A series of ancient drawings at a paleolithic site in Germany appear to show fish caught in internet , paint a picture that the use of thisfishing technologymay go back further than previously thought . Etched into stone plaquettes , the engravings have been date to 15,800 years ago and form part of a tumid eubstance of artworks uncovered at a prehistorical summer camp in Gönnersdorf .
A total of 406 decorated schist slabs have been find at the site , and while these have all been extensively study in the past , the fishy features had until now get unnoticed . However , using modern imaging technologies like Reflectance Transformation Imaging ( RTI ) , the authors of a new study were capable to identify the netted creatures on eight of the plaquettes .
draw the schematic draftsmanship , the researchers say that in each example , “ the central location of thefish , within grid lines which intelligibly overlay them and which exceed them in size of it , together suggest that the grid represent a variant of container – a net or ambuscade – into which the fish have become intermeshed . ”
“ [ This ] specific order where the Pisces motif are engraved first , followed by the grid motive , underscores a deliberate artistic process and conception , powerfully suggesting the depiction of an animal that was at first complimentary swimming ( when alone ) , which was then captured by the foundation of the gridiron , ” they uphold . With this in mind , the authors resolve that the engraving were not intended to depict fish per se , but rather the dynamical act or concept offishing .
Such an premiss is support by the fact that the unfortunate fish shown in the drawings take issue greatly from other deterrent example of wildlife found inStone Age artworksat Gönnersdorf . In direct contrast to the “ detailed and naturalistic depiction of other beast species ” , the fish are “ characterize by abstraction and reductivism , ” suggesting that the ancient artists were more concerned in the fishing than the fish .
The researchers also guide out that Pisces remains have been institute at Gönnersdorf , indicating that the website ’s prehistoric inhabitants did indeed dine on aquatic catch . Speculating as to how these meal may have been obtain , the authors state , “ meshing would most likely have been the ideal equipment for catching larger quantity of fish during migrating period . ”
Other significant evidence comes from carved figurine at Gönnersdorf that show clothed character reference . This indicates that the Palaeolithic God Almighty did already have entree to textiles during the Magdalenian period , which spanned from17,000to 12,000 years ago .
Such framework may have been made from hempen plants like milkweed or nettle and could have been used to produce sportfishing lucre .
tie together these various lines of evidence , the study generator say that “ the presence of fish remains at Gönnersdorf , the evidence for textile manufacture and usance , along with the depiction of fish within nets on eight etched plaquettes , supply the first unambiguous grounds for net fishing in a Magdalenian context . ”
The study is release in the journalPLOS ONE .
