem, and one of its ends is flattened on one side, so as to allow of its being laid against another piece and tied securely on.’”** In order to illustrate this method, M. Lartet figures} what he calls a “ fishing-implement from Nootka Sound,” yet without indicating for what special purpose and in what manner it was used. ‘Such thin tapering pieces of wood or bone are tied securely, at a certain angle, on the thicker part, and within the curve of a stick bent like a shepherd's crook. Sometimes the spikes are sharp at both ends, but more often they are blunt at the outer end.”’{ The implement figured by him is a halibut-hook, identical in shape with one represented by Mr. Swan in his work on the Makah Indians of Cape Flattery. I give his illustration as Fig. 9, which represents the object much reduced, halibut-hooks being generally from five to ten inches long.§ “The halibut-hook,” he says, ‘is a peculiarly-shaped instrument, and is made of splints from hemlock-knots bent in a form somewhat resembling an ox-bow. These knots remain perfectly sound long after the body of the tree has decayed, and are exceedingly tough. They are selected in preference to those of spruce, because there is no pitch in them to offend the fish, which will not bite at a hook that smells of resin. The knots are first split into small (slender ?) pieces, which, after being shaped with a knife, are inserted into a hollow piece of the stem of the kelp and roasted or steamed in the hot ashes until they are pliable ; they are then bent into the required form, and tied until they are cold, when they retain the shape given them. A barb made of a piece of bone is firmly lashed on to the lower side of the hook with slips of spruce cut thin like a ribbon, or with strips of bark of the wild cherry. The upper arm of the hook is slightly curved outward, and wound round with bark, to keep it from splitting. A thread made of whale-sinews is usually fastened to the hook for the purpose of tying on the bait, and another of the same material, loosely twisted, serves to fasten the hook to the kelp line. As the halibut’s mouth is vertical, instead of horizontal like that of most other fish, it readily takes the hook, the upper * Reliquize Aquitanice ; II, p. 58.—In a note on the same page it is said that ‘these bone spikes, lashed on obliquely by their middle to the beveled end of a shaft, may also have served for both point and barb of a dart, such as the Australians make out of a long stick and a kangaroo’s fibula sharpened at both ends.” + Ibid.; II, p. 51. { Ibid. ; II, p. 55. §Schooleraft figures on Plate 85 of Vol. III of his large work a similar hook from Oregon, but gives no information concerning its use. DOUBLE-POINTED BONE IMPLEMENTS. 15 portion of which passes outside and over the corner of the mouth, and acts as a sort of spring to fasten the barb into the fish’s jaw. The Indians prefer this kind of hook for halibut fishing, although they can readily procure metal ones from the white traders. — — — “The lines used in the halibut-fishing are usually made of the stems of the gigantic kelp. A line attached to one of the arms of the halibut-hook holds it in a vertical position, as shown in Fig. 9. The bait used is the cuttlefish or Fia. 9.—Halibut-hook. Makah Indians, Cape Flattery. squid (Octopus tuberculatus), which is plentiful and is taken by the natives by means of barbed sticks, which they thrust under the rocks at low water, to draw the animal out and kill it by transfixing it with the stick. A portion of the squid is firmly attached to the hook, which is sunk by means of a stone to the bottom, the sinker keeping the hook nearly in a stationary position. ‘To the upper portion of the line it is usual to attach bladders, which serve as buoys, and several are set at one time. When the fish is hooked, it pulls the bladder, but cannot draw it under water. The Indian, seeing the signal, paddles out; hauls up the line; knocks the fish on the head with a club; readjusts his bait ; casts it overboard; and proceeds to the next bladder he sees giving token of a fish. When a number of Indians are together in a large canoe, and the fish bite readily, it is usual to fish from the canoe without using the buoy.’* QA UH TESS Fra. 10.—Codfish-hook. Makah Indians, Cape Flattery. Fig. 10, also one of Mr. Swan’s illustrations, shows the form of a Makah codfish-hook, which, though much simpler than the halibut-hook, is somewhat *Swan: The Indians of Cape Flattery; pp. 41 and 23. 16 PREHISTORIC FISHING. similarly constructed. Such a hook consists of a straight piece of wood, from four to six inches.long, to which a bone barb is lashed on, as shown in the figure.* I shall have more to say concerning hooks of similar make, when treating of prehistoric fishing in North America. The questions whether the tapering bone rods from the French caves were employed either in their simple form as primitive fishing-implements, or as barbs in the construction of real hooks, or for both purposes, unfortunately cannot be positively answered at the present time, and it would not be safe to go beyond the suggestion that such may have been their use or uses. Possibly they were designed for other applications. Hereafter it will be seen that such pointed bones served as fishing-implements in the neolithic period. M. Gabriel de Mortillet seems to be mistaken in attributing the character of fish-hooks to some of the bone objects found in the caves of Southern France. He says :— “Hooks belonging to the reindeer-epoch have also been found in the caves and retreats of Dordogne, so well explored by Messrs. Lartet and Christy. Along with those of the simple form which we have just described,+ others were met with of a much more perfect shape. These are likewise small fragments of bone or reindeer’s horn, with deep and wide notches on one side, forming a more or less developed series of projecting and sharp teeth, or barbs. Two of them are depicted in B Plate VI of the ‘ Reliquize Aquitanice.’ '{ Among the figures on the plate referred to by M. de Mortillet there is not one that bears the slightest resemblance to a fish-hook, and M. Lartet, in describing the represented objects, designates none of them by that name. While there is some doubt whether the cave-men of Southern France practised fishing with a line, it may be taken for granted that they procured fish by spearing, implements suited for that purpose having been discovered in great number in the débris of the caves. These implements, harpoon-like in character and well shaped, are generally cut from reindeer-horn, and the endurance displayed in their manufacture is really astonishing, in consideration of the stubbornness of the material, which had to be reduced to the proper shape by means of sawing, cutting, and scraping with simple tools of flint. Figs. 11 to 15 represent characteristic forms of these harpoon-shaped dart- heads of reindeer-horn, which, whether barbed only on one side or on both, exhibit near the tapering lower end little eminences or knobs, the purpose of which will be considered hereafter. The barbs in the figured specimens are *Swan: The Indians of Cape Flattery; p. 41. + The pointed pieces of bone. { De Mortillet: L’Origine de la Navigation et de la Péche (Paris, 1867, p. 25); quoted in Figuier’s ‘‘ Primi- tive Man; ’’ New York, 1870; p. 90.—I never saw M. de Mortillet’s publication. HARPOON-HEADS. ea provided with incisions or grooves, supposed by some to have served for the reception of poison, an opinion which I hardly ean share, in consideration of the fact that the arrow-shafts of many Indian tribes, such as the Sioux, Cheyennes, Fic, 11—La Madelaine. Fic. 12.—Bruniquel. Fic. 13.—La Madelaine. Fig, 14.—La Madelaine, Fie, 15.—La Madelaine. AT Fies. 11-15.—Harpoon-heads of reindeer-horn. Tonkaways, Navajos, Pai-Utes, and gthers, exhibit longitudinal grooves, intended to facilitate the flow of the wounded animal’s blood.* There are three of these grooves, cut in at equal distances, and usually forming irregular wave lines, as shown in Fig. 16 which represents an iron-headed Sioux arrow. Of course, only one of the grooves is visible in the figure. rie 6 Fic. 16.—Ivon-headed Sioux arrow. * They remind one of the blood-grooves (Blutrinnen) on Toledo and other sword-blades. R3 18 PREHISTORIC FISHING. With a similar view the troglodytes may have cut grooves in the barbs of their weapons, if, indeed, these incisions were not merely designed for ornamen- tation. In describing the harpoon-like objects of reindeer-horn figured on page 17, I follow more or less M. Lartet’s remarks. Fig. 11.—This specimen exhibits only two barbs on one side. The top has been carefully tapered to a point, and the grooves of the barbs are deeply cut, especially that in the second one. The shank is slightly curved, with an evident swelling at the middle, and the knobs near the lower extremity are quite prominent. From La Madelaine.* Fig. 12.—This fine specimen was found by M. Brun, conservator of the Museum of Montauban, under the rock-shelter of Bruniquel. Its upper point is short, and it has nine grooved barbs on one side. There is only one knob near the lower end.+ Fig. 13.—This is a perfect specimen, having its original tapering end and suddenly sharp point, and three pairs of alternating, single-grooved barbs. From La Madelaine.{ Fig. 14.—This specimen measures nearly nine inches in length, and is one of the largest found by Messrs. Lartet and Christy. Its point is elongate and somewhat sharp, and the stem regularly rounded. The barbs, cut out symmet- rically and marked with single grooves, are three on one side (left) and five on the other (right) ; the first on the right side is placed forward, and has none to correspond with it on the other side. The others are nearly opposite or alternate. The knobs at the lower end are very prominent. From La Madelaine.§ Fig. 15.—A distinct type,|| with the point forming a triangle by the meeting of two barbs, which, like the others, are nearly flat, and provided with two parallel grooves on both faces. The barbs project opposite each other. The stem is marked by two longitudinal lines, between which is a somewhat raised fillet dying out at the point. The knobs at the lower end are tolerably prominent. From La Madelaine.4 Fig. 17 represents a fragmentary harpoon-shaped object of reindeer-horn from La Madelaine, the lower part of which is not tapering, but terminates in “‘a butt convex on one face and nearly flat on the other,” and exhibits, moreover, above the lowest pair of barbs—all that remains of them—a longitudinal, deeply- * Reliquie Aquitanice; reduction of Fig. 2 on B Plate VI. yIbid. ; reduction of Fig. 9 on p. 50, IT. {Ibid.; reduction of Fig. 4 on B Plate XIV. § Ibid. ; reduction of Fig. 4 on B Plate I. || ‘‘ Unless,”’ as M. Lartet says, ‘‘it was originally longer, and has been recut and sharpened after having been broken.” { Reliquix Aquitanice; reduction of Fig. 7 on B Plate I. HARPOON-HEADS. 19 cut perforation. It is the only object of this special form figured in “ Reliquize Aquitanice.”* I place alongside of it Fig. 18, representing a specimen found ay 2 z % Fic. 17.—La Madelaine. Fic. 18.—Laugerie Basse. Fics. 17 and 18.—Harpoon-heads of reindeer-horn. by M. Elie Massenat at Laugerie Basse.+ Its lower extremity tapers to a point, and there is a perforation at some distance from it. The design is not sufficiently characteristic to show whether the object has a flattish or rounded form. There can be no doubt that many of the points of reindeer-horn found in the French caves were the armatures of hunting-spears, if not of arrows, which fact, if it needed verification, is proved by the discovery, at the station of Les Eyzies, of a bone in which a broken barbed dart-head still remains fixed. It would be impossible to decide at this time which of the armatures provided with barbs served as the heads of hunting-spears or of harpoons. Possibly the cave- men were not very choice in the selection, and used them as the occasion required, though it is quite probable that, in spearing fish, they preferred shafts purposely provided with heads having unilateral barbs, which, of course, penetrated with greater ease. Dr. Broca is very strict in his definition of the harpoons used by * Fig. 57, I, p. 160. + Matériaux pour l’Histoire Primitive et Naturelle de Homme; Vol. V, 1869, Plate 20. { Figured in Figuier’s ‘‘ Primitive Man,” p. 100. 20 PREHISTORIC FISHING. the cave-men. “The harpoon,” he says, “ was a small dart of reindeer-horn, very like the large barbed arrows, except that the barbs were only on one side; a slight protuberance at the base allowed a cord to be attached, which was held in the hand of the fisherman. It has been frequently, and is still, confounded with the arrow. It is clear that an arrow barbed only on one side would be very defective in flight, as it describes a long curve; its course is necessarily affected by the resistance of the air which sustains it; but in the short flight of the harpoon this inconvenience is much less, and besides, the direction of the harpoon is downward, and it does not need to be sustained by the air. The instrument barbed only on one side is then not an arrow, and must be a harpoon. The use of its barbs was to catch and retain the fish after it was struck; but why were they all upon one side? To diminish the width of the dart so that it might penetrate more readily? I cannot say. “One of my colleagues, M. Lecoq de Boisbaudran, in a communication before the anthropological section, makes some very interesting remarks upon the mode of action of the unilateral barbs of the harpoon. While passing through the air, these barbs do not cause the harpoon to deviate perceptibly, but as soon as it enters the water, the unequal resistance it encounters must necessarily change its direction. It would seem, then, that the fisherman who aimed straight for the fish would miss it. Now, it is well known that a straight stick appears to be broken when plunged obliquely in water; in like manner, in consequence of the refraction of the luminous rays, the image of the fish is displaced, and if direct aim were taken at this image, it would also be missed. Here are, then, two causes of error. Now, it is evident that if they can be brought to act in opposite directions, they will counteract each other, and M. Lecoq shows that when the barbed side is turned downward, the harpoon will reach its destination. This arrangement of the harpoon was then intended to rectify its course, which indicates great sagacity of observation in our troglodytes. “The inhabitants of Zerre-de-Few still use a harpoon barbed on one side only.”’* At this day, however, the Eskimos and Indians of the Northwest Coast of America use harpoons with heads barbed either on one side or on both. As an example I represent in Fig. 19 a seal-harpoon, about five feet long, used by the Eskimos of Bristol Bay, in Alaska. Fig. 20 shows its upper part enlarged. The head, made of walrus-ivory, barbed on both sides, and provided with an eye, fits with its tapering lower end into a corresponding cavity in a kind of socket, made of bone, into which the wooden shaft is inserted. An inflated * Broca: The Troglodytes; p. 329.—A Fuegian bone harpoon-head, eight inches and five-eighths long, having a single barb on each side, is figured in “ Reliquie Aquitanice,”’ II, p. 179. It was obtained, with others, during the voyage of the ‘‘Beagle.”” Reference will be made hereafter to the fine series of bone harpoon- heads from Tierra del Fuego in the United States National Museum. HARPOONS. Pall stomach of a seal, attached to its lower part, serves as a float or buoy. A long line of braided sinew, fastened at some distance from the end of the shaft, connects the latter with the ivory head, as shown in the figure. The line loosely Fia. 19.—Eskimos, Bristol Bay, Alaska. (11355). Fic. 2L.—Eskimos, Yukon River, Alaska. (8844). Figs. 19-21.—Harpoons. coiled around the shaft and closely below the socket has nothing to do with the arrangement just described, but serves to strengthen the connection of the shaft bho 2 PREHISTORIC FISHING. with the socket. In launching the harpoon at a seal, which is done by means of the throwing-board, the head becomes detached, remaining in the body of the animal, which dives under, pulling down the embarrassing float, but reappears after a while on the surface, when the pursuing hunters in their skin-boats (bidarkas) finally kill it with clubs. The animal is claimed by the individual who first struck it; but if two have fastened simultaneously their spears in its body, the one who wounded it nearest the head becomes the owner. Fig. 21 represents a lighter kind of seal-harpoon, derived from Eskimos at the mouth of Yukon River, Alaska. It somewhat resembles the one just described, but lacks the buoy, and is feathered at the lower end. The hunter likewise employs the throwing-board in connection with this harpoon, which measures about five feet. The ivory head has five barbs, two on one side and three on the other. The line, passing through the eye of the head, and properly attached to it, is fastened below the socket and at some distance from the feather- ing. When the head is buried in the seal’s body and has become detached from the shaft, the latter floats in a direction crossing that in which the animal swims or dives, and thus impedes its motions. Arrows, in every respect similar to this kind of spear, but, of course smaller (about two feet eight inches long), and having a notch at the lower end of the shaft, are used for the water-hunt by Eskimos of the Northwest Coast, for instance by those of Bristol Bay. When the arrow has reached its victim, and the point has come off the shaft, the latter floats like that of the seal-spear just described. These arrows are shot from short bows, stiffened on the back with whalebone and sinew, and not easily bent. I have given a somewhat detailed account of these harpoons and arrows with detachable heads, because it has been suggested the harpoon-like heads from the French caves, which nearly all show a tapering termination, served, in part at least, as detachable armatures. The projections or knobs at their lower ends, it is supposed, facilitated the fastening of a line. If such really was the case, the dart must have been inserted into a conical cavity at the upper extrem- ity of the shaft, for no horn or bone sockets made for receiving the tapering ends of the dart-heads have been found in the French caves. It would be hazardous to assert that the cave-men of Dordogne made use of an apparatus so complicated as an Eskimo seal-spear, their attacks being chiefly directed against large fish, such as salmon and the like. No one can say whether their fish-spears had detachable or fixed points. In the latter case the knobs with which the dart- heads are provided may simply have served to hold ligatures by which the head, after being inserted into the hollowed end of the shaft, was more firmly lashed to it. Yet armatures like those represented by Figs. 17 and 18 certainly have the appearance of detachable heads. It will be seen hereafter that certain North American Indians, in capturing HARPOON-HEADS. 23 salmon and sturgeon, used, and still use, a long spear with a detachable sharp bone point, connected by a string with the shaft. The point, however, is not inserted into the shaft, but the shaft is made to fit into a cavity at the upper extremity of the point. 1 1 Fic. 22. Fic, 23. Fires. 22 and 23.—Harpoon or arrow-heads of reindeer-horn. La Madelaine. Figs. 22 and 23 represent small harpoon-like objects of reindeer-horn, figured in “ Reliquize Aquitanicee,’* and both found at La Madelaine. The first of them is thus described :—‘‘A small specimen cut in the shape of a barbed harpoon, with a long point, which has been broken. There are four barbs on one side only, distinctly separate, sharp, and very oblique, but without the usual grooves. The lower part tapers to a point without any indication of knobs. This diminutive weapon-head may have served as an arrow-head.” The description of the second, represented in Fig. 23, is as follows :—‘‘Another minute harpoon-like head, of similar dimensions to the last, but showing only two barbs cut distinctly, whilst above them two others are indicated by shallow, oblique, unfinished notches. This specimen has preserved its sharp point. Near the pointed butt there is a kind of notch, which may have been of use in fastening this little weapon on a shaft.” + If not arrow-points, these little darts may have served as armatures of diminutive fishing-spears in the hands of juvenile cave-dwellers. They hardly resemble the barbed prongs, two or three or more of which form the heads of what are now called fish-gigs ; and, indeed, in looking carefully over the plates of “Reliquize Aquitanicx,” I have not noticed the figure of a single specimen of a form to be thus employed. * Figs. 8 and 9 on B Plate VI. + Reliquie Aquitanicw; II, p. 57, ete. 24 PREHISTORIC FISHING. The relics found in the reindeer-hunters’ retreat called the “ Kesslerloch,” near Thayngen, in the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland,* have been described by the discoverer of the cave, Mr. Konrad Merk, in the ‘“ Mittheilungen” (communications) of the Antiquarian Society of Ziirich. The material out of which the cave-dwellers manufactured their implements, he states, was almost exclusively furnished by the antlers of the reindeer. There were found at this station only eight harpoon-like objects, differing in the execution as well as in All }. Fics. 24-28.—Harpoon-heads of reindeer-horn (?). Kesslerloch. - * Seep. 9. HARPOON-HEADS. 25 their state of preservation. Three have unilateral barbs, while five are barbed on both sides.* The author designates these darts in the list of illustrations as Knochenharpunen, or bone harpoons; but in consideration of his remark that reindeer-horn was nearly always used as the material for implements, it may be inferred that the darts in question also consist of that substance. He represents five of them, all of which are here reproduced as Figs. 24, 25, 26, 27, and 28.; The peculiarities of these dart-heads are sufficiently shown by the illustrations, and having figured and described characteristic objects of the same class from French caves, I may leave it to the reader to make his own comparisons, in order to discover analogies and differences. Mr. Merk gives it as his opinion that the dart-heads found by him served as the armatures of spears which were only thrown at birds, a view which I feel disinclined to accept. Some of them may have served in the fish-hunt. Fie. 30. Fries. 29 and 30.—Harpoon-heads of reindeer-horn (?). Kent’s Cavern. In conclusion, I present in Figs. 29 and 30 delineations of two harpoon- heads from Kent’s Cavern, near Torquay, figured by Mr. John Evans in his well-known work on the ancient stone implements, ete., of Great Britain. “The harpoon-heads,” he observes, “are of two kinds, some being barbed on both sides, others on one only. Of the former kind but one example has been found, which is shown in Fig. 403 (here Fig. 29). It lay in the second foot in depth in the red cave-earth in the vestibule. Above this was the black band, three inches thick, containing flint flakes and remains of extinct mammals; and above this again, the stalagmite floor, eighteen inches in thickness. It is, as * Merk: Der Hohlenfund im Kesslerloch bei Thayngen (Kanton Schaffhausen); Mittheilungen der Antiquarischen Gesellschaft in Ztrich, Vol. XIX, No. 1; Zurich, 1875; p. 28, ete. ;In Mr. Merk’s publication, respectively, Fig. 35 on Plate 1V; Fig. 49 on Plate V; Fig. 48 on Plate V; Fig. 94 on Plate VI; and Fig. 25 on Plate IV. { Figs. 403 and 404 on pp. 459 and 460, R4 26 PREHISTORIC FISHING. usual, imperfect, but the two and one-fourth inches which remain show the tapering point and four barbs on either side, which are opposite to each other, and not alternate. It is precisely of the same character as some of the harpoon-heads from the cave of La Madelaine, in the Dordogne, which are usually formed of reindeer-horn. The material in this instance is, I believe, the same. The striated marks of the tool by which it was scraped into form are still distinctly visible in places. Such harpoon-heads have been regarded as characteristic of the latest division in the sequence of this class of caverns, and have been found in numerous localities on the Continent. “Of the other kind, which have the barbs along one side only of the blade, two examples have been found. One of these, though in two pieces, is otherwise nearly perfect, and is shown in Fig. 404 (here Fig. 30). It has also its analogues among the harpoon-heads found in the cave of La Madelaine and elsewhere, especially at Bruniquel. Its stem shows the projection for retaining the loop or cord by which it was connected with the shaft, though it was probably still susceptible of being detached from immediate contact with it. In this respect, as indeed in general character, these early weapons seem closely to resemble those of the Eskimos of the present day. — — — ‘The other instrument of this kind, shown in Fig. 405 (not reproduced) is the terminal portion of a similar point, but with the barbs all broken off at the base. It is about three and three-fourths inches long, and was found in the black band.”* It is not known whether the cave-men of the reindeer-period in France and other parts of Europe understood fishing with nets, no prepared net-sinkers having been discovered among the débris left by them. The absence of the latter, however, is no positive proof of the non-existence of nets in palzeolithic times, for pebbles without any artificial modification could have served as sinkers. It would be equally fruitless to make it a subject of inquiry whether they had boats. Referring to the cave-men of the Vézere Valley, Dr. Broca observes :— “These antique fishermen evidently did not use nets, for with nets all kinds of fish are taken. Their sole instrument was the harpoon, with which they could only catch the large fish, and among these they chose the one whose flesh they preferred.+ Had they boats for fishing? There is no evidence of it; besides, the river was then sufficiently narrow to allow the use of the harpoon from its banks.” { * Evans: The Ancient Stone Implements, Weapons, and Ornaments of Great Britain; London, 1872; 872 ; p- 459, ete. { The salmon. It has been seen, however, that the troglodytes also caught smaller species of fish. Dr. Sauvage is very positive on that point. See p. 11. + Broca: The Troglodytes; p. 828. DESIGNS OF FISHES, ETC. 27 Delineations of Fishes and Aquatic Mammals.—Reference was made to the peculiar artistic penchant of the men of the reindeer-period, which revealed itself in the practice of engraving on horn and other substances the outlines of animals which they hunted or obtained by other means, and which, it may be assumed, were regarded with special interest on account of the advantages derived from them. The fact that a number of these sketches represent fishes seems to indicate their partiality for the spoils of the water, which, as we have seen, contributed largely to their supplies of food. Fic. 31.—Representations of fishes and a horse on a baton of reindeer-horn. La Madelaine. Fig. 31 represents a “baton” of reindeer-horn, one foot in length, upon which two fishes and a horse are traced, the former being very badly executed, insomuch that it would be impossible to indulge in any speculation as to the genus to which they belong. On the side opposite to that shown by Fig. 31 other fish-like figures, four in number, are drawn. This specimen was found at La Madelaine.* Fig. 32.—Drawing of a fish on a piece of reindeer-horn. La Madelaine. Much better is the design of a fish on a rod of reindeer-horn, here given as Fig. 32. It is thus described :—“A cylindrical piece of reindeer-horn, on which are carved two outlines of fishes, one on each side. In the figure here given, the form of the head, the shape of the gills, an obscure indication of the back-fin, and the proportions and general appearance permit us to refer this fish to one of the freshwater kind, probably of the cyprinoid (carp) family. The fragment is broken at both ends; and we can scarcely form an opinion as to its original use, and whether, indeed, it was an ornament or not.’’*+ The piece was obtained at La Madelaine. Reliquie Aquitanice; Fig. 1, B Plates III and IV.—Fig. 31 is a reduced copy. + Ibid. ; II, p. 13; representation of the engraved fish Fig. 1 on B Plate I11.—The tracing on the horn is less” distinct than in Fig. 32. ” 28 PREHISTORIC FISHING. About eight years ago, Messrs. Louis Lartet* and Chaplain Dupare published in “ Matériaux pour |’Histoire Primitive et Naturelle de Homme” an account of their exploration of the Duruthy Grotto, near Sorde, a place situated not very far from Peyrehorade, Department of Landes (Southwestern France). They discovered in the lowest deposit of the grotto—evidently a place Fic. 33.