Ice Age Hooks Discovered

Mammoth tusk hooks have been unearthed by scientists in a field near Wustermark, Germany. Dating from ice age hunters around 12,300 ago, these hooks are the oldest found and suggest earlier development of fishing tools than previously thought. Chasing fish such as pike, eel, and perch that were too fast for hunting with a harpoon, “These people had strong ideas to use the new resources of this changing environment,” said Robert Sommer, paleoecologist at the Univeristy of Kiel. The team’s findings are published in the May 2013 issue of The Journal of Archaeological Science.