Fishing net with floats and sinkers
Red de pesca con flotadores y pesas
- Date
- c. 8300 BCE · confidence high
- Place
- Antrea (Kamennogorsk), Karelian Isthmus, Russia
- Credited to
- Mesolithic hunter-fishers of the Baltic
- Field
- Tools
What it is
A roughly 30 m willow-fibre net with pine-bark floats and stone sinkers, the oldest preserved example. It multiplies the catch compared with the hook and harpoon and allows fishing without bait.
Net impressions on Jōmon pottery and net sinkers from Korea suggest parallel development in East Asia.
What it led to
- Fisher settlement on coasts and lakes without agriculture
- A surplus of dried and smoked fish for winter
- Knotting and cordage techniques transferred to basketry and weaving
Built on
- Twisted cord
- Bone fish hook
Made possible
- Plant-fibre cordage (linen rope)c. 7200 BCE
- Salting and smoking
- Fish weir and fish trap