—Figure of a pike engraved on a drilled bear’s tooth. Duruthy Grotto. resorted to at different times—about fifty perforated and engraved canine teeth of the bear and lion, doubtless trophies of the chase, which lay near a crushed human skull and bones, perhaps the remains of a savage hunter, whose person they once may have adorned. On one of these teeth, that of a bear, is traced the outline of a fish, which has been pronounced a pike by persons versed in ichthyology. Fig. 33, reproduced from “ Matériaux,’+ represents the incised bear’s tooth. There is in the collection of the Marquis de Vibraye a reindeer-jaw from AGM LMS Li ii ig Fria. 34.—Outline of a fish (Squalius?) on a veindeer-jaw. Laugerie Basse. Laugerie Basse, upon which is engraved the outline of. a fish, supposed to be intended for a Squalius. Fig. 34 is a copy of the sketch.t M. Elie Massenat found at Laugerie Basse several pieces of reindeer-horn bearing fish-designs, which are figured on Plates I and II in Vol. XII (1877) of “Matériaux.” The tracings represented on the first plate are rather rude, not permitting the recognition of a species; but that on the second plate is believed to be intended for a cyprinoid fish. I refrain from copying the figures, the plates being marked Reproduction interdite. * Son of M. Edouard Lartet. + Vol. IX, 1874, p. 142, Fig. 37. { Reliquiw Aquitanice; I, p. 225. DESIGNS OF FISHES, ETC. 29 “= M. Edouard Dupont has published the description and figure of a “ baton” with a rough fish-design upon it, which was found in the cave of Goyet, in Belgium. The illustration is here reproduced as Fig. 35. “It is ornamented Fie, 35.—Tracing of a fish on a baton of reindeer-horn. Cave of Goyet. on its borders and on its two faces with incised lines; I have not yet been able to discover what the ancient engraver intended to represent on one of the faces, because an important part of the design was traced on the lost portion of the object; there are seen lines which cross each other and some hatchings. “The other face shows the figure of a fish, the posterior part of which is wanting on account of the fracture. The dots engraved on the back of the fish would seem to indicate the characteristic spots on the back of a trout.’* Fic.'36.—Rude drawing of a fishing-scene on the scapula of an ox. Laugerie Basse. Fig. 36 is a reproduction of an extremely rude drawing of a fishing-scene, on the scapula of an ox, also discovered by M. Massenat at Laugerie Basse. The sketch is thus described by him :— “This drawing represents a rudely-executed human form with an immense *Dupont: Les ‘* Batons de Commandement”’ de la Caverne de Goyet; Matériaux; Vol. V, 1869; p. 3185 figure on Plate 16.—Professor W. Boyd Dawkins thinks this object might have been an arrow-straightener (Cave Hunting, London, 1874, p. 349). 30 PREHISTORIC FISHING. arm, at least three times as long as the rest of the body. This arm, it appears, tries to seize a fin of an enormous fish, which, from the shape of the tail, easily might be taken for a cetacéan. Was the draughtsman inspired by the recollection of some great maritime fishing-exploit? And why not? Have we not the certainty that the aborigines made excursions to the sea-shore? The different kinds of shells which we find in tolerable number, sometimes pierced and cut by man, among the fragments of flint and reindeer-horn are an irrefutable proof of the fact.’”* Dr. Broca, however, gives the following explanation of the sketch :— “Tt represents a man in the act of harpooning an aquatic animal. The latter, although it has the form of a fish, is so much larger than the man that it has been supposed to be one of the cetacea, probably a whale, and that the artist, in consequence, must have found his way to the Gulf of Gascogne. I am not disposed to admit this interpretation. It is hardly possible that the men of that time were sufficiently expert navigators to venture upon the ocean to harpoon the whale. It is said the tail and back suggest the form of a cetaceous animal ; but may it not rather be a porpoise than a whale? Porpoises sometimes sport in the Gironde, and I saw once, in my childhood, one of these animals carried by a flood even into the Dordogne, where it was stranded between Libourne and Castillon. It was killed by fishermen with boat-hooks, and exhibited from village to village. If, as is probable, the tide rose higher in those days than now, and particularly if the Dordogne was wider and deeper, it is conceivable that a porpoise might ascend the river high enough to come within reach of the harpoons of our troglodytes, and so unusual an event would naturally inspire the enthusiasm of an artist—in this case very unskillful. “But Iam tempted to believe that this pretended cetacean is only a badly- drawn fish. The relative size of the man proves nothing, for the artist, through- out the whole sketch, has manifested entire contempt for proportion. This too diminutive man has a gigantic arm, and the harpoon he throws is proportioned to the size of the fish. We are reminded of certain jocose drawings of the present day, in which puny bodies are supplied with enormous heads. The great interest of this particular work of art consists in the unanswerable proof it gives that the troglodytes used the harpoon in fishing.” + The original of Fig. 37, found at La Madelaine, and evidently a part of a baton, is thus described in the “ Reliquize Aquitanicze”’ :— “The objects here represented are engraved on the face of a cylindrical rod, which our artist has rendered diagrammatically in two separate figures, so as to reproduce the whole in halves. * Massenat: Objects Gravés et Sculptés de Laugerie Basse (Dordogne); Matériaux; Vol. V, 1869; p. 354. Sketch taken from Plate 22 of the same volume. + Broca: The Troglodytes; p. 337. DESIGNS OF FISHES, ETC. 31 ‘“On one of these halves (represented as a flat surface) we see two heads, one after the other, evidently referable to a bovine genus. We may add that characters for a determination of the species are not altogether wanting. The Waa \uitsh WA P44. Fic. 37.—Outlines of two heads of the aurochs, a human figure, an eel (?), two horse-heads, and three rows of marks on a piece of reindeer-horn. La Madelaine. points of attachment and the direction of the horns suffice, for themselves, to decide for the aurochs ; whilst, moreover, a more significant indication could not be offered than the convexity of the forehead and the presence of hair-tufts, both on the face and under the throat. ‘On the opposite side of the other half-eylinder (reproduced as a plane) we see, in a medley of figures, sometimes upside down, first, a human form, with the limbs not finished very incorrectly, although the face is without any expres- sion—a negligence probably intentional on the part of the ancient artist, who has perfectly characterized, close by it, a horse’s head and part of its chest, with their details pretty well rendered. More to the right we perceive a second horse’s head, not so well cut. To the left of and behind the human form, amongst rows of dashes, or figures, of which we cannot comprehend either the intention or value, there is an outline (reversed with respect to the other figures) of a serpent, or rather of an cel with indications of the tail-fin;* and its head, with mouth open, approaches the leg of the human figure. In this bizarre group of figures, or in the figures themselves, we avow we cannot see any intention or premeditated arrangement; and if others, more knowing, think that they here recognize the expression of an allegory, or of any symbolism, we very willingly leave to them the merit as well as the responsibility.’+ * The italics are my own. + Reliquie Aquitanice; II, p. 15; figure on B Plate II, 8a and 8b. 32 PREHISTORIC FISHING. Such is M. Edouard Lartet’s comment on the engraved piece. Though, of course, it cannot be decided whether the artist intended to represent an eel, lamprey, or serpent, it was not deemed superfluous to reproduce here the group, and to transcribe the observations relating to it. Fic. 38.—Figure of a seal traced on a drilled bear’s tooth. Duruthy Grotto. The cave-dwellers of the reindeer-period evidently had seen seals, either on the sea-coasts or in the rivers which these animals may have ascended some distance at the time of cave-inhabitation here considered. Mention is made of a representation of a seal found by M. Pictte in the cave of Gourdan, Department of Haute-Garonne. I have not seen a figure of this specimen, but I am able to present in Fig. 38 a delineation of a drilled bear’s tooth, upon which the outline of a seal is so distinctly traced, that the artist’s intention to draw the likeness of a phocine animal cannot be doubted. The engraved tooth is one of the fifty, which, as stated on a preceding page, were discovered by Messrs. Lartet and Dupare in the lowest deposit of the Duruthy Grotto.* 2—NEOLITHIC AGE. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. In the later or neolithic period a marked change in the condition of prehis- toric men in Europe is observable. A milder temperature was now prevailing, the former climate having gradually yielded its rigor, and become more like that of our time. The mammoth, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, great bear, and hyena * Matériaux; Vol. IX, 1874; p. 148, Fig. 38. NEOLITHIC AGE. 33 had worked out their mission in Europe, while the musk-ox, reindeer, chamois, ibex, and other quadrupeds adapted to a low temperature, had either migrated northward, or chosen the cold heights of mountains as their abodes. On the other hand, several species of animals, perhaps derived from distant countries, appear as the domesticated associates of man, who was no longer a mere savage hunter, but had become, in some districts at least, a tiller of the soil, and, conse- quently, a consumer of vegetable food, though still assiduously applying himself to the chase and to fishing. During the palzeolithic ages, it appears, man made his stone tools and weapons almost exclusively of flint, reducing them to the intended shape by flaking or chipping alone, not having learned yet to improve their form and efficiency by the process of grinding. It was quite different in the times now under consideration. The stone implements of the neolithic period exhibit a greater variety of well-defined forms, and are no longer generally made of flint, but also of other kinds of stone, such as diorite, serpentine, basalt, quartzite, and similar suitable materials. Many of the neolithic axes, chisels, ete., are brought into their final shapes by grinding and polishing. Yet the practice of chipping flint into arrow and spear-heads, knives, scrapers, and other utensils was carried on with great industry, the articles produced in this way being not only very numerous, but also, generally speaking, of superior workmanship, insomuch that flint-chipping may be said to have assumed in this period almost the character of an art. Some of the Danish handled daggers are marvels of skill. The manufacture of clay vessels was general during this epoch; and, though always hand-made, they frequently exhibit elegant forms. The earlier megalithic monuments of Europe (dolmens, chambered tumuli, etc.), pertain to the same era. Were the men of neolithic times the descendants of the contemporaries of the mammoth and the great bear, or immigrants from abroad, who brought with them new arts and the animals they had tamed in their old homes? There certainly exists a gap between palzeolithic and neolithic implements, the gradual transition from one class to the other not being represeuted with sufficient distinctness by intermediate forms. It is highly probable, to say the least, that the neolithic period was inaugurated in Europe by the spreading cf a new population, in which some are inclined to recognize the first wave of Aryan immigration. ARTIFICIAL SHELL-DEPOSITS. Character.—On the indented coasts of the Danish islands of Seeland, Ftinen, Moen and Samsie, and along the fjords of the Peninsula of Jutland there occur, mostly in the neighborhood of the sea, considerable accumulations of shells, which were formerly supposed to have been deposited by the sea at a time when RD 34 PREHISTORIC FISHING. the level of the land was lower than at present. It was noticed, however, that the shell-heaps showed no trace of the stratification which always characterizes marine deposits, and that they, instead of inclosing shells of mollusks of every age, contained merely those of full-grown specimens, which, moreover, belonged to a limited number of species not living together under natural conditions. Upon further examination there were found among the shells the broken bones of different species of wild quadrupeds and birds, and the remains of fishes ; also implements of flint, horn, and bone, fragments of a rude kind of pottery, char- coal, and ashes, but no objects of metal whatever. The artificial origin of these accumulations being now established, they were recognized as the amassed remains of the repasts of a-population that dwelled in early ages on the shores of the Baltic, pursuing the chase, but chiefly the capture of fish and shell-fish. The Danes denominate shell-heaps of this description Ajokkenmoddinger,* a word meaning “ kitchen-refuse ;” but the term ‘“‘ kitchen-middens ” is often employed in English, midden being a name still used in the North of England to designate a refuse-heap. A large number of kitchen-middens have been examined conjointly by Messrs. Forchhammer, Steenstrup, and Worsaae, distinguished, respectively, for their proficiency in the departments of geology, natural history, and archzeology; and the results of their investigations, contained in several reports addressed to the Academy of Sciences at Copenhagen, have added ina great measure to our knowledge of prehistoric man in the North of Europe. Artificial shell-deposits, however, have also been discovered in other parts of Europe, as for instance, in Sweden, Norway, England, Scotland, and on the coasts of France, both north and south. Yet nowhere in Europe are they so numerous and well characterized as in the country to which my account refers.+ One of the largest kitchen-middens is that of Meilgaard, in the Northeast of Jutland. It is more than a hundred metres long, and in places three metres deep. Very extensive accumulations sometimes present an undulating surface, the refuse having been heaped up more abundantly in some points than in others ; and occasionally the heaps surround an irregular free space, where the coast- people doubtless had built their huts, which may have been of the most primitive description, probably poles stuck in the ground and covered with skins. Rude hearths consisting of a kind of pavement of pebbles, not exceeding the size of a man’s fist, have been discovered in the refuse-heaps. These fire-places are more or less circular, only a few feet in diameter, and surrounded with * In English publications the plural form ‘‘ Kjokkenméddings”’ is generally applied. + As may be imagined, shell-deposits of artificial origin are not confined to Europe, but also oceur along the littoral districts of other continents. Coast-tribes, deriving their means of subsistence chiefly from the sea, neces- sarily will leave there the tokens of their presence. In America such shell-heaps are frequent, and have been observed from West Greenland to Tierra del Fuego, and also on the western sea-board. I shall devote a section of this publication to North American shell-deposits. ARTIFICIAL SHELL-DEPOSITS. 35 charcoal and ashes. The coast-people manufactured a kind of very primitive pottery, fragments of which are found commingled with the shells. The clay is always mixed with coarse sand, produced by the trituration of stones, and added for the purpose of preventing the cracking of the vessels while in the fire. The Danish kj6kkenméddings have yielded a number of awls, chisels, comb- shaped articles, and other tools made of horn and bone, and in great abundance chipped flint implements, such as flakes, piercers, lance-head-shaped objects, slingstones(?), and notably axes of a peculiar shape, and therefore called “ shell- mound axes.” They probably served in opening bivalves. I am not aware that any objects directly referable to fishing, such as fish-hooks, harpoon- heads, sinkers, etc., have occurred among the refuse. The flint implements are mostly of a rude character, and inferior to the well-finished specimens of chipped flint so frequent in Denmark. Polished stone implements, however, are not entirely wanting in the kitchen-middens. Taking into account, additionally, the fauna of the period, presently to be considered, it may not be amiss to refer the Danish kitchen-middens provisionally to the early part of the neolithic period. Messrs. Worsaae and Steenstrup themselves are not quite in accord concerning the antiquity of the Danish kitchen-middens. While the last-named gentleman attributes them to the dolmen-builders, the former considers them as belonging to an earlier epoch.* There is no evidence that man lived in the Scandinavian North during quaternary times.+ The coast-people certainly led a very rude life, being, as it appears, unac- quainted with agriculture, and compelled to subsist entirely on the spoils of the sea and the forest. No traces of carbonized cereals have been found in the kitchen-middens ; but masses of what is thought to be the residue of burned eel-grass (Zostera marina, Lin.) occur in their immediate neighborhood. Not many centuries ago, salt was produced on the Danish sea-shores by sprinkling sea-water over burning heaps of this marine plant; and hence it is thought the ancient coast-dwellers had obtained salt by the same process. It is not quite certain whether these people inhabited the sea-board only in summer or during the whole year, though the character of the bones and antlers, which belong to animals of different ages, would favor the view that they lived there through successive seasons. Although they derived their sustenance mainly from the sea, the bones of mammals and birds scattered through the refuse show that the chase furnished a part of their provisions. ‘The list of the former comprises the stag, roe, wild boar, urus, dog, fox, wolf, marten, otter, porpoise, seal, water- * Bulletins du Congrés d’Archéologie Préhistorique 4 Copenhague en 1869; Copenhagen, 1872; p. 145, ete. + “ Von einer eigentlichen Besiedelung des hohen scandinavischen Nordens oder des nordéstlichen Europas uberhaupt in jener Periode der Steinzeit, welche die Mammuth-und Rennthierperiode oder die ‘ paliolithische Zeit’ genannt wird, sind noch keine Spuren nachgewiesen.’’—Worsaae: Die Vorgeschichte des Nordens nach | gleichzeitigen Denkmialern; in’s Deutsche tibertragen von J. Mestorf ; Hamburg, 1878; p. 17. 36 PREHISTORIC FISHING. rat, beaver, lynx, wild cat, hedgehog, black bear, and mouse. Next to the sea-animals, the stag, roe, and wild boar evidently constituted the principal food of the coast-people. The dog, which is represented by a small race, seems to have been their only domesticated animal, and, as the bones show, was also eaten by them, as it is by our Indians, who keep dogs as companions, and use them as food, especially on solemn occasions. The urus (Bos prini- genius, Boj.) has become extinct within historical times, and the wolf, black bear, wild cat, lynx, and beaver are no longer found in Denmark. No bones of the hare have occurred among the shell-heaps, perhaps for the reason that those ancient people were prevented by superstitious motives, like the Laplanders of our day, from eating that animal. The reindeer and elk are missing in the kjokkenmoddings, though their former presence in Denmark has been proved by the discovery of their bones. Remains of aquatic birds, such as wild ducks, geese, and swans, are often met with among the shells. The great penguin or auk (Alcea impennis, Lin.) and the capereailzie or mountain-cock (Zetrao wrogallus, Lin.) deserve special mention. The great auk, a bird incapable of flying, being provided with mere apologies for wings, is said to have been totally exterminated everywhere by man. According to Professor Carl Vogt, it was found in Iceland, its last retreat, until the year 1842, after which it became extinct.* The capercailzie, a bird no longer found in Denmark, though still inhabiting the forests of Germany, feeds in spring chiefly on the buds of the pine, a tree not growing naturally at present in Denmark, but very common during the stone age, as has been ascertained by the examination of Danish peat-bogs. Thus it would seem that the disappear- ance of the pine from Denmark caused the capercailzie to leave that country. Remains of the domestic fowl, the stork, swallow, and sparrow are wanting in the kitchen-middens. The coast-people broke all the long bones of mammals, or split them length- wise, for extracting the marrow; those containing no marrow are left entire, but gnawed both by men and dogs, as the impressions of the teeth indicate. Human remains, attributable to the people of this period, have not been met with among the débris. Capture of Mollusks and Fish—The oyster (Ostrea edulis, Lin.) is the species of shell-fish occurring most abundantly in the kitchen-middens, its shells some- times constituting almost entirely their contents. Next follow, in the order of their frequency, the cockle (Cardium edule, Lin.), mussel (Mytilus edulis, Lin.), and periwinkle (Littorina littorea, Lin.), all of which are eaten by man at the present time. Other marine and even terrestrial shells, such as Massa reticulata, Lin., and species of Buecinum, Venus, Helix, etc., are mentioned as occurring * Vogt: Vorlesungen tber den Menschen; Giessen, 1863; Vol. IT, p. 114. ARTIFICIAL SHELL-DEPOSITS. 37 in the refuse; but they appear in small number, and have added but little to the bulk of the shell-heaps. In regard to the oyster, it is worthy of remark that this bivalve has disappeared from the neighborhood of the kitchen- middens, being now confined to a few localities on the Cattegat. Yet even there it never attains the large size characterizing the oysters of the old shell-beds. The cockles and periwinkles, too, though still living in the same waters, are much smaller than those of ancient times. These changes have been attributed to a diminution of the saline matter in the water of the Baltic Sea. The crustaceans are represented in the kitchen-middens by a few fragments of crabs. “Fish-remains are quite abundant, especially those of the herring (Clupea harengus, Lin.); but bones of the dorse (Gadus callarias, Lin.), dab (Pleuronectes limanda, Lin.), and eel (Murena anguilla, Lin.) are also quite common. Nothing definite is known concerning the methods employed by the coast- dwellers for obtaining their prey from the sea, no implements having been discovered that afford any clue. The nature of their captures, however, indicates that they had to venture upon the open sea, in order to make them; and they probably availed themselves of small boats, perhaps formed of trunks of trees, hollowed by means of fire. That they used nets appears highly probable, though direct indications of that practice, in the shape of prepared net-sinkers, have not been found. LAKE-DWELLINGS. Character.—The facts hitherto considered in these pages bear rather indis- tinctly upon prehistoric fishing in Europe. Though we know well enough that the cave-men and the people who left the kitchen-middens practised fishing, we have scarcely any positive knowledge concerning the methods employed by them in their piscatorial pursuits, and must leave it in a great measure to imagination to supply that want. Far more precise information concerning fishing in ancient times was obtained in the course of the examinations of pile-buildings in the lakes of Switzerland and other countries of Europe. The existence of the remains of these lacustrine settlements became known in the winter of 1854, when the water in the Swiss lakes had sunk much below its ordinary level, laying bare large tracts of land along their shores. A rare chance was thus afforded to the people of the neighborhood for adding to their lands by building walls near the water’s edge as a means for cutting off denuded areas. So it happened at Meilen, on the Lake of Ziirich, where, during the progress of such operations, pieces of a rude kind of pottery, articles of stone, bone, and horn, hard-shelled fruits and other vegetable remains, and rows of decayed wooden piles were discovered in the mud of the lake. The late Dr. Ferdinand Keller, President 38 PREHISTORIC FISHING. of the Antiquarian Society of Ziirich, who afterward acquired so much reputation by the reports in which he elucidates the subject of Swiss lacustrine settlements, proceeded to Meilen, in order to inspect the relics and the place where they had been exhumed. Being an experienced antiquarian, he recognized without diffi- eulty the character of the relics, and, summing up his observations, concluded that the piles had served as the supports of platforms on which the ancient inhabitants of this locality erected their dwellings, thus living above the surface of the water and at some distance from the shore, with which they communicated by means of a narrow bridge. To Dr. Keller, therefore, belongs the merit of having first pointed out the true character of lacustrine remains, and of having inaugurated a series of discoveries hardly surpassed in importance by any yet made in the domain of prehistoric archzeology.* It was now remembered that in times not long past, fishermen had lived in cabins built in the Limmat, a small river issuing from the Lake of Ziirich. The works of modern travelers were found to contain accounts of certain Asiatic and Polynesian populations who still inhabit buildings erected on piles in the water, thus perpetuating a custom prevailing in times beyond record and tradition in the lake-regions of Switzerland, and a passage in Herodotus, relating to the Pzeonians, a tribe that dwelled, 520 years before the Christian era, on Lake Prasias, in Thrace (modern Roumelia), was now often quoted as illustrative of the ancient Helvetian mode of life. There are also pile-dwellings in America.+ * The English version of Dr. Keller’s reports bears the title: The Lake Dwellings of Switzerland and other Parts of Europe, by Dr. Ferdinand Keller, President of the Antiquarian Association of Ztirich. Second Edition, greatly enlarged. Translated and arranged by John Edward Lee, F.S. A., F. G.S., Author of “Isca Silu- rum,’ ete. In two Volumes. London, 1878.—Hereafter I shall often have occasion to quote this translation. 7 Alonzo de Ojeda, a Spanish nobleman, who had been a companion of Columbus on his second expedition, undertook in 1499, independently, a voyage for the purpose of exploring the northern coast of South America. He was accompanied by the Florentine, Amerigo Vespucci, who has left an account of this voyage, from which Washington Irving derived the following statement: ‘‘ Proceeding along the coast, they arrived at a vast deep gulf, resembling a tranquil lake, entering which they beheld on the eastern side a village, the construction of which struck them with surprise. It consisted of twenty large houses, shaped like bells, and built on piles driven into the bottom of the lake, which in this part was limpid and of but little depth. Each house was provided with a draw-bridge and with canoes, by which the communication was carried on. From this resemblance to the Italian city, Ojeda gave the bay the name of the Gulf of Venice, and it is called at the present day Venezuela, or Little Venice; the Indian name was Coquibacoa.”’—Irving: The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus ; New York, 1859; Vol. IIT, p. 28. It is worthy of notice that in the Gulf (Lake) of Maracaibo, south of the Bay of Venezuela, and communi- cating with it, pile-buildings are still erected by the half-civilized Goajiro Indians. A German traveler, Mr. A. Goering, gives an account of a visit to these Indians in ‘Illustrated Travels” (Vol. IL, p. 19-21), an extract of which, accompanied by representations of the dwellings, is contained in Keller’s ‘‘ Lake Dwellings ’’ (Vol. I, p. 778-9). ‘* The houses, with low sloping roofs,’’.he says, ‘“‘ were like so many little cock-lofts perched on high over the shallow waters, and they were connected with each other by means of bridges, made of narrow planks, the split stems of palm-trees. ——— We were invited to enter one of the huts. To do this we had to perform a feat worthy of some of the monkeys in the neighboring woods, for we had to climb an upright pole by means of notches cut into its sides. Hach house, or cock-loft, consisted of two parts, the pent-roof shelter being partitioned oif in the middle; the front apartment served the double purpose of entrance-hall and kitchen, the rear apartment as a reception and dwelling-chamber, and I was not a little surprised to observe how clean it was kept. The floor LAKE-DWELLINGS. 