2^2 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



146 rVOTES ON TOE HSSTOKY OF TME FISEI-EEOOK. 



By K. t^HKISTENSEN.* 



The fact that prehistoric hooks are but seldom noticed iu nmseiims 

 is not owing to their rare occurrence or rare discovery, but to their small 

 size and to their appearance, which is not apt to strike the eye 5 [)0s- 

 sibly, also, becanse they closely resemble other implements and are 

 therefore easily confounded with them. The number of undoubted fish- 

 hooks, however, is large enough to show that angling is one of the most 

 ancient occupations. 



The oldest fishing implements, however, correspond very little to the 

 newer idea which we connect with the word " fish-hook." As long as 

 no metal was em])loj^ed there was no material from which a real hook, 

 answering to our ideas of the same, could have been made ; there was 

 moreover no type of such an' implement. On the other hand, the idea 

 was readily suggested that, if fish could be eanght by means of a har- 

 poon fastened to a line, without inflicting a mortal wound, the same ob- 

 ject might be reached in a still more satisfactory manner if the fish 

 could be caused to swallow a harpoon or arrow-head fastened to a line. 

 Angling is therefore of more ancient origin than net-fishing. The oldest 

 hooks which have been found are shaped like an arrow-head, having 

 one and sometimes two, three, or more suialler or larger well-pointed 

 beards. The museum of the Antiquarian Society of Prussia, in Konigs- 

 berg, possesses a number of such hooks. All these hooks show very 

 careful workmanshii), and are of such slender form, so well adapted to 

 the nature of the material (bone or horn), as to favor the supposition 

 that this article has been in general use for some time, and has gradu- 

 ally undergone various improvements. These implements date from the 

 Neolithic Age (second period of the Stone Age), and their enormous 

 size will convey an idea of the size of fish caught in those times. A 

 similar implement from the same period is preserved in the Royal Mu- 

 seum at Dresden, but its shape so closely resembles that of an arrow- 

 head that it is impossible to distinguish it from this. 



Hooks made of flint are very rare. Two which have been found in 

 the Swedish province of Skiine furnish ample proof that the Scandi- 

 navians were likewise acquainted with angling at a very early period. 

 Frequently small flint splinters having a bent point are found, showing 

 evidences of workmanship which in some cases Vv'ere evidently meant 

 to be tied to a handle at their thick end, and which jjrobably in this 

 way have served as hooks. An implement made of horn and preserved 

 in the Konigsberg Museum, above referred to, also favors this expla 



* ^' Zur Geschichte des AngeUiakens," in Deutsche Fischerei-Zeitung. Translated b> 

 Herman Jacobsox, Vol. IV, Noa. 12 and 15, Stettin, March 22 and Ai^ril 12, 1881. 



