Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-10-03
FISH HOOKS OF LONG AGO
Some Were Made OF Human Rone.-r,.h,nv

AAo "eie maze OF human Bonee-Fishing
i'm the Bronze Age.
A QUEER COLLECTION OF FISH HOOKS
"A excited STAR writer's attention at the
National Museum the other day, 5000
years ago being almost the latest period
to which any of them dated back. For IL
would seem that the fish hook is a very
old invention indeed. From q description
which accompanied them il appears that
many curious things were used as ma
terial for the hooks Of early DAYS. Some
were even made of human bones. and this
practice has been common up to within a CEN
fury OF the present time among the natives of
the Society Islands, in the South Pacific.
Deer horns, flint boars' tusks and bone Of all
sorts were male to serve this purpose by
anglers of the neolithic period. 1t is not
difficult to figure to ones self a cave
gentleman In that ancient epoch sitting
upon newly formed deposit Of qua
ternary rock in the middle OF q glacier
stream and watching for small float OF tree
bark to give the expected indications of a bite,
by disappearing under the surface of the water
Such floats were undoubtedly used in those
times, and stone sinkers too plenty Of the latter
having been found in the strata of earth, stone
ana shell deposit which embalm the remains
OF these vanished peoples
The development OF the barb was naturally
a slow process, and nobody knows Just when il
was adopted. Certainly. however, il was a
familiar device many centuries before the be-
ginning OF the bronze age, which period had
Its commencement about 5000 years ago.
This form of metal first came into use along
the European shore Of the Mediterranean
the alloy OF which il ordinarily composed
being nine parts OF copper to one Of finland
the mechanical improvements accompanying
Its Introduction were in point more sur
prising than as applied to fish hooks. How far
this Is true may be judged from the fact that
the fish hook of thirty centuries back was
precisely similar in every respect to the
fish hook of today. save only in the
metal employed, which then was bronze
and now is steel The very curves of
the Limerick" and ''Shaughnessy'' hooks,
so popular with modern anglers, are found in
these antique specimens. The tops Of the
shanks, too, are bent over into little loops as
nowadays, to tie the lines by Most surprising
Of all such relics found perhaps. are strips Of
FURNISHED copper shaped like fishes. which were
utilized by fishermen of the bronze age as arti-
nciai bait to attract the prey with its metallic
sheen.
Until the age Of bronze arrived shell of va
rious sorts furnished material for q large per-
centage of the hooks made and hard wood,
sharpened, was much employed Thorns were
also made to serve a like purpose. and until
quite recently the Mohaves of Arizona have
similarly used cactus spines, bent into proper
shape and tempered by the application
OF alternate heat and moisture until
strong. The early lake dwellers in this country
wrapped their hooks with charms manufac-
tured from various animal substances, the bats
being put on outside They imagined that the
fish were attracted by these fetiches. The only
gold fish hooks ever found we're Of the virgin
metal, and were taken from grave In New
Grenada