39 When the results of Dr. Keller’s investigations became known by his writings, a general search for similar memorials of former times was made in the many lakes of the republic, and such unexpected success rewarded the efforts of the explorers, that more than three hundred lacustrine settlements are now known to exist in Switzerland and a part of Germany bordering on the Lake of Constance, and others have been discovered in the Lombardian lakes, in Savoy, Bavaria, Austria, Mecklenburg, Prussia, and in some districts of France, even at the foot of the Pyrenees. Hence it is evident that the habit of erecting dwellings in lakes was at one period widely spread over Europe. Nowhere, however, have these remains been found in greater number than in Switzerland, a country abounding in lakes, which naturally invited such aquatic colonies. In fact, the shore-lines of most of the Helvetian lakes are marked with the traces of these ancient habitations. In this connection should be mentioned the lakes of Neuchatel, Geneva, Constance, Bienne, Morat, Zug, Ztirich, Sempach, Pfaffikon (Canton of Ztirich), Moosseedorf (near Berne), Nussbaumen (Canton of Thurgau), Inkwyl (near Soleure, or Solothurn), and Wauwyl (Canton of Lucerne). The oldest lake-settlements date back to the neolithic period, and these, of course, are first to be considered in these pages. The pile-work at the bank of Lake Pfaffikon, near Robenhausen, for instance, has not yielded any articles of bronze, but some earthern crucibles containing lumps of melted bronze, and at Meilen only a bronze celt (or hatchet) and a bracelet of the same alloy were found; which facts demonstrate that these colonies still flourished at the time when bronze was introduced. There are inmany other lake-settlements in which, among hundreds of articles of stone, horn, bone, or wood, not the slightest trace of metal has occurred. These stations of the pure stone age are chiefly found in Eastern Switzerland. Most of those in the western lakes of the Helvetian republic have furnished articles both of stone and of bronze, and in some stations tools and weapons of iron, thought to be Gallic in character, and even coins and other objects of Roman origin, have come to light. It thus appears that these lacustrine colonies existed for a very long period, which was character- ized by remarkable changes in the condition of man, whose progress, whatever was formed of split stems of trees, set close together and covered with mats. Weapons and utensils were placed in order in the corners.’? Mr. Goering has also published a description of these Indian pile-dwellings in the “Gartenlaube”’ (1879, p. 404, ete.), with a good view of a group of the aquatic habitations. ‘Similar pile- buildings,” he observes, ‘are numerous along the shores of the lake ; they often form whole villages, which present a most curious aspect in a dark night, when the lighted huts are mirrored in the waters of the lake.”’? All this tends to verify Vespucci’s account. ‘Tribes at the mouth of the Orinoco and Amazon resort to pile-dwellings more or less similar to those here described.—See also a very good article by Dr. A. Ernst, entitled ‘“‘ Die Goajiro- Indianer,”’ in ‘‘ Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie,” Vol. II, 1870; p. 828, ete. The city of Mexico was originally a village built on piles, and other Aztec places situated near lakes were thus constructed. I am not aware that remains of aboriginal pile-dwellings have been noticed in the United States; but it would not at all be surprising to find them. Balize, a small pilot-town near the mouth of the Mississippi River, is built on piles. I saw this curious village in 1848. 40 PREHISTORIC FISHING. its causes may have been, can be traced in an uninterrupted line. Though some of the settlements are supposed to have been abandoned toward the beginning of the Christian era, it is notable that they are not mentioned by Czesar, who had become acquainted with the Helvetians by his wars, nor by Pliny, an author particularly fond of dwelling on details. No account, no tradition, alludes to these peculiar structures, which evidently were designed to protect their occu- pants from the attacks of wild beasts and human enemies. A detailed description of the lake-dwellings pertaining to neolithic times would be out of place in this publication, which is devoted to a special subject ; and I therefore confine myself to a general account of these early lacustrine structures. They were located in shallow places, and never very far from the shore, with which each communicated by means of a narrow bridge, as before stated. The upright piles were mostly whole stems of trees growing in the neighborhood, usually from four to eight inches in diameter, and roughly pointed at the lower end by means of fire or the stone hatchet. Upon these piles, brought to a level several feet above the water, and strengthened by cross-timbers, rested the platform, often merely composed of unbarked stems lying parallel to each other, but sometimes consisting of boards two inches thick, which were fastened with wooden pegs into the frame-work, thus forming an even and solid floor. The lacustrine settlement near the German village of Wangen, on the Untersee, the northwestern detached part of the Lake of Constance, contained from forty to fifty thousand posts, and formed a parallelogram seven hundred paces long and one hundred and twenty at Robenhausen, for instance—probably twice as many piles were required. When the bottom of the lake was rocky, or broad; but in other lake-villages afforded no sufficient hold to the stakes, stones were heaped up between and around them, in order to consolidate the erection. These stones, of course, had to be brought in boats to the designated spots. Some dwellings were not erected on piles, but on a kind of fascine-work, formed by layers of sticks and stems of trees, stones, and loam, built up from the bottom of the lake until the foundation was high enough to receive the platform. The upright piles found in these substructures only served to give them steadiness. These fascine-structures, reminding one of the Irish and Scottish crannogs, only occur in small lakes. The huts erected on the platforms, it has been ascertained, were mostly of a rectangular shape, and consisted of a wooden frame-work wattled with rods or twigs, and covered both inside and outside with a layer of clay from two to three inches thick. The roofs, it seems, were made of bark, straw, or rushes, the remains of which have often been found in a carbonized state. A plaster of clay mixed with gravel was spread on the floor of the hut to fill the chinks, and a rude hearth, composed of several slabs of sandstone, occupied the middle of each cabin. LAKE-DWELLINGS. 41 During the long occupation of the lacustrine villages many objects, no doubt, fell accidentally into the water; while large quantities of refuse, such as the bones of the consumed animals and broken clay vessels, were intentionally thrown over the platforms, and, as may be assumed, through the interstices of the stems or planks forming them. These heterogeneous accumulations became imbedded in the mud, forming what are now—ages afterward— called the archeological strata or relic-beds, upon which for many years the dredging-implements of antiquaries have operated, and brought to light the evidences of a most curious, long-forgotten phase of human existence. In a number of cases the bulk of these relic-beds has been increased by the ruin of the villages themselves, some of which, there can be no doubt, were consumed by fire. These conflagrations cannot have taken place in consequence of hostile attacks, because human skeletons are exceedingly scarce in the pile-works, and therefore must be ascribed to accidental ignitions, which were likely to befall wooden straw-roofed huts, each of them provided with an open hearth, probably blazing most of the time. When such calamities happened, many articles fell into the water in a charred state, and were preserved to our days, owing to the almost indestructible nature of carbonized substances. Several Swiss lakes have much decreased in extent, and their ancient shores are fringed with formations of peat, which now inclose in some instances the remains of lacustrine villages formerly surrounded by water. Such is the case at Moosseedorf, near Berne; at Wauwyl, in the Canton of Lucerne; and at Robenhausen, on the Lake of Pfaffikon, where the owner of the celebrated pile-work, Mr. Jacob Messikommer, has been successfully engaged for years in extracting relics of the early lacustrine period from moor-ground and peat. The builders of the early pile-works, it must beadmitted, were an intelligent and industrious people, who applied to the utmost the scanty means which their primitive state of civilization offered them. They pursued hunting and fishing, but devoted themselves also to agriculture and the raising of cattle; they were skillful workers in stone, horn, bone, and wood, practised the art of pottery to a great extent, and produced very creditable tissues, employing a loom of simple construction. The various occupations of the lake-men, and the fact of their living in close communities, indicate no small degree of social order, which necessitated submission to the decrees of chiefs or a majority of the people. They employed flint and jasper in the manufacture of arrow and spear-heads, hardly distinguishable from those found in the United States, scrapers, saws, and various cutting and piercing-tools. Some of the saws, mostly two or three inches long, still retain their wooden handles, into which they were cemented with asphaltum, a substance also employed for fastening arrow-heads in their shafts. Quite frequent are the ground celts or wedge-shaped hatchets, made of serpentine, gabbro, hornblende-rock, diorite, syenite, and other kinds of tough R6 42 PREHISTORIC FISHING. stone, and doubtless used for various purposes. Some, which represent chisels, were set in pieces of deer-horn, hollowed at one end for receiving the blade, and forming convenient handles. Larger ones served as axe-heads, being either in- serted directly into the thick end of a wooden club, or into an intermediate deer- horn socket worked into a square form at the upper end, to fit into a corresponding cavity of the wooden shaft. These statements are not conjectural, a few complete axes, blade and shaft united, having been discovered in the pile-works. At Meilen and other lacustrine stations there have been found celts made of nephrite and jadeite, hard mineral substances, not known to occur in Europe, but not uncommon in different parts of Asia. Some, who ascribe the lacustrine settle- ments to new-comers from abroad, have suggested that they imported these implements, which doubtless were much valued on account of their hardness and greenish color. Various lake-villages of the stone age have furnished well-shaped stone axes pierced for the insertion of handles. Among other stone objects found in the pile-works may be mentioned slabs of hard sandstone upon which the celts, ete., were ground, grain-crushers, and flat or more or less concave slabs used in connection with them, hammers in the shape of pebbles of suitable form and little or not at all modified by art, net-sinkers, and spindle-whorls. Most varied were the uses the lake-men made of the horns, bones, and teeth of animals. The horns of the stag were made into the handles and celt-sockets already mentioned; stout pieces of this material, perforated with holes for holding wooden handles, served, according to the manner in which their ends were fashioned, as hammers, hatchets, or hoes; and the antler was sometimes converted into a weapon or a hoe by the removal of the prongs, excepting that near the brow. Bones furnished the material for arrow and_ spear-heads, poniards, chisels, scrapers, piercers, needles with or without eyes, fishing- implements, and other articles. The teeth of the bear and the tusks of the wild boar were utilized for similar purposes, the latter, for instance, to serve as cutting or scraping-tools, after the inner curve had been ground to an edge. The lake-dwellers, like the men of palzeolithic times, wore the perforated teeth of certain animals as trophies or amulets. The number of objects of wood preserved in peat and water shows how extensively that material was used by the lake-dwellers. They consist of handles and shafts for implements, maces resembling that with which Hercules is usually represented, mallets used in driving the piles and for other purposes, bows, threshing-flails, ladles, dippers, bowls, tubs,* and boats made of a single trunk ; besides knife-shaped tools, combs, primitive racks for suspending apparel and utensils, and various other objects. That pottery was abundantly made even in the lake-settlements of earliest * These vessels bear a great resemblance to the woodenware of the same class made at the present time. LAKE-DWELLINGS. 43 date is proved by the great number of sherds scattered over their sites. Entire vessels also have been found, partly flat-bottomed. The material is mostly unpurified clay mixed with coarse gravel, pounded granite, small fragments of shells, or charcoal. The vessels are of rather rude appearance, and slightly baked, probably in an open fire. Yet attempts at decoration are not wanting, some of the vessels being encircled by knobs below the rim, or showing rows of impressions made with the finger* or some blunt tool; while in other cases lines are traced with an implement or by pressing a cord on the soft clay. Most of the pottery has a blackish appearance, owing to a coating with some dark pigment. There is evidence that vessels of larger size were used for storing grain, apples, and other provisions. This pottery can hardly be distinguished from that formerly made by the Indians in the eastern half of the present United States. Not the least interesting among the lacustrine relics, preserved in conse- quence of their carbonization, are the twisted, plaited, and woven manufactures, which were found at various stations, but especially at Robenhausen and Wangen. A kind of short flax was cultivated by the lake-men, and used most extensively in the fabrication not only of thread, cordage, and nets for fishing, and probably for hunting, but also of different sorts of linen cloth, some with inwoven patterns, a fact proving that they employed a loom. Numerous spindle-whorls, either of stone or of clay, bear witness to the common practice of spinning. The lake-people doubtless dressed to a great extent in woven garments; but it may be assumed that they also employed the prepared skins of animals for that purpose. Indeed, fragments of leather have been found at Robenhausen. During the early lacustrine period hunting still furnished in no small degree the means of subsistence, as shown by the large number of bones of wild animals found on the sites of the ancient lake-villages. Professor Rutimeyer, of Basel, has carefully investigated the fauna of those times, which, on the whole, corresponds to that of our days, though certain species of animals now no longer found in Switzerland then inhabited that country. The urus and aurochs, or bison, were hunted by the lake-men, or perhaps caught by them in pitfalls. The elk, an animal not known to have lived in Switzerland in historical times, still roamed through the woods; but the reindeer, it is hardly necessary to repeat, had migrated northward in search of a colder climate. The stag and wild boar, both no longer living in Switzerland, were much hunted by the lake-dwellers, and their bones indicate animals of very large size. Another species of wild hog, differing from the wild boar proper, and called the ‘“ marsh- hog” by Riitimeyer, is represented by numerous remains in the pile-works. * The impressions indicate small hands. The lacustrine ceramic art, it may be assumed, was practised by women, as it was, and still is, among the North American Indians. 44 PREHISTORIC FISHING. Bones of the roe-deer are far less abundant than those of the stag. The hare, it seems, formed no article of diet among these people, owing, perhaps, to the same prejudice which caused the men of the Danish kj6kkenméddings to abstain from its flesh. Among the carnivores may be mentioned the brown bear, wolf, and fox, the last-named of which occurs frequently in the settlements under notice, and was eaten by the lake-men, as proved by the condition of its bones. The lake-dwellers possessed a species of domestic dog of middle size, which they seem to have much valued, if the fact that it was not used as food, unless in cases of extreme need, warrants such a conclusion. Remains of the horse are exceedingly scarce in the settlements of the stone age; but two kinds of cattle were common during that period, one of them small, and called ‘ marsh-cow ”’ by Professor Riitimeyer; the second species, larger in size, is supposed by this author to have descended from the urus. The other domesticated animals were goats and sheep. ‘Traces of the tamed hog are almost entirely wanting in the oldest settlements of the stone age; but they become more numerous in later periods of lacustrine occupancy. It has been ascertained beyond doubt that the tamed animals were brought for shelter to the lake-villages, where they were kept in stalls distributed between the huts. The large bones of quadrupeds are nearly always broken or split for extracting the marrow. Remains of domestic fowl have not been discovered. The wild birds which have left their traces in the deposits around the piles, all pertaining to the present fauna of Switzerland, are wild ducks, geese, swans, water-hens, grouse, and some other species of the feathered tribe. They evidently were objects of the chase. The amphibians are represented by the common water-turtle (Cistudo europea), still occasionally found in Swiss lakes, two species of frog and one of toad. The remains of fishes, which, as may be expected, are numerous, will be considered in a separate section, in accordance with the plan adopted in this publication. Carbonized vegetable remains have been preserved in great abundance and variety, to assist, as it were, in elucidating the mode of life of those ancient lake-villagers. ‘They undoubtedly raised barley, wheat, and millet, several kinds of each of these cereals having been found in the lacustrine deposits. Some of these species of grain were cultivated in Egypt, and therefore are believed to have found their way from that country to Switzerland. Rye was not known to the colonists, and oats not before bronze had come into use. Barley and wheat appear either in grains, sometimes in considerable quantities, or, more rarely, in the shape of ears; and even carbonized wheat-bread, in which the bran and the imperfectly-crushed grains can be distinctly seen, has been found at Roben- hausen and Wangen. This unleavened prehistoric bread, which is very coarse and compact, mostly occurs in fragments, but sometimes in the form of roundish cakes, about an inch or an inch and a half thick, and four or five inches or more in diameter, and was doubtless baked by placing the dough on hot stones, and FISH-REMAINS. 45 covering it over with glowing ashes. Millet was employed in a similar manner for making bread. It is probable, however, that the lake-people consumed their farinaceous food chiefly in the shape of porridge. Carbonized apples of small size, identical with those growing wild in the woods of Switzerland, have been found abundantly, and in a tolerable state of preservation. They are often cut in halves, more rarely in three or four parts, and were evidently dried for consumption during winter. Whether a larger kind of apple, found at Robenhausen, was a cultivated or a wild-growing species, remains undecided. Professor Oswald Heer, of Ziirich, who has published an interesting work on lacustrine vegetable remains, inclines to the former view. Wild pears were treated in the same manner; but they are far less common than apples, which must have formed a much-sought article of diet. Among other vegetable remains accumulated in the lake-mud may be mentioned hazel- nuts and beech-nuts, both in great plenty ; also water-chestnuts, which doubtless were collected and eaten by the lake-men, as they are in Upper Italy at this day. Their presen t occurrence in Switzerland appears to be restricted to a tarn in the Canton of Lucerne. There have further been found the stones of sloes, bird- cherries and wild plums, and seeds of the raspberry, blackberry, and strawberry, showing that these fruits of the forest were used as food. Excepting peas, no culinary vegetables have appeared in the stone-age settlements. Allusion having been made to the cultivation of flax, it may further be stated that hemp was totally unknown to the lake-dwellers, even to those of a later period. According to Dr. Keller, the lake-colonists of the stone age drew their sustenance chiefly from the vegetable kingdom. Their animal food was acquired by hunting rather than by the breeding of cattle, considering that in the accumulations around the piles the bones of wild animals outnumber those of the domestic species. In the bronze-yielding pile-works, it will be seen, the propor- tion is reversed. Fish-remains—People living upon lakes plentifully stocked with fish, it can be imagined, availed themselves of all means in their power for capturing them, and the numerous remains of fishes discovered on the sites of the ancient lacustrine villages bear witness to the extent of their efforts in that direction. Not only the bones of fishes, but also their scales, the latter even in a good state of preservation, have been extracted from the lake-mud. ‘With respect to fishes,” says Professor Riitimeyer, ‘‘ many species were found which are now the most abundant in our lakes and rivers.” The following are mentioned :— The salmon (Salmo salar, Lin.), the pike (Hsow luctus, Lin.), the perch (Perca fluviatilis, Lin.), the carp (Cyprinus carpio, Lin.), the dace (Cyprinus * Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. I, p. 537. 46 PREHISTORIC FISHING. leuciscus, Lin.), the chub (Cyprinus dobula, Nilss.), the nase (Chondrostoma nasus, [Lin.] Agass.), the burbot (Lota vulgaris, Jen.), and the rud (Scardinius erythro- phthalmus, (Lin.] Bon.).* Pike of very large size are mentioned. Fish-remains were most abundant at the stations of Robenhausen and Moosseedorf. Fishing-implements——The relics directly referable to fishing, which have been discovered in the lacustrine relic-beds, render it certain that the ancient lake-dwellers fished with the line and with nets, and there can hardly be any doubt that they speared fish. Their mode of life rendered the use of boats necessary, and some of them, indeed, have been preserved to our time. Such pointed bone rods as probably were used during the reindeer-period, instead of real fish-hooks, oceur frequently in the deposits around the piles of ancient lake-villages, and no doubts are entertained as to their use. Dr. Keller, in treating of the antiquities found at Wangen, déscribes them in these words :— “Tishing-implements made of bone. These occur very abundantly. A straight pin or shank is cut away a little, or has an incision round it in the middle, to which the fishing-line is attached, and then the little pin is quite covered over with the bait; when swallowed it cannot easily be got rid of by the fish. This plan is now in use on the Untersee for catching ducks.”+ Fic. 39.—Wangen. Fic. 40.—Wangen. Fic. 41.—Lake of Neuchatel. Fic, 42.—Lake of Neuchatel. Ait Fics. 89-42.—Double-pointed bone implements. * Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. I, p 544. + Ibid.; Vol. I, p. 71.—‘‘ M. de la Blanchére tells us that in France a similar form of instrument is used for catching eels. A straight piece of elder is taken, a needle pointed at both ends is passed through it; this is baited, and so eels are caught.”-—Barnet Phillips: Transactions of the American Tish Cultural Association, New York, 1879; p. 53. DOUBLE-POINTED BONE IMPLEMENTS. 47 The lake-people may have used them for catching fish as well as aquatic birds. Figs. 39 and 40 represent such fishing-implements from Wangen.* Their character is so plainly expressed by the illustrations that a description becomes superfluous. There are several pointed bones of this character in the archzeo- logical collection of the United States National Museum. I give in Figs 41 and 42 representations of two of them, which were obtained from one of the pile- works in the Lake of Neuchatel. However, I would not assert that their apph- cation really was that of bait-holders, considering the absence of notches or grooves in the middle. 1 2 Fig. 43.—Bone arrow-head (?). Saint-Aubin. M. Henri Le Hon believes that somewhat curved specimens of this class served as arrow-heads, being attached to the end of the shaft in a manner to form both point and barb, as indicated by Fig. 48, which is copied from his work.; The original, he states, was obtained from the stone-age settlement near Saint-Aubin, in the Lake of Neuchatel. If it really is as represented, all doubts as to its use must cease; but the design, for aught I know, may show an imagi- nary connection of point and shaft. Real fish-hooks, made of horn, bone, and boars’ tusks, approaching modern forms, and, in some cases, objects of less characteristic shapes, but supposed to represent fish-hooks, are not wanting in the lacustrine deposits of early date. Yet they appear to occur in limited number, only a few being figured in Dr. Keller’s work. Fortunately I derive some aid from the reports on the International Fishery Exhibition, held at Berlin in 1880, in which delineations of some Swiss hooks are given. * Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. II, Plate XIV, Figs. 23 and 24. + Le Hon: L’Homme Fossile en Europe; fifth edition ; Brussels and Paris ; 1877, p. 215. (Seep. 14, first note). 48 PREHISTORIC FISHING. Fig. 44 is a reproduction of one of the represented specimens characterized as fish-hooks.* It was found at Wangen, and is said to consist of bone; If, indeed, the object was applied as a fish-hook, it can, of course, only have served for catching larger kinds of fish. HI BI Fia. 44.—Wangen. Fic. 45.—Moosseedorf. Fic. 46.—Moosseedorf. Fras. 44-46.—Fish-hooks of deer-horn and boars’ tusks. The original of Fig. 45 is described by Dr. Keller as “a fish-hook made of the tusk of a wild boar.”{ To judge from the illustration, the specimen, which was obtained at Moosseedorf, is in its present form of rather unpromising appearance; but it seems that a portion of the hook has been removed by fracture. While complete, it may have fulfilled its purpose well enough. There can be no doubt as to the character of the original of Fig. 46, which was also found at Moosseedorf, and is thus described :—‘ Fish-hook made of a boar’s tusk; it was manufactured in the following manner: two holes were bored through it, the space between them was cleared away, and the whole was then finished by scraping-tools.’’§ Figs. 47 and 48 are reproductions of designs representing two well-defined bone fish-hooks from Wangen, somewhat resembling that just described. The shanks, however, show no incision for the attachment of a line, as in the preceding case. They were exhibited at Berlin in 1880.|| * Amtliche Berichte tiber die Internationale Fischerei-Ausstellung zu Berlin, 1880.—Wissenschaftliche Abtheilung. Geschichte der Fischerei (von E. Friedel); Berlin, 1881; p. 128, Fig. 82. + The material is doubtless deer-horn. { Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. I, p. 88; Vol. II, Plate V, Fig. 14. § Ibid.; Vol. I, p. 39; Vol. II, Plate XXII, Fig. 5. || Amtliche Berichte; p. 128, Figs. 80 and 81. TFISH-HOOKS. 49 The original of Fig. 49, which is copied from Keller’s “ Lake Dwellings,” * has been regarded as a double fish-hook. This specimen, made of deer-horn, was found at the station of Saint-Aubin. I will not attempt to decide whether it served as a fishing-implement or for some other purpose. Fic. 47.—Wangen. Fic. 48.—Wangen. Fic. 49.—Saint-Aubin. Fics. 47-49.—Bone and deer-horn fish-hooks. None of the hooks here represented are barbed, though the perforations in Figs. 46, 47, and 48 leave projections which partake to some extent of the character of barbs. The lake-men unquestionably used stone sinkers for deep-water fishing with hook and line; but as it is in many cases impossible to draw a line of demarcation between line and net-weights, I shall subsequently refer to them when treating of the objects characterized as sinkers. Small pieces of bark of oval or rectangular, and sometimes of rather irregular, outline, pierced with one hole, or with two, which have been called floats for nets, are not unfrequent in some of the lacustrine relic-beds. The objects of this class figured in Keller’s “ Lake Dwellings” apppear to be too small to have been used for floating nets, and the same holds good for the specimens in the collection of the United States National Museum as well as in my own, which latter were obtained at Robenhausen, and sent to me by Mr. Messikommer, many years ago, among a series of relics from that locality. Larger ones, however, suitable for buoying nets, are in the collection of the Peabody Museum of American Archeology and Ethnology, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, and one of them will be described by me hereafter. I am of opinion that the smaller objects of the class here considered were employed as floats for fishing-lines, taking the place of the cork floats used in our days. Figs. 50 and 51 represent specimens in my collection. The original of Fig. 50 * Vol. II, Plate XLIII, Fig. 14. R7 50 PREHISTORIC FISHING. is a flat piece of bark, not quite three-eighths of an inch in thickness, and pierced with a hole nearly in the middle. Fig. 51 shows a form like that of a boat with truncated ends. In this instance a hole is placed near each extremity. RR Fia. 50. Fic. 51, Fries. 50 and 51.—Bark floats. Robenhausen. The lower surface is flat, the upper one, seen in the figure, irregularly convex. The two holes would have facilitated the sliding of the float along the fishing-line, before fastening it at the desired distance from the hook. ‘There are two bark floats of this shape in the archzeological collection of the United States National Museum, both likewise from Robenhausen. ag 2 Fia. 52.—Robenhausen. Fie. 53.—Robenhausen, Fie. 54.—* Arpion.” Frias. 52-54—Wooden implements used for recovering fishing-lines. In connection with the line-fishing of the lake-men I have to describe a rather numerous class of simple wooden implements which bear much resem- blance to the twirling-sticks used in making chocolate. They consist of a piece of a small tree-stem with the stumps of the lateral branches projecting from its lower end. Fig. 52 represents an object of this kind from Robenhausen, which is apparently much better preserved than others from the same locality.* I * Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. II, Plate X, Fig. 12. ARPIONS. 51 possess myself two of them and have seen others, all of which present a much rougher appearance than the specimen here figured. I place alongside of it, as Fig. 53, the representation of one, also from Robenhausen, which was sent to the Berlin Fishery Exhibition in 1880.* It shows the character of these objects much better than Fig. 52. “These implements, which are not at all uncommon at Robenhausen, are of peculiar interest; at first they were considered as implements used for the churning or manufacturing of butter, but M. Rochat Maure, the engineer of Geneva, in the following notice, has clearly shown that they are to be considered as fishing-implements :— ‘The fishermen who at the present day use implements of this kind live, while the fish are going up, on the banks of the river Arve, well known for its cold and rushing stream. They pass the night almost like savages, under huts made of twigs, and their small subsistence is extremely precarious. They catch the fish in the following manner :—To one end of a cord, the length of a stone’s throw, they fasten a roundish flat stone, and to the other end a heavier stone of any convenient form. To this main cord they tie at intervals thinner strings with hooks at the end, and from three to five feet long. The heavy stone is then let down into the water from the boat at the side of the bank, but the other stone is thrown as far as possible straight across the stream towards the opposite bank. Early in the morning these cords are drawn up and examined, the implement used for this purpose being exactly like those found at Robenhausen. It is in fact the top of a young fir-tree with the branches springing from the main stem like radii. A cord is fastened to the upper end of this kind of hook, and in order to make it sink, some leaden rings or hooks are fastened to the main stem: it goes by the name of arpion amongst the fishermen. It is thrown into the water from the boat, and when drawn up, brings with it the thinner cords which have the hooks at the end. As the settlers at Robenhausen had no lead, it is possible that the perforated stones found in that settlement may have been used to sink these implements. — — — This implement is of great interest with respect to the history of civilization, for it proves that implements which have actually derived their origin from the highest antiquity are at the present moment used in precisely the same manner.”} Fig. 54 represents the arpion, which measures about eight inches in length. Nearly related to this simple applance in form and function, though more complicated and entirely made of iron, is the ‘“‘devil’s claw grapnel” (Hig. 55), used by New England fishermen to recover fishing-lines from the bottom of the * Amtliche Berichte; p. 130, Fig. 96. + Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. I, p. 53. { Ibid. ; Vol. I, p. 54. 52 PREHISTORIC FISHING. sea, When the buoys marking the position of the set lines or trawls have been lost or submerged by the action of violent winds and waves. It is generally employed on the outer fishing-banks lying off the East Coast of North America, in depths varying from twenty-five to over one hundred fathoms. The operation is as follows: one end of a long line—generally six-thread Manilla hemp buoy- line—is fastened to the long link at the extremity of the apparatus. This done, the implement is thrown out of the boat, and so much line veered out that the grapnel will “ hug” the bottom, while the dory is being pulled along. Ordinarily two men row the boat during this operation of dragging for the lost gear, while another sits at the stern with his hand on the line, in order to be able to tell more surely than he otherwise could when the trawl-line is hooked. If the depth of water exceeds fifty fathoms, it is generally necessary to fasten an additional weight on the line, two or three fathoms distant from the grapnel, for the purpose of keeping the latter close to the bottom.* Fie. 55.— Devil’s claw grapnel.” Massachusetts. (54542). It has been stated that the lake-people doubtless obtained fish by the method of spearing—a supposition based upon the discovery of lacustrine barbed dart- - heads of horn and bone, well suited for that purpose. Some of them may have been the armatures of hunting-spears, although, as we have seen, the lake- dwellers were experts in the fabrication of weapon-heads of flint and jasper. The original of Fig. 56, made of stag-horn, certainly bears the character of a harpoon-head. This specimen was found at the station of Saint-Aubin, and belonged to the collection of M. de Mortillet.+ Fig. 57 represents another harpoon-head of deer-horn, likewise found at Saint-Aubin, and formerly in the possession of Dr. Clement, whose collection was acquired by the Peabody Museum. It appears that Professor Desor considers this specimen as a fish-hook, an opinion which I can hardly share.f * For this information I am indebted to Captain Joseph W. Collins, of the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries. + The illustration is reproduced from ‘ Reliquize Aquitanice,’’ IT, p. 51, Fig. 11. + Desor: Palafittes, or Lacustrian Constructions, in the Lake of Neuchatel; Smithsonian Report for 1865; p. 857. Fig. 57 is a reproduction of Fig. 11 a on the same page.—I could not identify this specimen among the Swiss harpoon-heads sent to me for examination by the trustees of the Peabody Museum. HARPOON-HEADS. 53 Mr. Friedel figures a lacustrine object of almost the same shape, which he designates—correctly, I think—as a harpoon-head. To its shank still adheres the bituminous substance by which it was fastened into a shaft.* Fig. 58 repre- SSS = Se = = = = Fia. 56. Fia. 57. Fia. 58. Figs. 56-58.—Deer-horn harpoon-heads. Saint-Aubin. sents a fine deer-horn harpoon-head of kindred character from Saint-Aubin, which is preserved in the Peabody Museum (No. 5232. C). A smaller one, four and one-fourth inches in length, derived from the same locality, and likewise in *Amtliche Berichte; p. 130, Fig. 97. 54 PREHISTORIC FISHING. the above-named institution, has adhering to its shank a small fragment of the wooden shaft into which it was inserted. Fia. 59.—Concise. Fic. 60.—Concise. Fra. 61.—Wauwyl. Fics. 59-61—Harpoon-heads of bone and deer-horn. Fig. 59 shows a very carefully worked bone harpoon-head, exhibited at Berlin in 1880.* The locality from which the specimen was derived is not named; but the same object, it appears, is figured, with other similar ones, on a smaller scale, in Dr. Keller’s work,; as well as in that of M. Fréd. Troyon.t They are there denominated bone arrow-heads, and the Concise settlement in the Lake of Neuchatel is mentioned as the locality where the specimens were obtained. These objects are attributed to the stone period, though the lake- village in question still flourished after the introduction of bronze. The shank of Fig. 59, it will be seen, is very artistically notched, and if its form is cylin- drical or rod-like, as the delineation suggests, the notches may have served for the reception of bitumen by which the head was fastened in a socket-like cavity at the end of the shaft. There are, indeed, no very strong indications that the * Amtliche Berichte; p. 128, Fig. 85. + Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol, II, Plate CIII, Figs. 16, 17, and 18. { Troyon: Habitations Lacustres des Temps Anciens et Modernes ; Lausanne, 1860; Plate VI, Figs. 3, 4, and 5. HARPOON-HEADS. 55 lake-men used harpoons with detachable heads; but they may nevertheless have employed them. v . . ~ ~ © . 7 o7 "a 7 7 a pate - : - , The armatures thus far described exhibit only a single barb; in Fig. 60 a series of unilateral barbs is seen. The specimen, made of deer-horn, was found at Concise.* Passing over to harpoon-like armatures with bilateral barbs, I give in Fig 2. 61 the representation of a specimen of deer-horn, found at Wauwyl. It shows three sharply-cut barbs on each side, and appears to be of a flattish form.+ "| ta) fy fi = (Rae he Ab halt) NO BAS i JR iy y Dyn 4 of Oa iN} Pady sth 1 2 Fic. 63. Fras. 62-64.—Deer-horn harpoon-heads. Lattringen. Figs. 62, 63, and 64 are delineations of deer-horn harpoon-heads obtained by Dr. Gross from the Lattringen stone and bronze-age settlement in the Lake of Bienne. They are all perforated at the lower ends, which terminate abruptly. * Troyon: Habitations Lacustres ; Plate VI, Fig. 25. + Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. II, Plate XX, Fig. 26. 56 PREHISTORIC FISHING. The original of Fig. 62 is characterized by Dr. Gross as “a large harpoon, nearly eight and three-fourths inches long; it has eleven barbs, is perforated at the base, and has been skillfully made out of a fragment of stag’s horn.”* The barbs are rather blunt. Fig. 63 represents a very fine specimen, thus described by Dr. Gross in “ Matériaux”: “A large harpoon of deer-horn, twenty-two centi- meters in length, provided with six very sharp barbs, and perforated at the base for being fastened to a wooden shaft by means of a peg (cheville).”+ Dr. Gross, consequently, does not regard these harpoon-heads as detachable armatures. If the perforations had served for receiving a line they probably would not have been placed so near the lower end. Tig. 64 shows a shorter harpoon-head of similar character, with only one barb on each side. A deer-horn: harpoon-head resembling very much the original of Fig. 64, and nearly of the same length, is preserved in the Peabody Museum. It was found at Saint-Aubin, and belonged to the Clement collection. It may be assumed that one of the methods employed by the lake-people for obtaining fish was that of shooting them with arrows—barbed points of bone, horn, and stone, well suited to form the armatures of such arrows, having been found on the sites of the ancient lake-villages. Fic. 65.—Saint-Aubin. Fic. 66.—Robenhausen. Fic. 67.—Bodio. Fics. 65-67.—Arrow-heads of horn and flint. An arrow-head from Saint-Aubin, consisting of stag-horn, and according to the illustration, still connected with a portion of the shaft, is represented by Tig. 65. It has only one barb, and is certainly of a shape suggestive of fish- shooting. Fig. 66 shows the form of a barbed flint point from Robenhausen, which might have been used with advantage as the head of an arrow designed * Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. I, p. 450; Vol. II, Plate XLII, Fig. 1. + Gross: Derniéres Trouyailles dans les Habitations Lacustres du Lac de Bienne; Matériaux; Vol. XV, 1880; p. 10. Representations of the two harpoon-heads on Plate II, Figs. 1 and 2. { Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. II, Plate XLIITI, Fig. 12. FISHING-NETS. Ol for the fish-hunt.* I am uncertain whether Figs. 65 and 66 are drawn in full or fractional size, no statements indicating the scale being made in the translation of Dr. Keller’s work.+ In Fig. 67 I present the delineation of a similar flint arrow-head from the stone and bronze-yielding station near Bodio, on the Lake of Varese, in Lombardy. In this instance, too, the size is not mentioned; but it is probably the natural one.t It hardly need be re- marked that the stone arrow-heads here figured may just as well have belonged to hunting, or, perhaps, even to war-arrows. I have simply dealt in probabilities in guardedly assigning to them another use. SSR se) re q Fic. 68.—Fragment of fishing-net. Robenhausen (?). There can be no doubt that the lake-dwellers fished with nets. Owing to peculiar circumstances, known to the reader, many fabrics of flax have been preserved in the relic-beds, and among these are fragments of nets made exactly like those used in our time. But even in the absence of these fragments the occurrence of real net-sinkers would furnish sufficient ground for the assertion. “Of netted manufacture,” it is said, “the most simple form are the nets, which vary considerably, both in the strength of the cord and in the size of the meshes, according to the purposes for which they were designed, and yet they seem all to have been made in the same manner.”’§ It would be strange, indeed, if primitive people had employed different methods in making nets, whatever their destination might have been. There are but two delineations of net-fragments given in Dr. Keller’s work, one of which is here reproduced as Fig. 68.|| The meshes of this * Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. II, Plate XIII, Fig. 13. + Unfortunately this is too often the case in that publication, and greatly diminishes its scientific value. { Keller: Lake-Dwellings; Vol. II, Plate CLXIJ, Fig. 1. § Ibid.; Vol. I, p. 510. || _Ibid.; Vol. II, Plate CKRXXVI, Fig. 2. R8 58 PREHISTORIC FISHING. net, which is made of strong cord, are not quite three-eighths of an inch in width, and hence it was well suited for fishing-purposes. The other figured fragment of a net has meshes no less than two inches wide, and is therefore—with good reason, I believe—designated as a remnant of a hunting-net. The plate from which Fig. 68 is copied shows designs of flax fabrics from Robenhausen and Wangen, but the locality where each object was obtained is not specialized, either on the plate or, as far as I could discover, in the text and the list of illustrations. Of course, any attempt at speculating on the character of the nets employed by the lake-dwellers would be fruitless. The few remaining fragments certainly give us no clue. It is likely that they used the primitive and almost universal seine-net while fishing near the shore; in deep water they may have followed other methods. We only know that they used nets, and must be satisfied with that information. Net-sinkers are frequently mentioned in the translation of Dr. Keller’s work, but in many cases not sufficiently described and rarely figured. There are sometimes doubts expressed whether stone objects of a certain form are to be considered as sinkers or sling-stones; and the same vagueness prevails with regard to pierced cones of baked clay, which are thought to have served either as net-sinkers or as weights in the process of weaving. Se ee Fic. 69,—Allensbach. Fia. 70.—Allensbach. Fia. 71.—Estavayer. Fras. 69-71.—Stone sinkers. SINKERS. 59 Before entering upon a description of lacustrine sinkers, I would draw attention to the fact that only such as are found in settlements of the pure stone age can with certainty be regarded as neolithic, provided they occur under cir- cumstances excluding the possibility of later intrusion. Those from stations pertaining to the ages of stone and bronze may belong to either. It is evident that the transition from stone to bronze would not have changed the character of the sinkers. Indeed, net-weights of stone and clay are even at present in use among uncivilized and civilized peoples. Allusion was already made to the difficulty, or rather impossibility, of distinguishing in many instances between sinkers for lines and such as served as net-weights, Yet European archzeologists mostly refer to net-sinkers only. I have no doubt that the originals of Figs. 69 and 70* were used as sinkers. They certainly resemble the commonest North American aboriginal net-weights, consisting of water-worn flat pebbles notched on opposite sides, the notches being produced by blows. The originals of Figs. 69 and 70, which are derived from the stone-age station of Allensbach, on the Untersee (Baden), are described as “flat, almost unworked rolled stones, from four to five lines thick and from three and a half to four inches in length, showing no further traces of workmanship than the hollows or furrows at @ and 6.”’+ It is not even stated whether the indentations are produced by blows or by grinding, and the designs—here faith- fully copied—consist of mere outlines, which fail to indicate the precise character of the specimens. The original of Fig, 71,{ from the stone and bronze-age station near Estavayer, on the Lake of Neuchatel, is mentioned as one of the stones com- monly called “sling-stones.”§ Yet there are undoubted North American sink- stones of exactly the same form; and quite similar ones found in Europe, apart from lake-dwellings, are pronounced sinkers by competent archzeologists, as will be shown in the sequel. I would unhesitatingly ascribe that character to the figured specimen. A few stone dises or dise-like pebbles, with a central perforation, which may have served as net-sinkers, are figured in Keller’s ‘“ Lake Dwellings;” but instead of copying any of his illustrations, I give in Figs. 72 and 73, on the fol- lowing page, designs of originals in the Peabody Museum, at Cambridge. Fig. 72 is an irregular flat disc of gray sandstone, half an inch in thickness, and exhibiting a rough surface, which latter circumstance renders it difficult to decide whether the stone has been artificially modified or not. The hole in the middle * Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. II, Plate XXIV, Figs. 1 and 4. + Ibid.; Vol. I, p. 99. t Ibid.; Vol. II, Plate XCVII, Fig. 12. § Ibid. ; Vol. I, p. 265. 60 PREHISTORIC FISHING. is drilled from both sides. This specimen (No. 4991. A) was obtained at the Saint-Aubin station. The original of Fig. 73 (No. 4991. B) is a somewhat flat- ee Fie. 73. Fies. 72 and 73.—Stone sinkers(?). Saint-Aubin. tish oval pebble of compact gray sandstone (molasse), with a central perforation sunk from both sides, and of bi-conical form. It was likewise found at Saint-Aubin. [oe Fig. 74.—Saint-Aubin. Fig. 75.—Nidau-Steinberg. Fic. 76.—Inkwyl. Fics. 74-76.—Sinkers (?) of stone and clay. There are in the Peabody Museum smaller pebbles, perforated, but not in the centre, which are almost too light to have served as net-sinkers, but which may have been used in connection with fishing-lines, if they were not designed for other purposes. One of them (No. 4991.G), found at Saint-Aubin, is here represen- ted as Fig. 74. It is a small water-worn stone of pale-gray color and calcareous character, pierced with a straight cylindrical hole. In Fig. 75 I represent one of the clay cones to which reference was made.* * Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. II, Plate XX XVIII, Fig. 16. SINKERS. 61 It belongs to the large series of objects derived from the important Nidau- Steinberg settlement in the Lake of Bienne. « Many objects of stone, bone, and pottery which have been obtained there, and which mark the commencement of the civilization of man in our districts, show that it was a settlement in the earliest period; but its existence was prolonged up to the time when bronze was commonly employed for implements; nay, it even outlasted this period, and reached that when iron came into use.” The clay cones are thus described :— “The things which commonly go by these names—sink-stones (sic) or weights— are about four and a half inches high, of a conical form, and are about four or four and a half in diameter at the base; they were made without any care and of common clay. The fact that they are perforated towards the point of the cone and that they were found at a fishing-station, seems to argue for the correctness of the common designation; but subsequent investigations have proved that many at least of these clay cones were simply weights used in weaving.”+ This theory was first advanced by Mr. Paur, a ribbon-manufacturer of Ziirich, who constructed a weaving-apparatus by which he made the various kinds of linen cloth found in the lake-settlements. ‘And, as a further proof, he showed from indubitable evidence that the clay cones are to be considered as constituent parts of the looms of the lake-dwellings. If further proof were wanting, it may be given in the fact that in several rooms lately excavated by Mr. Messikommer at Robenhausen, at least half a dozen of these clay cones were found in each, so that weaving must have been carried on there to a great extent.”t This sounds very plausible, but it does not carry conviction with it. Mr. Paur’s reconstructed loom,§ which, by the way, bears a striking resemblance to one in the Archzeological Museum at Copenhagen,|| is by no means an absolutely simple contrivance, but rather complicated when compared with the simple looms of modern Indians of the West, who produce textile fabrics certainly as good as those of the Swiss lake-men. The Pima Indians on the Gila River, for instance, make very creditable and really ornamental tissues, employing a loom that consists only of a few sticks, which they carry about in a small bundle.¥ The loom of the ancient Mexicans,** was far less complicated than that constructed by Mr. Paur, and yet the inhabitants wove cotton cloth which excited the admiration of the Spanish conquerors. A number of such primitive Indian * Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. I, p. 139. + Ibid.; Vol. I, p. 151. { Ibid.; Vol. I, p. 514. § Ibid.; Vol. I, p. 516, Fig. 40. || This medieval loom, obtained from one of the Ferée Islands, is figured in Worsaae’s “‘ Nordiske Oldsager i det Kongelige Museum i Kjébenhayn;’’ Copenhagen, 1859; p. 159, Fig. 558. q Emory: Notes of a Military Reconnoissance, ete. ; Washington, 1848; p. 85. ** Represented in the Mendoza Codex. 62 PREHISTORIC FISHING. looms, with a commenced piece of cloth on them, may be seen in the United States National Museum. In these looms a stick serves as a warp-stretcher. In various lacustrine stations have been found rings of baked clay, to which the character of net-sinkers is now and then attributed. ‘“ These rings,” it is stated, with reference to those found at Nidau, “are made of clay mixed with little stones and pieces of charcoal, but they are imperfectly burnt, and very little care has been bestowed upon them; they vary in external diameter from three and a half to nine and a half inches; the hole in the middle is from seven lines to two and a half inches wide, and the thickness of the ring itself varies from one inch to upwards of two inches. Various opinions have been expressed as to the use of these rings. The idea that they were net-weights is now aban- doned. It seems now ascertained that they were used as supports for the vessels which either had no base at all, or one so small that they would not stand. There can be no doubt also that they were used in a similar way as supports for pipkins with a conical base when placed on the hearth. Many of these rings have become friable from the action of violent heat, but it is not always certain whether this happened on the hearth or when the settlement was burnt down.”* ‘The view that these rings served as supports for vessels seems to me correct, and they belong, as far as I can judge, more properly to the era of lacustrine life when bronze was in use, and during which many vessels with convex or even conical bottoms were made. I have one of these clay rings, which was sent to me, with many other lacustrine relics, by the late Professor Desor. The specimen in question, obtained at Auvernier, Lake of Neuchatel, is rather carelessly made, and answers well the description just given. Even the little stones and pieces of charcoal are not wanting. The ring is not quite four inches in diameter, and the central hole is a little more than an inch and a half wide. It shows no wear indicative of use as a net-sinker, but distinet traces of exposure to fire. On the accompanying label is written by Professor Desor: Bronzezeit. Ring von gebrannter Erde zum Aufstellen der Vasen. Yet some of the clay rings actually seem to have been used as net or line- sinkers, as, for instance, the original of Fig. 76 on page 60, which was found in the stone-age settlement of the Lake of Inkwyl.; ‘This specimen has the furrow still remaining which was worn by the cord. It seems now clear that these smaller rings were net-weights, while most of the larger ones were supports for the conical-footed earthenware vessels.”’{ The size of the specimen is not mentioned. It is probably double the size of the figure. According to Mr. E. Frank, net-sinkers consisting of pieces of pottery with * Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. I, p. 150. + Ibid. ; Vol. II, Plate XX XIX, Fig. 2. j Ibid. ; Vol. 1, p. 445. FLOATS. 63 incisions or notches on opposite sides have occurred in large number at the lacustrine settlement of Schussenried, in the basin of the Feder-See, in Wiirtem- berg.* This station, which belongs to the stone age, was particularly rich in pottery. There are in the United States National Museum some Central- American net-sinkers of the same kind, to which reference will be made in the appendix to this work. Fra. 77.—Robenhausen. Fic. 78.—Wangen. Fies. 77 and 78.—Bark float and wooden implement for arranging nets. It was stated on a preceding page that a few of the lacustrine bark floats in the Peabody Museum appear to be of sufficient size to have been used for buoying nets. Fig. 77 (No. 3238) represents one of them, which was found in the Robenhausen lake-settlement. It is of rectangular shape and provided with a rude perforation. The lake-men, for aught we know, may have used for their nets floats of wood—a material: still frequently employed for the same purpose. Yet in the translation of Keller’s work, bark is always mentioned as the material of which they are made. A wooden implement from Wangen, represented in Fig. 78,+ is described in a satisfactory manner as “a fishing-implement made of the branch of a shrub and its offshoot, and intended for drawing together and arranging the nets when dried. Exactly similar implements are now in use amongst fishermen.”{ Iam unable to say whether several of these utensils have been preserved; but the recovery of even a single one appears of interest, in so far as it demonstrates * Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. I, p. 583. 7 Ibid.; Vol. II, Plate XXII, Fig. 6. ip lbides Viole leupenvile 64 PREHISTORIC FISHING. that the ancient fishermen applied such simple contrivances tending to facilitate their work. It cannot now be decided whether the lake-men made their nets “on a frame by knotting the string at each point of intersection,” as M. Figuier conjectures, or employed netting-needles. The latter are repeatedly alluded to in the work from which I derive the principal facts bearing upon prehistoric fishing in the Swiss and other lakes. But the notices relating to these implements are vague and not calculated to throw any light on the method of net-making. Among the antiquities found at the stone-age station near Nussdorf, on the Ueberlinger See, the northwestern branch of the Lake of Constance (Baden), are mentioned “netting, hair, or clothes pins, made out of boars’ tusks, and conse- quently curved ; they have a sharp point, and are sometimes notched at one end, probably caused by the use to which they were applied. The pins for making fishing-nets were made out of the corner tooth of a bear and perforated.”+ I reproduce in Figs. 79, 80, and 81 the representations serving to illustrate the above descriptions.~ Figs. 79 and 80 certainly bear no resemblance to any netting-implements with which I am acquainted; and as for the pierced bear’s tooth (Fig. 81), there is no statement made in support of the view that it served as a pin for making fishing-nets. It differs in no way from the pierced teeth worn as trophies or charms by the prehistoric Europeans as well.as by still existing savage tribes. Pointed ribs found at some lacustrine stations have been regarded as netting-implements ; but it is not at all certain that they were thus employed. it 2 Fic. 79. Fic. 80. Fires. 79-81.—Implements made of boars’ tusks, and perforated bear’s tooth. Nussdorf. * Figuier: Primitive Man; p. 136. + Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. I, p. 119. { Ibid. ; Vol. I1, Plate XXVIII, Figs. 16, 17, and 15, respectively. NETTING-NEEDLES 65 In order to show the appearance of netting-needles at present used in North America, both by the civilized and uncivilized, I insert here representations of such implements. Fia. 82.—New England, (25593). Fia. 84.—Eskimos, Chirikoff Island, Alaska, (16296). Frias. 82-85.—Modern netting-implements. Fig. 82 illustrates the shape of the ordinary wooden netting-needle still in use among fishermen in New England, although nets are now to a great extent manufactured there by machinery. Fig. 83 represents a netting-implement of bone, derived from the Magemut Eskimos in Nunivak Island, Alaska. A similar wooden implement used by the Eskimos of Chirikoff Island, Alaska, is represented in Fig. 84; and in Fig. 85, lastly, I show the form of the simple tool employed for netting by the McCloud River Indians in California. It consists of two slightly curved and pointed sticks, bound together with vegetable fibre. Sometimes they use a stick bifurcated at both ends. RQ 66 PREHISTORIC FISHING. Boats.—Lacustrine life would hardly have been possible without the means of locomotion on the water, and hence we may assume that there was no lack of boats among the lake-men. Many boats, indeed, have been found imbedded in the mud on or near the sites of former lake-settlements. Excepting a few, these ancient boats are made of a single tree, and hollowed out by means of stone or metallic implements, according to the period in which they originated. In times anteceding the introduction of bronze, fire doubtless was an efficient aid in the manufacture of these boats. Such primitive vessels, corresponding to the dug- outs in this country, are still in use on some of the Swiss lakes, as, for instance, on those of Lucerne, Zug, and Aegeri, in the Canton of Zug, in which district they are manufactured to the present day. A boat of this description is called Einbaum (one-tree) in Switzerland. 1 2F Fic. 86.—Boat. Robenhausen. An ancient boat, found at Robenhausen by Mr. Messikommer, and, I believe, still in existence—notwithstanding the difficulty of preserving such objects when out of the water—is represented in Fig. 86.* It is twelve feet long, two feet and a half wide, and five inches deep.+ I find no statement concerning the kind of wood of which it is made. The illustration (upper view, side-view, and cross-section) renders any further description unnecessary. As Robenhausen is a station of the stone age, this boat can with safety be attributed to that period. Professor Desor speaks of a number of such pirogues in the Lake of Bienne, one of which can be seen near Saint Peter’s Island (Lie de Saint-Pierre), projec- ting from the mud of the lake, and still holding the cargo of stones with which * Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. 11, Plate X, Fig. 8. + Ibid.; Vol. I, p. 53. BOATS. 67 it had foundered.* It is made of the trunk of an oak, scarcely less than fifty feet long, by three and a half to four feet in width.; ‘According to M. Desor,” says M. de Mortillet, “the lake-dwellers of the stone age, in order to consolidate the piles designed to support their habitations, wedged them up (les calaient) with stones which they gathered in boats on the shore, the bottom of the lake being totally free of them. The pirogue of Saint Peter’s Island, therefore, would appear to be a vessel sunk with its load of stones at a date reaching as far back as the epoch of polished stone.’’{ As it is well known that maritime tribes have hollowed out very large canoes without metallic tools, M. de Mor- tillet’s view may be correct; but it is equally possible that the boat in question belongs to a later time. Fic. 87.—Boat. Moéringen. Fig. 87 illustrates the form of one of several dug-outs found at the station of Moringen, Lake of Bienne.§ It certainly has a very primitive appearance, and may belong to the stone age; but, considering that the Moringen set- tlement has furnished objects of stone, bronze, and iron, it 1s impossible to assign to it a definite place in lacustrine chronology. Strangely enough, the dimensions of this boat are not indicated in the translation of Dr. Keller’s reports, and I would not even know that it consists of oak-wood, if the fact were not mentioned in M. Troyon’s “ Habitations Lacustres”’ (page 165). Mention is made, and a figure given, of a toy-boat of fir-wood, nine inches long and one and a half wide, found at the settlement of Gerolfingen (Gérofin), in the Lake of Bienne, and characterized as ‘‘ merely a reproduction of the lacustrine canoes of the stone period.” || But having been found associated with objects of metal, its antiquity is uncertain. I am not aware that any contrivances for propelling boats (paddles, ete.) have been discovered among the lacustrine remains of Switzerland or other countries. An anchor-stone from Nidau is described and figured in Lee’s trans- lation. Its origin,*however, is of comparatively recent date, and therefore * Desor: Palafittes; p. 353. + Troyon: Habitations Lacustres; p. 166. t De Mortillet: Origine de la Navigation et de la Péche; Matériaux, Vol. III, 1867; p. 47. § Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. II, Plate XL, Fig. 4. || Ibid. ; Vol. I, p. 452. 68 PREHISTORIC FISHING. beyond the compass of my present observations. According to Professor Gas- taldi, a wooden anchor came to ght in the peat-covered small pile-work at Mercurago, near Arona, on Lago Maggiore. This station, from the objects there found, is supposed to pertain to the time when bronze began to take the place of stone. The wooden anchor was more than a meter in length, terminated at one end in two hooks, and was perforated at the other, to receive the rope.* No further description, or figure, is given, and it remains doubtful to what period the object belongs. I shall have to refer to lacustrine boats again, when treating of fishing during the bronze period. The abstracts of reports on lake-settlements in Austria, Bavaria, etc., contained in the translation of Dr. Keller’s work have furnished no additional details bearing upon fishing in the neolithic age. Unfortunately, the original treatises are not at my command. FISHING-IMPLEMENTS AND UTENSILS NOT FOUND IN LACUSTRINE SETTLEMENTS. General Remarks.—The above title sufficiently explains the purport of this section, in which a limited number of objects will be described. It appears to me that not many isolated fishing-implements have been discovered in Europe ; for, if they were frequent, more would be said concerning them in archzeological works. Yet, not a few may be in existence of which I have no knowledge, not- withstanding my endeavors to follow the progress of prehistoric archzeology in Europe as closely as distance and other adverse circumstances permit. In the main, however, I believe my observation regarding the comparative scarcity of neolithic antiquities bearing upon fishing to be correct. I will mention an example in point. In August, 1880, there was in the city of Berlin an exhibition of archeological finds (unde) made in Germany, to which nearly all public and private collections of the empire had contributed their shares, and it doubtless represented not only all types of German prehistoric antiquities, but also their numerical proportion. The exhibited objects are enumerated in a printed cata- logue of 619 octavo pages, to which a supplement of 128 pages is added. In examining the catalogue, I was struck with the scarcity of fishing-objects men- tioned in it, there being specified only a number of flints pointed at both ends and supposed to have been used like fish-hooks, two bone fish-hooks, one bone harpoon-head, two bone darts (Lischstecher)—one with inserted splinters of flint— * Gastaldi: Lake Habitations and Prehistoric Remains in the Turbaries and Marl-Beds of Northern and Central Italy; translated by C. H. Chambers; London, 1865; p. 102. DOUBLE-POINTED FLINT IMPLEMENTS. 69 and seventeen net-weights, some of them marked doubtful. A number of these sinkers may not belong to neolithic, but to later, times. There are further enumerated, [I will add, a fish-hook of bronze, one of iron, and two or three other objects.* It will be admitted that these few articles formed but an insignificant fraction of the many thousands of antiquities exhibited at Berlin. I will now proceed to describe the fishing-implements referred to at the beginning of this section, classifying them according to the use to which they were applied. Double-pointed straight Bait-holders—Reference has been made on preceding pages to bone rods tapering toward both ends, which were, and still are, used in lieu of fish-hooks. It appears that in neolithic times such simple implements for catching fish were made of flint. I never have seen any of them, and there- fore have to rely on the statements of others. Mr. Friedel alludes to one in the Fishery Department of the Berlin Provincial Museum, of which he is in charge. He says :—“ Upon these stone spindles, chipped to a point at each end, and attached in the middle to a line, the bait was fastened, in order to be swallowed entire by the fish intended to be caught.’ The specimen in question was found on an island in the river Havel, near Berlin. Several, obtained from the Island of Rugen, in the Baltic Sea, were exhibited by Mr. Rosenberg at Berlin in 1880. He considers them well suited for catching pike.t Mr. Rosenberg speaks of another class of flint implements from Riigen, which present a peculiar form, and served, as he thinks, in the construction of fish-hooks.§ I shall revert to them hereafter, when treating of a peculiar class of fish-hooks from Greenland. Fish-hooks.—Two entire fish-hooks of flint, preserved in the Museum of Lund, Sweden, are described and figured by Professor Sven Nilsson. I repro- duce on the next page his designs as Figs. 88 and 89.|| The Swedish arche- ologist gives the following account of the specimens :— “The first of these (here Fig. 88) was found near Lomma, on the shore of the Sound (Oresund). It is in length, from the middle of the end of the shaft to the bend of the hook, about one inch and five lines, and in breadth, from the * Among fish-remains are mentioned those of the pike from a pile-work on the Roseninsel (Island of Roses) in Lake Starnberg, Bavaria, and of the Weds (Silurus glanis, of the cat-fish family) and pike from Schussenried, in Wiurtemberg. + Friedel: Fthrer durch die Fischerei-Abtheilung des Markischen Provinzial-Museums der Stadtgemeinde Berlin; Berlin, 1880; p. 1. { Such implements of stone, bone, or bronze are called Spitzangeln in German, § (Voss): Katalog der Ausstellung priahistorischer und anthropologischer Funde Deutschlands — — — zu Berlin (August, 1880); Berlin, 1880; p. 364. || Nilsson: The Primitive Inhabitants of Scandinavia; translated by Sir John Lubbock; London, 1868: Plate II, Figs. 28 and 29.—Fig. 29 is also to be found in Worsaae’s “‘ Danmarks Oldtid oplyst ved Oldsager og Gravhdie ;”’? Copenhagen, 1843; p. 16. 70 PREHISTORIC FISHING. outside of the shaft to the outside of the hook, about one inch and four lines. At the top it is thick and broken off straight, and below the thick end there is a searcely noticeable incision, or neck, round which to tie the line. It tapers downwards to the point, and has been chipped on both sides towards the front and back ; it has, therefore, as we see, been fashioned with some skill to answer its purpose. ‘Nobody who has seen the fish-hooks of bone, wood, or shell, made by savages, can entertain the least doubt that this one has been used for the same purpose. It is even possible to say with tolerable accuracy, judging from its size and the place where it was found, what description of fish was principally caught with it. Amongst the fish indigenous to the Sound (Oresund), on the shore of which it was picked up, it would have been too large for the mouth of eels, flounders, or whiting, but it is suitable in every way for the Oresund cod- fish (Gadus callarias, Lin.), and this species of fish is still caught by hooks, here and elsewhere. There is little doubt, therefore, that the said flint fish-hook was used in ancient times for cod-fishing in the Sound. The other fish-hook of flint (here Fig. 89) was found on the bank of the Kranke Lake, near Silfakra. It is smaller, the length scarcely exceeding one inch and one line, and the breadth, from the outside of the shaft to the outside of the hook, not quite six lines. It has likewise been chipped in front and back, and the shaft widens at the top to allow the line to be tied to it. It has been used for catching smaller fish than the former. The Kranke Lake is still stocked with perch and eel, and an experienced angler has assured me that one would still be able to catch these kinds of fish with this very hook.’* a 2 4 4 Fia. 88.—Oresund. Fia. 89.—Kranke Lake. Fig. 90.—Scandinavia. (5275). Fics. 88-90.—Flint fish-hooks. Mr. John Evans makes the following statement with regard to flint fish- hooks :—“ Fish-hooks formed entirely of flint, and found in Sweden, have been engraved by Nilsson, and others, presumed to have been found in Holderness, * Nilsson: Primitive Inhabitants; p. 22, ete. Pr FISH-HOOKS. 71 by Mr. T. Wright, F.S. A. The latter are, however, in all probability, for- geries.’”* I introduce on the preceding page (not without some misgivings) Fig. 90, rep- resenting a chipped flint hook found either in Sweden or Norway, and presented to the National Museum by Professor Jillson, a gentleman of Scandinavian national- ity. The hook is two inches and one-eighth long, and made of a flattish flake, on an average about one-eighth of an inch in thickness, the somewhat rude chipping being confined to the outline. The point terminates rather sharply. No doubt can be entertained as to the genuineness of the relic, its appearance betokening great antiquity. Of course, it remains undecided whether this hook was designed for catching fish or for some other purpose, though experts in angling have admitted the bare possibility that it may have been a fish-hook. The width of the shank and of the curved portion, however, lessen its fitness for that purpose. Be (6 2 3 + (?) Fie. 91.—Seania. Fic. 92.—Pomerania. Fic. 93.—Norway. Fies. 91-93.—Fish-hooks of bone and reindeer-horn. Professor Nilsson gives the description and figure of a fine barbed bone fish-hook (here Fig. 91) which possibly belongs to the neolithic age.t “It has been found,” he says, “in one of the old peat-bogs in the South of Scania. It is three inches long, and about six-eighths of an inch from the point of the barb to the bar. The bar and the bend are nearly round, and flattened a little * Evans: Ancient Stone Implements; p. 265. + The lacustrine fish-hooks of bone, etc., it will be remembered, are unbarbed 72 PREHISTORIC FISHING. towards the top, which is broad, for the purpose of fastening the line. It was found in a bog containing fresh water, and has no doubt been used for catching pike, of which enormously large skeletons have been found in the bogs of Scania. I know no other fresh-water fish in Scania for which such a large-sized hook could have been used.’* A bone fish-hook of more primitive appearance, preserved in the collection of the Society for Pomeranian History and Archzeology, at Stettin, is represented on the preceding page in Fig. 92. This specimen was found imbedded in marl, fourteen feet below the surface, near Reddies, District of Rummelsburg, Pom- erania. It is figured and described by Mr. Christensen. Fig. 93, on the same page, is copied from “ Matériaux.” It shows the form of a fish-hook of reindeer-horn, preserved in the Museum of Christiania, Norway, and taken from a grave in the Norwegian part of Lapland. These graves, situated on the Island of Kjelinée, in the Waranger Fjord, close to the Russian frontier, con- tained corpses wrapped in bands of willow-bark. With them, or scattered over the surface of the soil, were found pottery, reminding one of that of the dolmens, pieces of asbestus (use unknown), and a large number of objects made of reindeer-bone, such as combs, arrow and lance-heads, fish-hooks, spoons, ete. The age to which these antiquities belong has not yet been established.{ Though, in all probabil- ity, they are post-neolithic, I did not deem it amiss to give a figure of that curiously-shaped fish-hook. The representation presumably shows the object in natural size. Harpoon-heads.—Several ancient harpoon-heads of bone are described by Professor Nilsson in his work on the primitive inhabitants of Scandinavia.§ * Nilsson: Primitive Inhabitants; p. 24. + Christensen: Zur Geschichte des Angelhakens ; Deutsche Fischerei-Zeitung ; Stettin, March 22, 1881; p. 95. { Cazalis de Fondouce: Compte-rendu du Congrés International d’Archéologie et d’ Anthropologie Préhisto- riques de Copenhague; 2° Partie; Matériaux; Vol. VI, 1870; p. 221; figure on the same page. § It should be stated that some of the bone darts to be described may be of post-neolithic origin. In Sweden, for instance, bone-headed javelins were still used at a time when bronze was known. Professor Nilsson furnishes the following proof :— ‘‘ When, about thirty years ago, a level piece of ground near the village of Tygelsjé, in the South of Scania, was to be cultivated, there were found, close under the surface of the earth, a number of skeletons of human beings, who had been interred there, and round each skeleton was a row of stones forming an elongated square seven feet by three. This manner of interring the dead occurs only amongst those nations who used weapons of bronze, and probably only amongst the poor, never amongst people who used only stone weapons. As a further proof that these skeletons belonged to a tribe which, when settling in the South of Sweden, were in possession of bronze, I may mention that one of the skeletons, probably that of a woman, had round one of the arm-bones a spiral ring made of semi-circular bronze wire, such as was worn by the people of the bronze age. “The skull of one of the skeletons was pierced with a javelin of bone, made from the point of the antler of an ell, which, when it came into my hands, was mutilated, but, when found, had been quite perfect ; about seven inches long, round, having the smaller end pointed, the thicker cut off straight, and about an inch in diameter.’?— Primitive Inhabitants; p. 171. HARPOON-HEADS. ies “The harpoon,” he says, “is a common fishing and hunting-implement among those savages who inhabit islands and the sea-coast. It can be used only in the water, where it is thrown in order to fasten in the animal which is to be caught. Its purpose is not to kill the prey, but to check its career in the water, so that it may be more easily approached and killed with another weapon—the spear.* Colm Colt Fic. 94.—Scania. Fig. 95.—Scania. Fic. 96.—Scania. Fic. 97.—Seeland. Fras. 94-97.—Bone harpoon-heads. ‘‘Harpoons of bone, sharp-pointed, with barbs on one side, are occasionally found in our ancient peat-bogs in Scania. Such a one is seen on Plate IV, Fig. 71 (here Fig. 94). This harpoon-point appears, like those from Greenland, to have been fastened to its long shaft in such a manner as to be disengaged there- from when it stuck fast in the harpooned animal, because above the point of attachment is a projection over which the strap or line seems to have been tied. It was found in Scania, in a bog near the sea-coast. It may have been used for hunting seals or small whales or other similar animals. Meanwhile, it is very remarkable that amongst the objects which Messrs. Christy and Lartet have found in the caves of Périgord, and which may be considered as being among * Nilsson: Primitive Inhabitants; p. 26. R 10 74 PREHISTORIC FISHING. the most ancient traces of man in Europe, are harpoons of bone, which seem to have been helved in the same manner.’”* The Swedish archzeologist figures another bone harpoon-head, here Fig. 95, on the preceding page, found in a Scanian bog, and ‘‘ showing traces of having been helved in a somewhat different manner, namely, by the point of bone being fas- tened to the handle.’’+ Alongside of it he represents a somewhat similar harpoon-head from Tierra del Fuego, many of which, he says, are in the British Museum, labeled Heads of Fishing-spears used by the Natives of Tierra del Fuego. In addition, he represents two harpoon-heads of bone, Figs. 96 and 97 on page 73, which were likewise found in bogs, the original of Fig. 96 in the South of Scania, that of Fig. 97 in Seeland.{ The type shown by Fig. 96 will be considered hereafter. Ne st Fic. 98.—Aretic America. Fig. 99.—Seania. Fias. 98 and 99.—Fish or bird-spear-heads of bone. * Nilsson: Primitive Inhabitants; p. 29. + Ibid.; p. 30, Plate IV, Fig. 69. { Ibid.; p. 30, Plate LV, Figs 73 and 74. HARPOON-HEADS. 75 Professor Nilsson represents in his work what he ealls a leister, or fish-spear, from the Northwest Coast of America. He sketched this implement in 1836 in the Museum at Bristol. He also gives illustrations of another similar imple- ment, obtained north of Hudson’s Bay, and preserved in the Ethnological Museum at Copenhagen.* I reproduce as Fig. 98 his design of the upper part of the last-named implement. His other figure shows the whole object on a smaller scale. The implements are thus described by him :— “On the top of along pole are fastened two tolerably long sharp-pointed bones, the points bent a little outwards and the inner side provided with teeth pointing backwards, to hold the fish securely when struck. These bones are fastened to the shaft in such a manner that each, independently of the other, is in some way movable inwards and outwards; their sides are therefore flat at the other end, and the inner edge provided with one or more teeth, pointing forwards, in order to be tied fast, so that they cannot be torn away by the fish ; and, in order to prevent their being bent too much apart, they are tied together by means of a strap at a short distance from the handle.”+ Speaking of the dart here represented (Fig. 98), he says :— ‘“Tts entire length is thirty-eight inches, of which the wooden shaft measures thirty-one inches and three-fourths; the bone points, in all eleven inches long, are, to a length of five inches, fastened to the shaft, and consequently protrude six inches beyond it. The shaft is round, about half an inch in diameter, some- what compressed in front of the lower end, the end itself cut off diagonally with an incised broad round notch, showing that a thick bow-string has been resting thereon ; at the end three feathers are fastened lengthwise. It appears, however, that this implement was made rather for shooting birds on the wing than for spearing fish in the water. “ But be this how it may, it is nevertheless very remarkable that the half of an implement, evidently similar to this last-mentioned one, has been found in the peat-bog of Felsmosse, about three English miles from Lund, in the province of Scania. I have sketched this on Plate IV, Fig. 79 (ig. 99, opposite page). This bone dart is seven inches long, round, and compressed; the back a little thicker, pointed towards the top end, round, and bent outwards a little; the inner side somewhat compressed, with five broad incisions forming teeth, bent backwards; the lower end broader and also compressed, the inner edge provided with oblique notches forming teeth, pointing forwards, which thus prevent the dart from being drawn forward. But what still more shows the * Nilsson: Primitive Inhabitants; Plate LV, Figs. 75, 77, and 78. 7 Ibid.; p. 33. { Ibid. ; p. 34. 76 PREHISTORIC FISHING. perfect likeness between the North American and the Scanian instrument is, that if we carefully examine the latter, we shall find it scratched transversely in two places, the one at the place where the strings on the American one attach the points to the shaft, and the other a little way higher up, where the shaft ends in the American implement, and where the points are tied round; the Scanian dart is in other respects entirely even and smooth. aw pds a. 2 1 2 Fie. 100.—Fiinen. Fic. 101.—Seeland. Fia. 102.—Tierra del Fuego, (5724). Fras. 100-102.—Bone harpoon-heads. “Thus we see that the Scanian implement was constructed exactly in the same manner as the American, and it is difficult for us to understand how HARPOON-HEADS. Wha implements so complicated could have been constructed so completely alike by the Eskimos of the present day, living in the most northern part of North America, and by the aborigines in the most southern part of Scandinavia, between which two races, so very dissimilar in origin, and so widely separated as to locality, we cannot suppose any relationship to have existed. That imple- ments so simple in construction as the flint arrow should be alike in most countries, even in Scania and Tierra del Fuego, can be explained by a kind of instinct in man, as man, everywhere, as long as he stands at the very lowest point of civilization; but the perfect similarity between implements so compli- cated as those now in question, I look upon as one of the great, still unsolved, enigmas of ethnological science.’* I must confess that the case does not appear to me as having such an extra- ordinary bearing. As soon as man, in any part of the world, had conceived and carried out the idea of constructing a dart with two or three prongs for fishing or hunting purposes (a plan very simple in itself), a short practice would have taught him the desirability of rendering the prongs movable to a certain extent, and hence he would naturally have been led to fasten the ligatures in a way to bring about the change for the better. Professor Nilsson’s discovery, however, is very interesting. I find on Plate 40 of Captain A. P. Madsen’s beautifully illustrated work “Antiquités Préhistoriques du Danemark. L’Age de la Pierre” (Copenhagen, 1873) representations of three bone harpoon-heads (Figs. 6, 7, and 8), each of them showing a different type. One of these darts (Fig. 6, not reproduced), which measures a trifle less than ten inches, was found in a bog in Jutland. I: shows two broken unilateral barbs, the first forming the downward continuation of the point, the second projecting two inches below the first. Another (Fig. 7), of which Fig. 100 on the opposite page is a reduced copy, shows much more elaborate workmanship. It was found near Odense, in the Island of Fiinen. The third (Fig. 8), of which Fig. 101 on the opposite page is a copy, was extracted from a bog in the District of Frederiksborg, Seeland. It closely resembles in shape Fig. 96, copied from Professor Nilsson’s work. Javelins with bone armatures of this shape, but larger, are still in use among the poor inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego. Fig. 102 represents one of a number obtained during the United States Exploring Expedition under Lieutenant Wilkes, and now in the United States National Museum. The longest of these dart-heads, which exhibit very creditable work- manship, measures nearly sixteen inches. Not long ago Count Jan Zawisza, of Warsaw, was kind enough to send me No. IV of a Polish publication entitled ‘“‘ Wiadomosci Archeologiczne”’+ (War- * Nilsson: Primitive Inhabitants; p. 34, etc. f Archeological News. 78 PREHISTORIC FISHING. saw, 1882), to which number Prince J. T. Lubomirski has contributed an interesting article relating to the discovery of fishing-spear-heads on the banks of the UsSwiata River. The article, for a translation of which I am indebted to Mr. Louis Solyom, of the Library of Congress, is illustrated with two repre- sentations of harpoon-heads, of which Figs. 103 and 104 on the opposite page are copies. It follows here in full :-— “Tt is now generally known that prehistoric man selected the vicinity of water for his place of abode. Water being one of the necessaries of life, and the art of well-digging probably unknown, this choice followed as a natural consequence. Nor do those miss the truth who assert that it was done with a view to facilitate locomotion, the communication across large tracts of land being then much impeded by swamps and virgin forests. Fishing, also, furnishing palatable and healthy food, was another inducement to select such situations, and that fish was duly appreciated as an article of diet is sufficiently proved by the fish-remains discovered in places inhabited by prehistoric man. “But who can explain their mode of fishing? Were fishing-nets known and used? It is often asserted that the discs of burned clay which are frequently found served as weights for nets. Yet net-fishing was probably not the first method resorted to by primitive man. Those who have observed how fish are caught during spring, when they enter shallow waters to deposit their spawn, probably will accept the conclusion that spearing, which is considered a barbar- ous mode at present, though still practised, was probably the first attempt at fishing made by prehistoric man. It was during the pairing-season of fish, in shallow waters, that he had the first opportunity for observing them closely, and the first chance to get possession of them, until he discovered that they could be caught all the year round in lakes and rivers. In winter, for instance, they could be captured by means of baskets let down through openings cut in the ice, the fish crowding near these apertures, impelled by the necessity of breathing fresh air. According to Herodotus, this method was practised by the people who occupied pile-dwellings in Lake Prasias. ‘“‘ Nevertheless, it is most probable that the first fishing-implement was a spear similar to that used at the present time, and hence spear-heads are found in all prehistoric localities where fish formed an important food-article. “Madsen has published in his work ‘Antiquités Préhistoriques du Dane- mark’ designs of spear-heads found in that country (‘Age de la Pierre,’ Plate 40, Figs. 6, 7, and 8), which he calls bone arrow-heads, yet erroneously, con- sidering that some of them reach a length of fifteen centimeters, a size not only unnecessary, but even inconvenient for arrow-heads. We therefore incline without hesitation to the opinion of Oscar Montelius, expressed in the ‘Antiqui- iés Suédoises’ (Vol. I, p. 14, No. 58), where he gives representations of bone HARPOON-HEADS. 79 v spear-heads, calling them harpoons, and mentioning the fact that they were found at the bottom of Hastefjorden Lake, among other articles of bone. The place of discovery of these implements indicates their use. “They also occur in Russia, as we learn from the work of Count Uwarow, recently published, and devoted to the prehistoric times of Russia. He describes there a bone spear-head found near the river Oka. —>—.. q celta Fie. 103. Fia. 104, Fre. 103 and 104.—Harpoon-heads of ox-horn. Poland. 80 PREHISTORIC FISHING. ‘Heretofore these implements had not been met with among the relies of the stone age within the limits of ancient Poland. It therefore affords me much pleasure to announce the discovery of two specimens of the implements under notice, found in the district of Orszan, on the bank of the small river Uswiata, which empties into the left shore of the Dniepr. At the time of this discovery the land drained by the USwiata was the property of the learned Dr. Zeckert, now deceased. ‘Both heads are made of ox-horn, and very well preserved, though dis- colored by the action of time. One is almost black, the other yellowish-brown. Our illustrations show the objects reduced to two-thirds of their actual size. Length of one, twenty-four centimeters ; of the other, twenty-three centimeters. They are at present in the collection of antiquities at Mala wies, near Groice.” ae 1 Fra. 105.—Bone harpoon-head. Victoria Cave. A bone harpoon-head of peculiar shape, represented in Fig. 105, was dis- covered in the neolithic stratum of the Victoria Cave, near Settle, Yorkshire, England. ‘The harpoon,” says Professor W. Boyd Dawkins, “is a little more than three inches long, with the head armed with two barbs on each side, and the base presenting a mode of securing attachment to the handle, which has not before been discovered in Britain. Instead of a mere projection to catch the ligatures by which it was bound to the shaft, there is a well-cut barb on either side, pointing in a contrary direction to those which form the head. Ample use for such an instrument would be found in Malham tarn, some three miles off, and very probably also in that which formerly existed close by at Attermire, but which has been choked up by peat, and is now turned into grass-land by drainage.’”* Having alluded to the javelins in use as hunting-implements among the Kurile Islanders and the Greenlanders, Professor Nilsson describes a class of North European armatures considered by him as javelin-points, giving on Plate VI of his work several illustrations, of which I reproduce Figs. 124, 125, and 126 as Figs. 106, 107, and 108 on page 82. * Dawkins: Cave Hunting ; p. 111. HARPOON-HEADS. 81 ‘“We find now and then in our peat-mosses,” he says, “implements which have evidently been used in the same manner as the javelin from the Kurile Islands, above described. These implements are of bone, six to ten inches long, two and one-fourth to two or three lines broad, occasionally round, but generally rather compressed, tapering to a point towards both ends, and either provided along both sides with a deeply indented groove, into which thin sharp flakes of flint are inserted, and fastened by means of black putty resembling pitch, or the groove with the flint flakes is found only along one side.* The front end is pointed, and behind, the point is occasionally widened, in shape like a spear- point, so that the whole bone represents a spear in miniature, with its long shaft ; the groove holding the flint-splinters does not reach quite to the point. Such is the implement in its original form, but, by degrees, as it wears out and is again sharpened to a point, the spear-shaped expansion disappears and the point is worn down to the grooves. The hinder end is likewise sharp-pointed, and has evidently been inserted in a wooden shaft. Generally this end is to a certain distance less smooth than the remainder of the bone, and sometimes the resin, by means of which it has been cemented in the shaft, remains up to a little more than an inch. This implement is principally found in bogs in the South of Scania; also in the province of Bohusland, on Tjérn (west coast of Sweden); it is said to have been also found in the Island of Oland. In the Museum of the Academy of Antiquities, in Stockholm, there is a specimen, the longest which I have seen (ten inches in length), found during the digging of the Gotha Canal, between Pafvelstorp and Tatorp, in peat-earth, under a bed of clay, and eight feet under ground. But where there is peat-earth there must have been water; consequently, everything that is found on, and especially under, peat- earth, has sunk to the bottom in some water. It is probable, therefore, that the implements in question, while being used on the water, have dropped therein and gone to the bottom. In order to form a correct idea of the manner in which these implements were used by the Scandinavian aborigines, we ought to enquire how they are employed amongst the nations where they are still in use. “The Greenlander uses this weapon only on the water, in the pursuit of aquatic birds. It is provided with a shaft five feet in length, ending at the back with some ornament, generally a reindeer-foot or something of that kind, and is thrown by hand at birds while they are resting on the water. It strikes usually at the distance of from fifty to sixty paces, and Egede relates that the Green- lander can hit his prey at a tolerably long distance, as surely as a good shot could do it with a fowling-piece. From his early childhood the Greenlander begins to practise throwing the bird-javelin. It is thrown by means of a * These darts remind one by their construction of the Mexican maquahuitl, which the Spaniards called espada, - or sword. iz ul 82 PREHISTORIC FISHING. throwing-stick or board with such force that it flies whizzing through the air, and with such wonderful skill that it generally pierces the head of the duck. a ee Fia. 106.~—Scania. Fic. 107.—Scania. Fig. 108.—Scania. Fie, 109.—Prussia. 1 All 3. Fies. 106-109.—Javelin-heads of bone with inserted flint flakes. “There is scarcely any doubt that the darts here sketched have been the same kind of hunting-implements, and that they have been employed in the same way. That they have been, and were intended to be, thrown by hand, we can easily see, because they could have been used only on the water; for if thrown on land, they must infallibly have been broken to pieces and destroyed. They are, therefore, found only in peat-bogs, which in former times were open waters, sometimes of considerable extent. They occur not unfrequently in the South of Sweden. Our museums contain a great number of them; but in Den- mark they are rare.”* Professor Nilsson’s statements seem to be correct in every particular; yet these darts, on account of their jagged sides, were also serviceable as heads of implements used in the fish-hunt, and for this reason I have given the preceding extract from Nilsson’s work. The peat-bogs of Eastern Prussia likewise have yielded a limited number of these bone-and-flint darts, which are preserved in the collection of northern antiquities in the New Museum at Berlin. They were described by Mr. Friedel in an article entitled ‘‘ Ueber Knochenpfeile aus Deutschland,” which appeared in “Archiv fiir Anthropologie” (Vol. V, 1872, page 433). Fig. 109 is one * Nilsson: Primitive Inhabitants; p. 46, etc.—Madsen figuresa number of Danish specimens of this kind on Plate 40 of his ‘‘Antiquités Préhistoriques du Danemark.”’ HARPOON-HEADS. 83 of his illustrations, showing a dart of elk-bone* with flint-splinters set closely together and disposed in two rows. I present this figure simply with a view to show the appearance of a bone-and-flint dart somewhat differing in type from those described by Professor Nilsson. Stone points, we may assume, were also used as armatures for harpoons in neolithic times; but Professor Nilsson’s suggestion that some may have been inserted in sockets of bone or wood, and thus connected with the shaft, is not supported by any evidence, provided my opinion that no such sockets have been discovered is correct. Those of wood, of course, could not have resisted decay ; while sockets of bone or horn, if they had been used, would be still in existence, like the much older horn and bone objects of the reindeer-period. Fria. 110.—Scanian flint point set in wooden socket. Nilsson figures (Plate X, Fig. 203) a well-chipped flint point found in the earth near the sea-shore of the Sound of Lomma, in Seania, which he considers as a harpoon-head. “A person who had long resided in Greenland,” he says, “recognized it at once as such; and in order to show me the way in which the stone point had been fastened to the harpoon, and the harpoon to the shaft, he provided it with a piece of wood as represented in the sketch, Plate III, Fig. 49 (here Fig. 110). At the lower end of this piece of wood is an indentation into which the shaft of the harpoon enters. Below is the loop by which the harpoon is attached to the shaft as well as the strap, to the end of which a bladder is tied.”+ He designates various other European flint points figured by him as harpoon-heads used in this manner; but he is not very positive in his state- ments, and finally expresses his own doubts in the following remark :—“ It * The European elk corresponds to the American moose. + Nilsson: Primitive Inhabitants; p. 29. 84 PREHISTORIC FISHING. ought, however, to be observed that it is difficult to draw a line of demarcation between the stone points which have been harpoons, and those which have belonged to arrows, because the same stone point could have been adapted either to a harpoon or to an arrow.’”* On the other hand, it may be taken for granted that shafts with chipped stone points of suitable size and shape immediately attached to them, formed fishing-darts at the period under consideration. It would be impossible, how- ever, to single out the points thus employed, though such as are provided with barbs seem particularly fitted for that purpose. Mr. John Evans, in his well- known work on the ancient stone implements of Great Britain, figures (page 340, etc.) several chipped flint points of this class, small and large, that might well have served as armatures for fishing-spears, and others are represented on the plates of Captain Madsen’s work on the prehistoric antiquities of Denmark ; but, in view of the uncertainty as to their use, I refrain from copying any of these illustrations. Arrow-heads.—W ith regard to arrows used in shooting fish—a method most probably practised during the period here treated—I have nothing to add to my statements on page 56. An arrow employed in hunting quadrupeds or birds would also on occasion serve to kill a fish, and hence an attempt at specification must necessarily prove fruitless. Sinkers.—The objects of this class obtained from the lacustrine settlements of the stone age may in general be considered as neolithic relics; but the antiquity of such as have been found on or below the surface of the soil, in water, swamps, etc., is doubtful, to say the least, considering that line and net-sinkers of stone are used in Europe at the present time. Only particular circumstances of associa- tion would favor the recognition of the period to which such stray specimens pertain. In a late work Dr. Arthur Mitchell, of Edinburgh, makes some obser- vations bearing on this subject, which are of sufficient interest to be given here in full. I also insert the illustrations accompanying his remarks. “There is a class of stone objects,” he says, ‘ which are nearly always to be seen in collections of antiquities, and which are now correctly called sinkers. They have been often found under circumstances which indicate a great age. Worsaae figures them among the antiquities of the stone age in Denmark. They vary much in form and in character. Most of them are simply bored stones— generally with one hole roughly picked or ground through them, but occasionally with two. Sometimes they have a groove cut down one face of the stone and running over its end, and another similar groove cut transversely to this; or the } Nilsson: Primitive Inhabitants; p. 32. SINKERS. 85 groove may run round the circumference of a flattish ovoid water-worn pebble, giving it somewhat the appearance of a ship’s block. Fig. 111.—Sink-stone of steatite from Shetland; weight, 14 ounces. “These stone sinkers I have frequently seen in use. As regards the first type, those which are simply bored stones, I have seen the same man with one of them at the end of one line, and at the end of the other a sinker of lead cast in a mould and tastefully shaped. Usually the bored sinkers are water-worn stones, selected for suitability of shape; but sometimes they are made of a piece of stone roughly flaked into a proper form; while at other times, where the soft soapstone is found, there is more or less neatness in their design, and they may even be found imitating the form of the leaden sinker, or having rudely eut on them the initials of their owner (see Fig. 111). It may happen again that they are entirely natural stones; that is, both their form and the hole through them may be due to natural agencies. A sinker of this last kind I once saw with a Shetlander. It was of flint, and he said he had brought it from ‘foreign parts,’ because he thought it would be useful at home as a sinker. ‘Of one of the types of sinkers, that showing the two grooves crossing each other, there was some difficulty in seeing the exact way in which the line and hooks were made fast to the stones, and what purpose the grooves served. Some stones of this kind have been found in circumstances indicating great age; and I remember hearing a distinguished antiquary, no longer alive, speculating ingeniously as to whether they could really have served so commonplace a pur- pose as that of sinking a fisherman’s line. But I have been able to set the question at rest by procuring two specimens from the parish of Walls, through the Rev. James Russell, with all the appliances on them exactly as they were when actually in use a few years ago (see Figs. 112 and 113 on the following page). Sinkers of this form vary in size. They are generally, I think, larger than those of the bored form; and I understand that this is explained by the fact that they are chiefly used when fishing in deep waters. “Tt is not solely, however, in those districts of our country which we regard as outlying and remote that we encounter fishermen using stone instead of lead or other materials for the manufacture of sinkers. On the Tweed to this day the nets are weighted by bored stones, and specimens of these are placed in museums of antiquities, not because they are themselves objects of antiquity, but because iL their history being accurately known, they teach lessons of caution in dealing 86 PREHISTORIC FISHING. with objects not very dissimilar, about the history and use of which we have no accurate knowledge.’’* Fic. 112. Fre. 113. Fries. 112 and 113.—Sink-stones from Walls, in Shetland. The larger is a roughly-flaked piece of sandstone, and the smaller a water-worn beach-stone. In order to make the cord grasp these stones securely, grooves are roughly cut in them in the way indicated by the woodcuts. The larger stone is 8 inches long, and weighs 43 ounces; the smaller, to which the hook is still attached, is 5 inches long, and weighs 11 ounces. If, under these circumstances, I describe and figure some sinkers, I do it with the mental reservation which the foregoing observations necessarily imply.y I would also refer again to the difficulty of making a proper distinction between line and net-sinkers, for even at present heavy line-sinkers and light net-sinkers are used, and vice versa. * Mitchell: The Past in the Present—What is Civilization? New York, 1881; p. 141, ete. + The scrutinizing reader, I hope, will not find fault with me for describing, while treating of the neolithic period, objects which may be of much later date. The possibility that some of them may be neolithic will be aceepted as my excuse. SINKERS. 87 Sinkers in their simplest, I am almost tempted to say natural, form are like that in possession of the fisherman mentioned by Dr. Mitchell, namely, naturally perforated nodules of flint, which, according to Dr. Klemm, “are so frequent and sometimes of such large size on the shores of Heligoland and Rugen, that the inhabitants use them as net-weights and even as anchors.’ There are several net-sinkers and anchor-stones of this kind in the Berlin Provincial Museum, one of the latter having been obtained by Dr. Friedel in the Island of Rugen from a fisherman who actually used it as an anchor. Such weights doubtless were employed in very early times; but, of course, no one would attempt to speculate on the antiquity of this class of relics, or rather on the time in which they were utilized. Some of these natural formations considered as sinkers may in reality never have been applied to any use by man. Mr. John Evans, having described the grooved hammers found in Great Britain, continues as follows :— Fig. 114.—Stone sinker. Burns. “Closely connected in form and character with the mining hammers, though as a rule much smaller in size, and in all probability intended for a totally differ- ent purpose, are the class of stone objects of which Fig. 149 (here Fig. 114) gives a representation, reproduced from the ‘Archzeological Journal.’ This specimen was found with two others at Burns, near Ambleside, Westmoreland ; and another, almost precisely similar in size and form, was found at Perry’s Leap, and is preserved in the Museum of Antiquities at Alnwick Castle. Another, from Westmoreland, is in the Mayer Collection at Liverpool, and they have, I believe, been found in some numbers in that district. A stone of the same character, but more elaborately worked, having somewhat acorn-shaped ends, was found by the Hon. W. O. Stanley, F.8. A., at Old Geir, Anglesea. They were originally regarded as hammer-stones, but such as I have examined are made of a softer stone than those usually employed for hammers, and they * Klemm: Allgemeine Culturwissenschaft; Werkzeuge und Waffen; Leipzig, 1854; p. 12. + Friedel: Fuhrer durch die Fischerei-Abtheilung ; p. 1. 88 PREHISTORIC FISHING. are not battered or worn at the ends. It seems, therefore, probable that they were used as sinkers for nets or lines, for which purpose they are well adapted, the groove being deep enough to protect small cord around it from wear by friction. They seem also usually to occur in the neighborhood either of lakes, rivers, or the sea. A water-worn nodule of sandstone, five inches long, with a deep groove round it, and described as probably a sinker for a net or line, was found in Aberdeenshire, and is in the Antiquarian Museum at Edinburgh; and I have one of soft grit, about the same length, given me by Mr. R. D. Darbishire, F. G.S., and found by him near Nantlle, Carnarvonshire. Many of these sink- stones are probably of no great antiquity.” Mr. Evans refers in the same place to “sink-stones, weights, or plummets formed by boring a hole towards one end of a flattish stone.” He mentions several specimens, but gives no illustrations of them. While in Sweden, he saw the leg-bones of animals used as weights for sinking nets.* “Tn Ireland,” Sir William Wilde observes, ‘‘ sink-stones, for either nets or fishing-lines, are by no means rare, as they continue in use even at the present day ; and quoit-like discs, of sandstone, from four to six inches in diameter and with a hole in the centre to attach them to the bottom-rope of a net, are not uncom- mon in localities where lead is scarce. —— — But, besides these rude imple- ments, we find others formed with more care, and which are generally supposed to have been attached to either lines or nets.” He gives three illustrations of such stones, Figs. 77, 78, and 79, of which I reproduce the first two as Figs. 115 and 116. The original of Fig. 115 is described as being composed of soft white L ! : Fig. 115. Fia. 116. Fics. 115 and 116.—Stone sinkers. Ireland. sandstone traversed by a vein of quartz, and encircled by a groove round the long axis for retaining a string or thong. Fig. 116 represents “a plummet-like piece of sandstone, three inches and a half long, with a hole at the small extrem- * Evans: Ancient Stone Implements; p. 211. + Sir W. Wilde: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Antiquities in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy - Vol. I, Dublin, 1863; p. 94. SINKERS. 89 ” ity.” Yet, Sir W. Wilde, while admitting that these stones would form useful sink-stones, thinks there is no direct authority bearing on the subject. Indeed, the stone represented by Fig. 115 has been regarded by some as one of the ‘flail-stones ” attached by a thong to a stick, used in early Irish warfare, and to which some allusion is made in ancient records. As for the object shown in Fig. 116, he thinks it might have been used as a plummet, or the weight for a steel- yard or ouncel, ‘an implement in much more frequent use than a beam and scales in the western parts of Ireland up toa very recent period.’’* I have little doubt that Fig. 115, at least, represents a sinker. Fic. 117.—County of Down. (9621). Fia. 118.—County of Westmeath. (9627). Fries. 117 and 118.—Stone sinkers (?). I present in Figs. 117 and 118 delineations of two of the quoit-like dises with a hole in the centre, to which Sir W. Wilde draws attention. They were sent, in 1870, with other Irish antiquities, to the Smithsonian Institution by Mr. Robert Day, Jr., of Cork County. The material of these specimens, which cer- tainly have the appearance of being very old, is fine-grained sandstone. They were found, respectively, in the counties of Down and Westmeath. Passing over to Danish specimens, I give in Fig. 119 on the following page a somewhat enlarged copy of one figured by Mr. Worsaae,+ who classes it, doubtless for good reason, among the relics of the stone age. He informs me that it was dug up in a bog in the Island of Seeland. * Sir W. Wilde: Catalogue; p. 95. 7 Worsaae: Nordiske Oldsager; Fig. 88, p. 18. R12 90 PREHISTORIC FISHING. Figs. 120, 121, and 122 are copied from Plate 30 of Captain Madsen’s work, before cited.* Fre. 120. Fie. 122. Fia. 121. All 3. Fries. 119-122.—Stone Sinkers. Denmark. The Danish locality where the original of Fig. 120 was found is not speci- fied. The object shown in Fig. 121 was ploughed up in the District of Soré, and that represented by Fig. 122, exhibiting two grooves crossing each other, was obtained in the District of Viborg. All these Danish specimens are preserved in the Museum of Northern Antiquities at Copenhagen. Professor Nilsson describes and represents several sink-stones, one of them, like the Danish specimen, provided with two grooves crossing each other (Fig. 122). Concerning this class of sinkers he observes:—“‘ These plummets are generally large, and have probably been used as weights for trolling-nets, ete. They are still occasionally picked up in islets and reefs on the coast of Bohus- * They are there Figs. 13, 17, and 16, respectively. BOATS. 91 Lan (west coast of Sweden).* He also figures a number of sinkers with single grooves. To the figures of sinkers here presented others could be added, but I have selected only such as most probably were sink-stones ; for, without entering into details, I will confess that I have my doubts as to several other figured specimens to which that character is attributed. Professor Virchow alludes to ancient clay net-sinkers, chiefly obtained from pile-works in Prussia, which, however, are of comparatively late origin, being referable to the close of pagan times. The largest and most recent of the sinkers, from Boissin Lake near Belgard (Pomerania) are described as large flat round dises with a hole in the centre, and, as a rule, rather slightly burned. Of special interest is Professor Virchow’s observation that such clay net-weights, burned entirely black (ganz schwarz gebrannt), are still used in Eastern Prussia.} Boats.—Quite a number of ancient boats, discovered under circumstances favoring preservation, have been described by various authors, but most of them doubtless belong to post-neolithic times. There is in the Provincial Museum at Berlin an oaken dug-out, formed like a shallow trough, and hollowed out by means of fire, while its outside is rudely shaped with stone instruments. It measures, in its present shrunken state, eight meters in length and about forty centimeters in width. This boat was found near Berneuchen, in the District of Landsberg on the Warthe (Brandenburg), two meters imbedded in peat.t It may be a relic of the stone age. . I find no reference to existing stone-age boats in such publications on Danish and Seandinavian antiquities as are within my reach. Professor Nilsson treats of boats in a transient way, merely alluding to the probable method of their manufacture. ‘These (the boats) seem to have been excavated trunks of trees, for the broad gouge has evidently been used for excavating wood.’’§ Sir W. Wilde describes several ancient Irish boats still in existence, though without giving any clue as to the time from which they may date. ‘So far as we yet know,” he observes, ‘“‘ two kinds of boats appear to have been in use in very early times in the British Isles—the canoe and the curragh||—the one formed out of a single piece of wood, the other composed of wicker-work, covered with hide. No ancient specimen of the curragh could, however, have come down to modern times. The single-piece canoe is generally formed of oak, and may be divided into three varieties, viz., a small trough-shaped one, square at the * Nilsson: Primitive Inhabitants; p. 26. + Circulare des Deutschen Fischerei-Vereins im Jahre 1873; Berlin, 1873; p. 149. + Friedel: Fuhrer durch die Fischerei-Abtheilung ; p. 2. § Nilsson: Primitive Inhabitants; p. 101. || Coracle. 92 PREHISTORIC FISHING. ends, from eight to twelve feet long, round at the bottom, and having projecting handles at either extremity, apparently for the purpose of transporting it from place to place. Such a boat could be used either in fishing or as a means of transport upon the inland lakes and rivers. This, in common with the two other varieties, is very shallow, so that those who used it must have sat flat upon the bottom, and progressed themselves by means of light paddles—probably one used in either hand; this is further confirmed by the total absence of all appear- ance of row-locks. The second variety generally averages twenty feet in length and about two in breadth, is flat-bottomed, round at the prow, and nearly square at the stern. —— — The third variety of ancient Irish canoe is sharp at both ends.””* He refers to the discovery of a boat of the first-mentioned kind in Monaghan County, but furnishes no illustration. It may or may not be a boat made during the stone age. The two other kinds are represented by specimens in the Dublin Museum, and Sir W. Wilde gives figures of them, which I will not reproduce, because the originals appear to belong to more or less recent periods. “A single-piece canoe,” he says, “has been discovered either upon or in the vicinity of all the crannoges which have been carefully examined. They have also been found in bogs and in the beds of rivers, as the Boyne, the Brosna, and the Ban, ete. Ware says that single-piece canoes were in use on some rivers in Ireland in his time. The curragh or coracle is still employed: upon the Boyne it is formed of wicker-work, covered with hide; and in Aran the framework is formed of light timber, fastened together with great ingenuity, and covered with canvas.”’+ While treating of ‘Upheaval since the Human Period of the Central District of Scotland,” Sir Charles Lyell gives a highly interesting account of boats imbedded in silt bordering the estuary of the river Clyde; and though his observations refer to boats of different periods, I cannot resist the temptation of inserting here the distinguished investigator’s valuable information :— “Tt has long been a fact familiar to geologists, that, both on the east and west coasts of the central part of Scotland, there are lines of raised beaches, contain- ing marine shells of the same species as those now inhabiting the neighboring sea. The two most marked of these littoral deposits occur at heights of about forty and twenty-five feet above high-water mark, that of forty feet being con- sidered as the more ancient, and owing its superior elevation to a longer con- tinuance of the upheaving movement. They are seen in some places to rest on the arctic shell-beds and boulder clay of the glacial period. * Sir W. Wilde: Catalogue; p. 202, ete. + Ibid.; p. 204. BOATS. 93 “Jn those districts where large rivers, such as the Clyde, Forth, and Tay, enter the sea, the lower of the two deposits, or that of twenty-five feet, expands into a terrace, fringing the estuaries, and varying in breadth from a few yards to several miles. Of this nature are the flat lands which occur along the margin of the Clyde at Glasgow, which consist of finely laminated sand, silt, clay, and gravel. Mr. John Buchanan, a zealous antiquary, writing in 1855, informs us that in the course of the eighty years preceding that date, no less than seventeen canoes had been dug out of this estuarine silt, and that he had personally inspected a large number of them before they were exhumed. Five of them lay buried in silt under the streets of Glasgow, one in a vertical position with the prow uppermost as if it had sunk in a storm. In the inside of it were a number of marine shells. Twelve other canoes were found about a hundred yards back from the river, at the average depth of about nineteen feet from the surface of the soil, or seven feet above high-water mark; but a few of them were only four or five feet deep, and consequently more than twenty feet above the sea-level. One was sticking in the sand at an angle of forty-five degrees, another had been capsized, and lay bottom uppermost: all the rest were in a horizontal position, as if they had sunk in smooth water. Within the last few years (1869) three other canoes have been found in the silts of the Clyde, between Bowling and Dumbarton, and are preserved for inspection in the adjacent grounds of Auchentorlie. Two of these had been exhumed from the bed of the river near Dunglass. They were found lying abreast of each other, embedded in tenacious clay, containing water-worn boulders, overlaid by a deposit of alluvial mud. ‘‘Almost every one of these ancient boats was formed out of a single oak- stem, hollowed out by blunt tools—probably stone axes—aided by the action of fire; a few were cut beautifully smooth, evidently with metallic tools. Hence a gradation could be traced from a pattern of extreme rudeness to one showing great mechanical ingenuity. Two of them were built of planks, one of the two, dug up on the property of Bankton in 1853, being eighteen feet in length, and very elaborately constructed. Its prow was not unlike the beak of an antique galley; its stern, formed of a triangular-shaped piece of oak, fitted in exactly like those of our day. The planks were fastened to the ribs, partly by singularly shaped oaken pins, and partly by what must have been square nails of some kind of metal; these had entirely disappeared, but some of the oaken pins remained. This boat had been upset, and was lying keel uppermost, with the prow pointing straight up the river. In one of the canoes a beautifully polished celt or axe of greenstone was found, in the bottom of another a plug of cork, ‘which,’ as Professor Geikie remarks, ‘could only have come from the latitudes of Spain, Southern France, or Italy.’ “There can be no doubt that some of these buried vessels are of far more ancient date than others. Those most roughly hewn may be relics of the stone 94 PREHISTORIC FISHING. period; those more smoothly cut, of the bronze age; and the regularly built boat of Bankton may perhaps come within the age of iron. The occurrence of all of them in one and the same upraised marine formation by no means implies that they belong to the same era, for in the beds of all great rivers and estuaries, there are changes continually in progress, brought about by the deposition, removal, and redepositicn of gravel, sand, and fine sediment, and by the shifting of the channel of the main currents from year to year, and from century to cen- tury. All these it behooves the geologist and antiquary to bear in mind, so as to be always on their guard, when they are endeavoring to settle the relative date, whether of objects of art or of organic remains embedded in any set of alluvial strata.” M. de Mortillet mentions several dug-outs extracted from peat, gravel, ete., in France.+ Yet, from his descriptions, which are otherwise sufficiently minute, I cannot infer that a single one of them pertains to the stone age. I am not aware that paddles or other boat-propelling implements of wood referable to the neolithic era have come to light. Several broken paddles are preserved in the Dublin Museum, and one of them is figured by Sir W. Wilde. “They are all of black oak, and present the appearance of great antiquity.’’t Anchor-stones.—The anchor in its simplest form—next to a naturally per- forated heavy nodule of flint—doubtless was a stone of proper form and weight, attached to some sort of rope. A groove cut around the stone for holding the rope in place rendered this primitive anchor more serviceable. Such stones, however, may belong to any age, and I allude to them merely for indicating the probable character of a neolithic anchor. Mr. Friedel mentions an Ankerstein from the District of Angermiinde (Brandenburg), exhibited in the Berlin Provincial Museum. It is of sandstone, about the size of a man’s head, and encircled by a deep groove.§ I have no illustration of such a stone to present. Professor Nilsson figures on Plate IX (Fig. 189) a perforated stone object with four pointed arms, forming a sort of cross. It is here reproduced as Vig. 123. This specimen, found in the Province of Bohusland and preserved in the Antiquarian Museum of Lund, has been considered as an anchor-stone, and Nilsson formerly shared this opinion; but subsequently he thought it more probable that it had been the head of a battle-axe, though he is by no means * Sir C. Lyell: Antiquity of Man; p. 50, ete. + De Mortillet: Origine de la Navigation et de la Péche; Matériaux; Vol. III, 1867; p. 48, ete.—This is not, as the title would indicate, M. de Mortillet’s entire publication, but only one of its chapters. { Sir W. Wilde: Catalogue; p. 204, ete. § Friedel: Fthrer durch die Fischerei-Abtheilung; p. 1. ANCHOR-STONES. 95 certain. A nearly similar object, on which zigzag-lines are engraved, was likewise found in Bohusland, and is now in the Museum of Goteborg. Professor Nilsson observes that he has not yet found this form among weapons used by modern savages.* The Peruvians, I will mention, used star-shaped perforated weapon-heads of stone, copper, or bronze. M. Cazalis de Fondouce, who saw the original or Fig. 123 at Lund, considers it too unwieldy to have served as suggested by the Swedish archzeologist.+ 1 4 Fra. 123.—Stone anchor (?). Bohusland. 3—BRONZE AGE. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. It would be beyond the scope of this treatise to discuss to any length the e 5 question by what agencies implements and ornaments of bronze gradually found their way to those European countries in which the use of metal previously had been unknown. I shall offer only a few observations, though for the purposes here in view it would almost suffice to state that bronze in the form of cast articles appeared there, first sparsely, and afterward in greater abundance, inso- much that the ordinary implements hitherto made of stone, etc., could be replaced by more serviceable ones of bronze. This transition, however, must have been slow, especially in its beginning stage, the costly composition} being * Nilsson: Primitive Inhabitants; p. 75. + Cazalis de Fondouce: Compte-rendu du Congrés International d’Archéologie et d’Anthropologie Préhisto- riques de Copenhague; Matériaux; Vol. VI, 1870-71; p. 235. { The ordinary bronze of that period is an alloy of nine parts of copper and one of tin. 96 PREHISTORIC FISHING. then, as may be assumed, accessible only to the wealthy, while the poor had to content themselves with non-metallic tools and implements as before. In fact, a period in which bronze was exclusively used never existed, as the examination of bronze-age tumuli has revealed; for in many of them objects of bronze and stone were found in close juxtaposition. Even in times when iron was employed, stone implements had not yet entirely fallen into disuse. Some believe in immigrations of bronze-producing Asiaties—for Asia is generally considered as that part of the world where bronze had its origin— among them the distinguished Danish archeologist, J. J. A. Worsaae, who draws attention to the circumstance that after the appearance of bronze a change in the mode of burial took place; for, while the men of neolithic times buried their dead unburned, those of the bronze period mostly disposed of them by cremation.* The inhabitants of the Mediterranean countries probably were, in conse- quence of their commercial relations, earlier in possession of bronze than the populations of more northern countries, who, it may be conjectured, received their first supplies from the South; Yet there can be no doubt that the people who obtained objects of bronze first by importation, manufactured them after- ward; for in different districts different types of the same class of articles are observable, insomuch “that a practised archzeologist can in almost all cases, on inspection of a group of bronze antiquities, fix with some degree of confidence the country in which they were found.”{ The bronze objects themselves present a great variety of tools, weapons, and ornaments, which I will specify, following Mr. John Evans’s classification. He enumerates :—celts (flat, flanged, winged, socketed), chisels, gouges, hammers, sickles, knives, razors, daggers, rapiers, halberds, maces, leaf-shaped swords, arrow and spear-heads, shields, bucklers, helmets, trumpets, bells, pins, torques, bracelets, rings, ear-rings, and many other personal ornaments ; finally, vessels, caldrons, ete. It should be understood that this list of the classes of antique bronze articles found in Great Britain and Ireland includes some which probably pertain to a period more recent than the bronze age. Mr. Evans is careful to make his comments in every doubtful case. As the most useful among the bronze articles may be considered the edged tools, such as hatchets, chisels, knives, etc., by means of which work of various kinds, especially wood-work, could be done in far shorter time than before their introduction. The bronze relics in general present remarkably elegant forms, even the celts, spear-heads and other smaller articles, and many are ornamented * Worsaae: Die Vorgeschichte des Nordens nach gleichzeitigen Denkmilern; p. 50. + This theory, however, may not hold good for Hungarian bronze antiquities, which exhibit marked peculi- arities of form. They probably came directly from the Hast. + Evans: The Ancient Bronze Implements, Weapons, and Ornaments of Great Britain and Ireland; New York, 1881; p. 24. LAKE-DWELLINGS. 97 with punched lines of divers patterns. The pottery of this period, though made without the application of the lathe, is superior to that of preceding times. It is obvious that the men of the bronze age, who showed so much appreciation of art, were considerably advanced in culture, when compared with the stone-using people hitherto considered. Some observations on bronze-age civilization, as it appears in a special district of Europe, will be made in the following section. LAKE-DWELLINGS. Character.—The bronze-yielding lake-settlements of Switzerland were gen- erally of greater extent than those of the preceding period, and, being farther distant from the shore, stood in deeper water. The piles supporting the platform were split stems, from five to six inches or more in thickness, and pointed with bronze hatchets. The huts, it seems, resembled in their construction those of the stone-age colonies. As for the occupation of the lake-men of this period, it may be safely inferred that, like their predecessors, they were agriculturists, hunters, and fishers. They cultivated the cereals previously mentioned, and, in addition, oats, which, however, only appears at the stations of later date. They probably used deer-horn or wooden hoes for preparing the ground, and, perhaps, employed a plough of simple form. To the list of animals already domesticated in the preceding period must be added a pony-like horse and a dog somewhat larger than that of the earlier settlements; there are also traces of a smaller species of dog. They hunted the wild boar, stag, roe, and brown bear. The first-named of these animals still existed in large numbers, as its bones testify, while the stag appears less frequently than in former times. Remains of the hare are wanting, probably because, as formerly, it was not eaten, owing to superstitious motives. The ibex, elk, urus, and bison were not as much hunted as in the earlier period, having, perhaps, farther retreated from the abodes of man. The bones of domesticated animals found on the sites of the bronze-age pile-works outnumber those of the wild species, a fact which would indicate a decline in hunting and a more vigorous application to husbandry. Fishing evidently was eagerly pursued, as I shall have occasion to show. The bronze tools and implements in use among the lake-people were celts or hatchets of every description, hammers with sockets for the insertion of crooked handles, chisels, gouges, knives (often of elegant form, the blades being curved in the direction of a wave-line), razors, sickles (designed to be provided with wooden handles)", fish-hooks, sewing-needles, and engraving-instruments. Among the weapons are to be mentioned leaf-shaped, short-handled swords and * Some of these handles have been found, which are carved with great ingenuity to fit the grip of the hand. R13 98 PREHISTORIC FISHING. daggers, both rare, socketed lance-heads, often ornamented, and barbed arrow- heads with a stem for insertion into the shaft, rarely socketed. A few bridle- bits of bronze, indicative of horsemanship, have been found, but no horse-shoes. The bronze ornaments, which are very numerous, comprise hair and dress- pins, armlets, neck-rings, finger-rings, ear-rings, fibulee, buttons, and various other objects designed for personal adornment. The pins, sometimes very long, are generally provided at the upper end with knobs of different, mostly really tasteful, patterns; some terminate in rings. Flattish rings, about three-fourths of an inch in diameter, are supposed to represent the money of the period. Moulds of stone, clay, or bronze, for casting various objects, have been found ; other articles may have been obtained by trade from abroad, especially certain pieces of superior workmanship. Numerous clay spindle-whorls bear witness to the extensive production of flax-thread, undoubtedly much used in the manufacture of linen cloth designed for garments. Skins, it may be supposed, served in their stead during the cold season. The clay vessels of this period betoken a considerable progress in the ceramic art. The clay of large pots serving for the preservation of provisions is strongly mixed with quartz sand; that of the smaller vessels, which often exhibit elegant shapes, is purified, and forms a homogeneous mass. Some vessels have convex or even conical bottoms, and had to be supported by those coarse clay rings previously mentioned, which are peculiar to the bronze period. There have been found plates which may be considered as an innovation, as they are absent in the stone-age pile-works; and clay lamps with two ears for suspension denote another progress in the civilization of the lake-people. The ornamentation of the pottery, like that of the bronze articles, consists of dots, incised parallel lines, rows of triangles, concentric circles, frets, and other geometric designs. Many of the vessels have a coating of black paint, but different colors were sometimes employed for displaying ornamental designs, such as triangles and circles. A black-ware dish from the Cortaillod settlement (Lake of Neuchatel) is decorated with regularly-cut, thin sheets of tin, which are rendered adhesive by means of a resinous substance. Curious objects of clay, shaped like a cres- cent supported by a foot—rudely made, and yet exhibiting some form of decora- tion—have caused much speculation, being regarded either as head-rests or as symbols connected with moon-worship. It is supposed that the lake-people of this period disposed of their dead both by interment and cremation. According to Professor Desor’s conjecture, the introduction of bronze in Switzerland took place eight hundred or a thousand years before the Christian era.* * Most of the facts mentioned in this short résumé are taken from an excellent little work, entitled ‘‘ Die Blithezeit des Bronzealters der Pfahlbauten in der Schweiz, dargestellt von Prof. E. Desor; Referat von Dr, A. Jahn; Bern, 1875. FISH-HOOKS. 99 Fishing-implements—Excepting bronze fish-hooks, hardly any fishing im- plements have come to light, which can be safely referred to the period charac- terized by the knowledge of bronze. The lake-men of these times doubtless used sink-stones and floats like those previously described, and nets of the same make, though their methods of net-fishing may have undergone changes for the better. Of this, however, we know nothing. It is even possible that the use of bone-headed harpoons was continued, for some time at least, and there is some likelihood that the one or the other of the bone harpoon-heads described in these pages, which were obtained from stone and bronze-yielding settlements, may in reality pertain to the age of bronze. SSS — RH Fic. 124.—Fishing-implement (?) of bronze. Switzerland. The pointed pieces of bone or flint serving as bait-holders, which are by this time familiar to the reader, also seem to have been copied in bronze. Mr. Friedel, at least, figures a double-pointed bronze object thus classed by him,* stating at the same time that such specimens are extremely rare. I reproduce his representation as Fig. 124. The locality where the original, of course a lacustrine relic, was found is not specified. Real fish-hooks of bronze, on the other hand, are very frequent in some stations, exhibiting a great variety in form and size, and doubtless shaped in accordance with the character of the kind of fish to be caught with them. The smaller hooks are made of wire, either rounded or more or less square in the section; the larger ones seem to be cast.; Some of the hooks bear so close a resemblance to those used at the present time that an expert in angling might have occasion to indulge in comments on their special applicability. Figs. 125 to 137, on the following page, represent, in half-size, a series of thirteen hooks obtained at the Nidau-Steinberg settlement,{ where the late Colonel Schwab collected so many valuable relics, which he bequeathed to the city of Bienne. Figs. 125 to 128 show unbarbed hooks, having the upper part of the shank bent over, so as to form an eye for the attachment of the line. Figs. 129 to 134 illustrate barbed specimens, all with shanks bent at the upper extremity into the shapes of hooks or eyes. Fig. 135 shows the shank notched for giving a hold * Amtliche Berichte; p. 126, Fig. 64. + I must state, however, that I have not seen specimens of the larger kind. + Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. II, Plate XXXVI, Figs. 25, 32, 31, 26, 29, 30, 23, 21, 22, 24, 20, 28, 27, respectively. 100 PREHISTORIC FISHING. to the line. In Figs. 136 and 137 forms of unbarbed double hooks are given. Thus it will be seen that hooks of this character are no recent invention. | al Lit Tic. 125 Fig. 126. =. 127. Fic. 128. Fig. 129. | Q Q o ° J : Fria. 130. Fig. 131. Fig. 132. Fic. 133. Fig. 134. Sie Fig. 135. Fig. 136. Fic. 137. All 3. Figs. 125-137.—Bronze fish-hooks. Nidau-Steinberg. The second group, comprising Figs. 138, 159, and 140, illustrates forms of hooks from the stations of Font and Cortaillod, in the Lake of Neuchatel. The originals, formerly belonging to the Clement collection, are now in the Peabody Museum (Nos. 6069.8, 26471, and 6096. Z). The unbarbed hook shown in Fig. FISH-HO0OKsS. 101 138 is remarkable on account of the unusual form of the eye; Figs. 139 and 140 represent barbed double hooks.* Fic. 138.—Font. Fic. 139.—Cortaillod. Fic. 140.—Cortaillod. Figs. 188-140.—Bronze fish-hooks. Figs. 141, 142, and 143+ show forms of fish-hooks from the station of Mon- tellier, Lake of Morat or Murten, in the Canton of Freiburg (Fribourg). As the illustrations fully exhibit the character of the specimens, further explanations are not needed. Fic. 141. Fig. 142. Fic. 143. Fics. 141-143.—Bronze fish-hooks. Montellier. The next group, composed of Figs. 144 and 145. on page 102, exhibits designs of two bronze fish-hooks, obtained, respectively, at the mouth of the * Not a single barbed double hook is figured in the translation of Dr. Keller’s work. 7 Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. II, Plate C, Figs. 21, 20, and 22, respectively. 102 PREHISTORIC FISHING. small river Scheuss, which empties into the northeastern end of the Lake of Bienne, and at the Lattringen station in the same lake. These two illustrations probably represent the objects in natural size; but nothing relative to it is said in Mr. Lee’s translation of Dr. Keller’s reports, from which the figures are taken.* +) £(2) Fia. 144.—Mouth of river Scheuss. Fia. 145.—Lattringen. Fics. 144 and 145.—Bronze fish-hooks. The very fine and large specimen of which Fig. 146 shows the form and size, belonged to the series of lacustrine relics sent by the Antiquarian Society of Ziirich to the International Fishery Exhibition, held, as stated, in the year 1880 at Berlin, and the figure is copied from the volume treating of that exhibi- tion. It was found at Romanshorn, on the Swiss side of the Lake of Constance. Though there is, as far as I can discover, no pile-work at Romanshorn, such constructions existed in the neighborhood, and the specimen is considered as a relic of the lake-men.{ The originals of Figs. 147 and 148§ were obtained at the station of Unter-Uhldingen in the Ueberlinger See (Baden), and that of Fig. 149,| Lake Starnberg, Bavaria. a large unbarbed double hook, is a relic from the Roseninsel, in * Keller: Lake Dwellings; Plate XC, Figs. 12 and 13. t{ Amtliche Berichte; p. 127, Fig. 74. { The frontispiece represents a still larger lacustrine bronze fish-hook. Copied from Plate LXVIII of Keller’s “ Lake Dwellings.” § Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. II, Plate XXIX, Figs. 21 and 22. || Ibid..; Vol. II, Plate CLXXXI, Fig. 7. FISH-HOOKS. 103 zZ iT 2 dy Fia. 147.—Unter-Uhldingen. Fig. 148.—Unter-Uhldingen. 1 1 Fig. 146.—Romanshorn. i Fig. 149.—Roseninsel. Fries. 146-149.—Bronze fish-hooks. Lastly, I present on the following page in Figs. 150 to 153* a group of bronze fish-hooks, barbed and unbarbed, from settlements in the Lake of Bourget, Savoy. The original of Fig. 150 is certainly of very clumsy make, and its shape suggestive of some doubt as to its use as a fish-hook. The originals of Figs. 154 and 155, also on page 104, obtained at the pile- work of Peschiera, on Lake Garda, are designated as small harpoons.; They cer- * Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. II, Plate CLVII, Figs. 13, 12, 18, and 19, respectively. ¢ Ibid.; Vol. II, Plate CXIX, Figs. 1 and 3 104 PREHISTORIC FISHING. tainly are too diminutive for such a use, and Fig. 154, moreover, is curiously curved, and has an eye at the upper extremity. I conjecture that the originals of 52. Fig. 153. All 1. Frias. 150-153.—Bronze fish-hooks. Lake of Bourget. both, Figs. 154 and 155, were fish-hooks not yet brought into the proper form by bending, and I have the same opinion with regard to the object represented by Fig. 156, a specimen from Moringen, figured by Mr. Friedel.* bole 1 2 Fig. 154.—Peschiera. Fic. 155.—Peschiera. Fic. 156.—Mo6ringen. Fie. 154-156.—Barbed bronze rods not yet bent into the form of fish-hooks. * Amtliche Berichte; p. 128, Fig. 84. BOATS. i 105 Bronze points, however, which may possibly have been the armatures of har- poons and arrows for shooting fish have occurred, and I give illustrations of a few. Figs. 157 and 158 show barbed points from Moringen, the one stemmed, the other socketed.* Fig. 159 represents a socketed specimen from Peschiera,} and Fig. 160 another one from the Roseninsel, in Lake Starnberg.{ Yet the use of bone and flint points may have long continued after the introduction of bronze. 1 ie 1 rT 1 2 4 Fic. 1657.—Moringen. Fic. 158.—M6ringen. Fic. 159.—Peschiera. Fic. 160.—Roseninsel. Fries. 157-160.— Barbed bronze armatures. Boats.—The possession of bronze hatchets enabled the lake-dwellers of this period to produce better dug-outs than those made by their predecessors, who were restricted to the use of stone implements. Many of the boats, however, have been found under circumstances which render it difficult to determine their antiquity, as in the case of those discovered in bronze-yielding pile-works inhab- ited up to the time when iron was used. Such may be either of bronze or iron- age origin. A curious boat was found in the settlement near Cudrefin, in the Lake of Neuchatel. In the translation of Keller’s work reference is made to the extent of this station and its numerous piles, and it is further mentioned that “ pottery has been found here and a boat made out of a single stem.”§ From this scanty information it is impossible to draw any conclusion as to the antiquity of the last-named object. At any rate, I reproduce as Fig. 161 on the next page the three views illustrating the appearance of this boat,|| which is certainly of a remarkable form, and, being provided with a sort of handle at one end, reminds * Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. II, Plate XLVII, Figs. 9 and 11. } Ibid. ; Vol. II, Plate CXIX, Fig. 2. f{Ibid.; Vol. II, Plate CLXXXI, Fig. 6. §Ibid.; Vol. I, p. 462. || Ibid. ; Vol. II, Plate LXX XVII, Figs. 3, 4, and 5. R14 106 PREHISTORIC FISHING. one of a class of ancient Irish boats mentioned by Sir W. Wilde (page 62 of this publication). This dug-out, which was with great difficulty taken in several pieces out of the water, is thus described by Professor Grangier :— Fic. 161.—Boat. Cudrefin. “The Cudrefin canoe is about thirty-six and a half English feet long, and about two feet nine inches in its broadest part. The height in the middle is about two feet, the depth nearly one foot six inches, the thickness of the sides is three inches, and that of the bottom rather more than four inches. At the bottom of the boat there are four cross-ribs, made out of the same piece of oak timber as the boat, and at a distance apart of eight or nine feet; that at the prow is an actual seat, and is about one foot wide and eight inches high; the three others are about three inches high and seven inches wide. They were probably intended to strengthen the bottom. ——— As it would have been rather difficult, with my small experience in these matters, to give an idea of the different pieces which together make up this vessel, I have thought it best to draw it, not just as it is at the present moment, but as it was before it was taken out of the water. The most remarkable things about it, according to my ideas, are the part like a handle and the prow, which are in very good preservation.”* M. Edmond de Fellenberg succeeded in recovering two boats near the station of Vingelz, in the Lake of Bienne. One of them is referred by him to the bronze age. The first, an oaken dug-out strengthened by cross-ribs at the bottom, measured a little over forty-three feet in length. A crack extended from one end to the other, and it had been kept together in olden times by tron * Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. I, p. 282. BOATS. 107 cramps, remnants of which still remained in place. M. de Fellenberg ascribes it to the pre-Roman iron period. Fic. 162.—Boat. Vingelz. Fig. 162 is a reduced copy of the representation of the second boat brought to light by him.* He thus describes it :— “When I was engaged in excavating the large canoe at Vingelz, one of the visitors informed me that the stem of a tree, apparently cut into a conical form, was projecting a little from the bottom of the lake; it lay about thirty paces on one side of the great canoe. When we had secured the large boat, I had this conical stem uncovered, and found, to my no small delight, that we had unexpectedly fallen in with a second canoe, for the conical piece of wood soon appeared as if cut off smoothly above, and after a few minutes’ work we brought to light the complete sides of a small but still perfect ‘ Einbaum’ or ‘dug-out’ canoe. I had the whole canoe carefully uncovered, and there were so many peculiarities in it that it may be considered as one of the most interesting boats of its kind. It lay with its massive conical end towards the lake, tolerably parallel with the great canoe, and, like it, nearly a hundred feet distant from the ancient bank; that is, from the vineyards below Vingelz. The massive conical end was the highest part, and the canoe sank gradually into the mud, so that the other end was buried two feet deep. This canoe had one remarkable peculiarity: at the hinder part it is cut off quite square, both sides and bottom, and about eight inches from the end a board about an inch thick, and worked with the hatchet, is fastened in on the bottom and between the sides as a kind of makeshift. It seems from this, either that the front portion of this primitive boat had, by some accident, been destroyed, and that the canoe had been made again available by the insertion of this board instead of the stern part, or that the stern portion of the boat, in its usual rounded form, had never existed, and that this singular arrangement was the intentional termination of the boat. In * Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. II, Plate LXX XVII, Figs. 1 and 2. 108 PREHISTORIC FISHING. the latter case it is difficult to understand the prolongation of the bottom and sides for eight inches, or the additional thickness of the wood just at this end from about the fifth rib down to the part cut off. One would almost have thought that this was the middle of the canoe.* “The canoe, in its present state, is a trifle more than nineteen English feet long, from the extreme point of the conical end to the part cut off. The circum- ference is somewhat round, so that the sides project beyond the bottom and slope very gradually downwards; thus the boat has somewhat the shape of a trough. It is strengthened at the bottom by five cross-ribs, which rise nearly two and a half inches from the bottom, but do not reach the sides. There is a peculiar beak-shaped projection in the massive conical bow, which stretches about eight in- ches into the hollow of the canoe and divides the extreme end into two parts. The sides are very thin at the edge, and this is also the case with the bottom, except near the part where it is cut off, where it is twice as thick as elsewhere. It was unfortunately impossible to preserve this very perishable canoe, as it was of poplar, and fell to pieces as soon as it was exposed. — — — “Tf we ask the age of this interesting boat, it will itself return the answer ; for in fact we found lying on the bottom in the middle of the canoe, a quantity of pieces of pottery belonging to three different earthenware vessels. This pottery is of half-baked clay in two instances, mixed with a quantity of quartzose sand. One has the edge ornamented with impressions similar to those common at Nidau-Steinberg and Méringen. One piece belonged to a shining black thin vessel, and very decidedly indicates the bronze age, and to this age we may con- sider the canoe to belong. It may probably have hailed from Nidau-Steinberg.’’+ Fic. 163.—Boat. Mercurago. A boat from the pile-work in the turbary of Mercurago (see page 68 of this publication) is described and figured by Professor Gastaldi.{ His illustration, here given as Fig. 163, shows the boat in a fragmentary state, only one meter and ninety centimeters of its length remaining; it is about a meter wide, and thirty centimeters in depth. The station in question, it will be remembered, is * This appears plausible enough. But a dug-out, twenty-two feet long, with a stern-piece placed exactly as in the Swiss boat, was found in the lake-dwelling at Buston, near Kilmaurs, Scotland. It is described and repre- sented in Dr. Robert Munro’s ‘‘Ancient Scottish Lake Dwellings or Crannogs ” (Edinburgh, 1882; p. 206, etc.). He mentions in his work several Scottish canoes, but does not seem to assign to them any great antiquity. 7 Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. I, p. 224, ete. { Gastaldi: Lake Habitations; p. 102, Fig. 30. FISH-HOOKS. 109 considered as belonging to the transition from stone to bronze, and the dug-out may be of bronze-age origin. FISHING-IMPLEMENTS AND UTENSILS NOT DERIVED FROM LAKE- HABITATIONS. Under this head I have so little to say that subdivisions appear entirely superfluous ; for, though many non-lacustrine bronze-age objects bearing upon fishing may be in existence, my scanty literary material will not permit me to go beyond an allusion to a few fish-hooks and boats. 1 ah 1 1 t 2 Fic. 164.—Ireland. Fic. 165.—Scotland. Fic. 166.—Scotland. Fic, 167.—Denmark. Fics. 164-167.—Bronze fish-hooks. Mr. John Evans states in his excellent work on the bronze age that he knows only of one bronze fish-hook found in the British Islands, namely, the Irish specimen figured by Sir W. Wilde.* It is here represented as Fig. 164. In this specimen, it will be seen, the upper end of the shank is flattened out for the attachment of the line, just as in modern fish-hooks. There are, however, in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland five bronze hooks from Glenluce, Wigtonshire, two of which have been figured. Figs. 165 and 166 are copies.+ Mr. Worsaae figures only one Danish fish-hook of bronze in his eat- alogue of the antiquities in the Copenhagen Museum.{ His representation is here copied as Fig. 167. He informs me that this fish-hook was found in the Island of Fiinen, adding that several others are in the Copenhagen Museum, one of them belonging to a large find of bronze-age antiquities in a tumulus * Sir W. Wilde: Catalogue; p. 526, Fig. 403. + Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1880-’81 ; Edinburgh, 1881; Figs. 10 and 11 on p. 273. t Worsaae: Nordiske Oldsager; p. 60, Fig. 277. 110 PREHISTORIC FISHING. in Fiinen. Bronze hooks were found in the foundry of Larnaud (Jura) and in the hoard of Saint-Pierre-en-Chatre (Oise),* but the works in which mention of them is made are not at my disposal. 00 He Fia. 168. y Fig. 169. Fries. 168 and 169.—Bronze fish-hooks in the form of baits. Germany. There are in a museum at Liibeck (Culturhistorisches Museum) three fish hooks made of thin sheet bronze, and having sharp points and somewhat fish- shaped shanks. Mr. Christensen, who describes and represents them in the article quoted on page 72,+ is of opinion that they were thus formed in order to serve as artificial baits. Figs. 168 and 169 are fac-simile copies of two of his rather uncouth illustrations. If these hooks were employed as baits, which seems probable, it was chiefly their metallic lustre which attracted the fish, while iron hooks of the same shape, on account of their less shining appearance, prob- ably would have been useless. These Liibeck specimens, therefore, may have purposely been made of bronze at a time when iron was the common metal. Mr. Friedel describes a bronze-age dug-out preserved in the Provincial Museum at Berlin. It is made of an oak-stem, four meters long and eighty centimeters wide, and was found in a turbary near Linum, in the District of * Evans: Ancient Bronze Implements; p. 192. + Deutsche Fischerei-Zeitung ; March 22, 1881; p. 95. BOATS. 111 East Havelland (Brandenburg), on sandy soil covered by a layer of peat exceed- ing three meters in thickness.* Two Danish oaken dug-outs—or rather their remnants—in the Copenhagen Museum, which probably belong to the bronze age, are represented in Worsaae’s catalogue. Yet the distinguished archeologist is not altogether certain as to their antiquity, for the word Broncealderen with an interrogation-mark after it forms the heading of the page on which they are figured.+ Here I bring my account of prehistoric fishing in Europe to a close. * Friedel: Wuhrer durch die Fischerei-Abtheilung; p. 3. 7 Worsaae: Nordiske Oldsager ; p. 66, Figs. 294 and 295.—On page 65 of his catalogue Mr. Worsaae repre- sents in Fig. 293 a bronze-age coffin, consisting of the excavated half of an oak-stem with truncated ends. Below the figure the word Liigkiste is printed, which means Letchenkiste in German, and corpse-chest in English. M. Gabriel de Mortillet erroneously refers to it as a Danish canoe of the bronze age (Matériaux, Vol. III, 1867; p. 43). PART II.—NORTH AMERICA. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. While there is no difficulty in comprehending the term “ prehistoric,’ when applied to the antiquities of Europe, the same word assumes an altered signifi- cance in its connection with the artefacts left by the former inhabitants of this country. Here, by general consent, all objects are considered as prehistoric, which oceur in mounds and other burial-places of early date, on and below the surface of the ground, in caves, shell-heaps, ete.—in fact all articles of aborigi- nal workmanship that cannot with certainty be ascribed to any of the tribes which are either still in existence, or have become extinct within historical times, or, to speak more distinctly, within the recollection of the white successors of the Indians. Thus, a collection of North American relics may contain specimens of very high antiquity as well as others of comparatively recent date; yet there is no way of suggesting accurate discrimination. Moreover, it cannot be doubted that some, or even many, of the objects classed with our antiquities originated after the arrival of Europeans in this country; for, though the natives were not slow in recognizing the superiority of the white man’s tools and other implements, and endeavored to obtain them by barter from the immigrants, the less favored were still compelled to ones among them—for not all could be supplied at once manufacture, according to old usage, various articles, which, when discovered, are placed in collections of North American antiquities. It certainly would be a mistake to attribute aboriginal relics from any given district positively to the Indians who occupied it when the whites arrived. Though these natives doubtless left many manufactures on the soil of their special country, it cannot be decided, at least not in most cases, whether an object there discovered is to be assigned to the last occupants, or to invaders, or to pre- decessors of a different lineage.* If all these circumstances are taken into account, there arises a probability that the one or the other object hereafter described by me may be of more or less recent origin, and even post-date the advent of the Caucasians in this country. * These observations refer immediately to the long-settled eastern regions of North America; but they can with equal force be applied to the western districts which have lately been colonized by the whites. R15 (113) 114 PREHISTORIC FISHING. Was there a paleeolithic age in North America ? During a number of years, Dr. Charles C. Abbott, of Trenton, New Jersey, has published papers in which he describes rude implements found by him in the undisturbed gravel-beds of the Delaware Valley at Trenton, and he finally sums up his experiences, together with those of others, in the thirty-second chapter of a late work treating of the aboriginal relics of the northern Atlantic sea-board of America. The implements in question resemble in shape more or less those from the drift of France and England; yet while the latter consist of cretaceous flint, the material of the New Jersey specimens is argillite.* I have seen but three of them, which were sent to me by Dr. Abbott, and these are unmistakably fashioned by the hand of man. They were all found, he informs me, by himself in the gravel-bluff facing the Delaware River at Trenton, at a depth of thirteen feet from the surface. “The purplish-colored one was under- neath a boulder and could never have been above it, since the deposition of the boulder.” Dr. Abbott’s illustrations of Trenton implements likewise leave no doubt as to the artificial shaping of the originals. He admits that, “having been seriously misled by the various geological reports that purport to give, in proper sequence, the respective ages of the several strata of clay, gravel, boulders, and sand, through which the river has finally worn its channel to the ocean-level, he has probably, in previous publications, ascribed too great an antiquity to these implements, although what is now known to be a substantially correct history of the various deposits in the river-valley does not dissociate these traces of man from a time when essentially glacial conditions existed in the upper valley of the Delaware River, though they occurred subsequently to the existence of the great continental glacier, when at its greatest magnitude. “Tt was not until the surface geology of the Delaware River Valley was carefully studied by Mr. Henry Carvill Lewis, of the Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania, that we were in possession of all the facts necessary to enable us to recognize the full significance of those early traces of man, discovered in one of the latest geological formations of this valley.’’+ The conclusions drawn by Mr. Lewis from his investigation are, that the Trenton gravel is a true river-gravel, and is the most recent of all the formations in the valley of the Delaware River; that it is apparently post-glacial; and that the stone implements of palzeolithic type, which this gravel contains, indicate the existence of man in a rude state, at the time of its deposition.[ It remains to be seen whether this is the last verdict in the case. * Only one spear-head-like implement of flint has thus far been noticed. It was taken, within the city of Trenton, from the gravel, at a depth of six feet below the surface. + Abbott: Primitive Industry: or Illustrations of the Handiwork, in Stone, Bone and Clay, of the Native Races of the Northern Atlantic Seaboard of America; Salem, Mass., 1881; p. 471. { Ibid. ; p. 551. DRIFT-IMPLEMENTS. 115 There has been discovered at Trenton, about fourteen feet below the surface, the tusk of a mastodon, covered with partly stratified gravel and stones. Allu- ding to this circumstance, Dr. Abbott observes:—‘ When we consider that not only the remains of the mastodon, but those of the bison, have been found in this gravel, and that within a few yards of the spot where the tusk of the mas- todon mentioned by Professor Cook, was found, palzeolithic implements have been gathered, one at the same, and three at greater depths, it is apparent that we here have evidence of man’s contemporaneity, on the Atlantic coast, with the large mammals mentioned.’ Bones of the reindeer also have been met with, though sparingly, in this eravel. Finally, Dr. Abbott strongly inclines to the view—not an unusual one—that the Eskimos formerly extended far to the southward in North America, and, indeed, were the makers of the rude tools found by him in the Trenton gravel. Professor Henry W. Haynes, of Boston, who has studied the stone age for six years in Europe and Northern Africa, lately visited, in company with Pro- fessor W. Boyd Dawkins and other gentlemen, the region in question, and became fully convinced of the palzeolithic character of the Trenton argillite tools. On this occasion, it should be stated, several implements were taken by his com- panions, either from the eravel or the talus on the river-bank, in his presence, and he found five himself. “It has been my good fortune,” he says, “to find palzeolithic implements in Europe in several localities, both where they have been accompanied by the characteristic fossil bones, and where these have been wanting. I have thus had- the opportunity of making myself familiar with the general character of such localities and the appearance of the country in the vicinity, together with the nature and quality of the gravels in which the implements are found. I have especially studied the eravel-beds of the valley of the Seine, in the vicinity of Paris, and of the Tiber, near Rome, for several successive years, and in a very great number of visits, and from both these localities I have obtained fossil bones of the mammoth, the rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, the bos antiquus, the great extinct elk, the horse, the reindeer, ete. Accompanying these fossil bones were found the characteristic palzolithic implements. I have also visited the famous locality of Saint-Acheul, and the well-known gravel-pits near Salisbury, England, in both of which spots have occurred numerous finds of paleolithic implements, accompanied by similar fossil bones. In another locality, near Dinan, in Nor- mandy, where the pleistocene deposits no longer exist, as is also the case in the valley of the Nile, I have found a large quantity of paleolithic implements made out of quartzite. From these various experiences I feel myself warranted in stating that the general appearance of the country and the character of the * Abbott: Primitive Industry ; p- 482. 116 PREHISTORIC FISHING. gravels at Trenton, New Jersey, present a most striking resemblance to what I have seen in the various localities in the Old World to which I have referred. There is the same rudely-stratified mingling of coarse materials marked by a similar absence of clay. It is true that in the gravels of New Jersey thus far not many fossil bones have been discovered, but only a few of the mammoth, the bison, the reindeer, and the walrus, some of which, like the animals of Europe under similar circumstances, have since migrated to the colder regions of the north. But the fact remains that fossil animal bones have actually been dis- covered in these gravels, and when we call to mind to what a limited extent they have as yet been examined, we may reasonably expect more to be found hereafter. “JT limit myself to a general statement like this in regard to the marked resemblance of the locality, and the precisely similar character of the gravels at Trenton, New Jersey, to what I have seen in many localities in Europe, which have yielded true palzeolithic implements, and I leave in more competent hands the discussion and determination of the true geological character of the gravels of the Delaware Valley. “Speaking then merely from an archzeological stand-point, I do not hesitate to declare my firm conviction that the rude argillite objects found in the gravels of the Delaware River, at Trenton, New Jersey, are true palzeolithic imple- ments.””* This is certainly a strong vindication of Dr. Abbott’s claims. I have elsewhere expressed my belief that man is an exotic element in America; but that the present American continent received its first population at a very remote period, when, perhaps, the distribution of land and sea was different from what it is now. The earliest immigrants, I further stated, may have been so low in the scale of human development that they lacked the faculty of expressing themselves in articulate language, as it is difficult to account in another way for the totally diverse characteristics of the numerous linguistic families of America. In accordance with these views, I do not deem it improbable that implements analogous in character to those of the European drift should occur under cor- responding circumstances in North America. I cannot express a similar opinion with regard to ‘“pliocene” man in America. Admitting, for instance, the correctness of the reports on the polished stone implements said to have been taken from a bed of Table Mountain in Tuolumne County, California, older than the European drift, it would follow that man lived in America in a polished-stone age, before the contemporary of * Haynes: The Argillite Implements found in the Gravels of the Delaware River, at Trenton, N. J., com- pared witk the Paleolithic Implements of Europe; Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History; Vol. XXI, January 19, 1881; p. 136, etc. DOUBLE-POINTED STONE IMPLEMENTS. iil the mammoth in Europe fashioned his rude implements of flint. An inference of such stupendous bearing should not be accepted without incontrovertible proofs, and these, it seems to me, have not yet been furnished. If, ultimately, what now appears almost incredible, should become an established fact, all doubts, of course, will be removed. While treating of prehistoric fishing in Europe, I was enabled to divide the subject into different sections, devoting each of them to a special phase of human existence. But such a mode of proceeding would hardly be applicable to North America, and I prefer describing, in proper succession, such relics bearing upon fishing as may be called prehistoric, according to the explanation of the term as given on a preceding page. The abundance of fish in the rivers and lakes of North America—not to speak of the sea-boards—excited the astonishment of the early European colo- nists, who found the natives well acquainted with various modes of fishing, which could only have been acquired by long-continued pursuits. Taking them as a whole, they practised fishing by spearing and shooting, with hook and line, and nets of various kinds, and they even knew how to stupefy fish by throwing intoxicating substances into the water. They constructed traps, weirs, fish-pens, and fish-preserves, and, finally, navigated, for the purpose of fishing, the streams, lakes, and seas with boats varying greatly in size and make. All this will subsequently be set forth in a series of extracts from authors who describe the natives of North America as they were when first observed, or when their habits had not been materially changed by intercourse with the whites. For the rest, I abstain from giving any details concerning Indian mode of life. The indigenous American still belongs to the present, and it may be pre- supposed that his characteristics are known to the reader of this work. FISHING-IMPLEMENTS AND UTENSILS. Double-pointed straight Bait-holders—Among the many thousand North American articles of flint and other stone exhibited in the United States National Museum there is not one to which the above application could with any degree of safety be assigned. Only a few among them possibly might have thus been employed; but these constitute a fraction by far too small to form a type, or, in other words, to represent a class of objects made for a common purpose. Never- theless I will describe some of them. The original of Fig. 170, on the following page, is a chipped implement of dark-gray jasper, found by Mr. Paul Schumacher near Rogue River, Oregon. It is slender, and the points are rather blunt, apparently not from use, but in conse- 118 PREHISTORIC FISHING. quence of exposure, the specimen showing a kind of polish evidently produced by contact with other bodies. It looks as though it had been drifted in water. He ne an Fig. 170.—Oregon. (12885). Fic. 171.—Tennessee. (60539) Fic. 172.—Wyoming. Fias. 170-172.—Double-pointed stone implements. Fig. 171 shows the form of a somewhat similar object, in this instance brought into shape by grinding. This specimen, presented by Professor W. A. Kite, is not flattish like the one first described, but almost round in the cross- section, and terminates in tolerably sharp points. It consists of a blackish kind of stone, apparently argillite, and was found nearly opposite the mouth of Middle Creek, in Greene County, Tennessee. Fig. 172 is taken from the “ Fifth Annual Report of the Superintendent of the Yellowstone National Park” (Washington, 1881, Fig. 16 on page 37). It is not distinctly stated whether the original, which belongs to a series of stone implements collected in the National Park by Superintendent P. W. Norris, con- sists of flint or obsidian. This, however, is of little consequence, as the shape alone is the noticeable feature, and that is certainly exceptional and suggestive of the application here considered. The notches would have facilitated the attach- ment of a line, and the implement, inserted into a fish and swallowed by a larger one, could not easily have been disgorged by the latter. But, nevertheless, it probably was prepared for a totally different purpose. I give in Fig. 173 the delineation of a rather large polished implement, found in Berks County, Pennsylvania, and presented to the Smithsonian Insti- tution by the Hon. G. H. Keim. I figure this specimen for the simple reason that it has been regarded by some as a bait-holder, an opinion in which I cannot concur. The material is a greenish-gray argillite. The illustration shows its form distinctly, and I have only to add that a cross-section laid through the DOUBLE-POINTED BONE IMPLEMENTS. 119 middle would present a somewhat flattened oval. Iam inclined to regard this specimen as a ceremonial weapon in which the usual perforation for the reception of a handle is replaced by a groove. It weighs three ounces and a half. Fic. 173.—Double-pointed grooved stone implement. Pennsylvania. (6627). Straight bone rods tapering toward both ends are not wanting in the arche- ological division of the National Museum. They were chiefly obtained in the course of explorations of the Californian Santa Barbara group of islands and their neighborhood, undertaken in the interest of the United States National Museum by Messrs. Paul Schumacher and Stephen Bowers. These explorations extended over the islands of San Miguel, Santa Cruz, San Nicolas, and Santa Catalina, and various points on the main-land, embraced in the counties of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara. Philadelphia, and were kindly loaned to me by his brother, Mr. George Vaux, of that city. Fig. 317 (on page 177).—A well-polished sinker of coarse-grained syenite. The portion above the bi-conical hole is somewhat damaged by fracture. It formed the less pointed end of the object. From Chester, Randolph County, Illinois.* ab ple Be 2 2 2 Fria. 318.—Northwest Coast. (2649). Fic. 319.—California, (21893). Fia. 320.—Ohio. (31000). Fries. 318-320.—Stone sinkers. Fig. 318.—A specimen made of gneiss, presenting a rather rough appear- ance, but nevertheless symmetrical in form. The bulging part is slightly flat- tish, and both ends exhibit a still more compressed shape. The bi-conical per- foration is one inch distant from the upper end, which shows an insignificant depression in the middle. Obtained on the Northwest Coast during Lieutenant Wilkes’s exploring expedition. Fig. 319.—Marked as a cast of a specimen in the collection of the Cali- * T have the upper half of a well-made drilled stone sinker, whicb, significantly enough, was found in the Richland Creek, near Belleville, Saint Clair County, Illinois. SINKERS. 179 fornia Academy of Sciences, at San Francisco. The object, to judge from its imitation, is well worked. The upper end shows a deep groove, running verti- cally from one aperture of the bi-conical hole to the other. I cannot state of what material the specimen is made, and from what special locality in Cali- fornia it is derived. My inquiries led to no definite result. A cast of another Californian sinker of the same shape was sent by Mr. R. E. C. Stearns to the National Museum (No. 30110). The original, consisting of dark slate, was found in Solano County. Fig. 320.—This specimen is made of a flattish pebble of fine-grained sand- stone, to some extent modified by grinding.