Semliki harpoon

The Semliki harpoon, also known as the Katanda harpoon, refers to complex harpoon heads carved from bone. It is from an archaeologic site on the Semliki River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) which dates back 90,000 years.[1][2]

It seemed to substantiate that fishing and an "aquatic civilization" was likely in the region across eastern and northern Africa during the wetter climatic conditions of the early to mid-Holocene, as shown by other evidence at the lakeshore site of Ishango.[3]

The site is littered with catfish bones and the harpoons are the size to catch adult catfish, so investigators suspect the fisherman came to the site every year "to catch giant catfish." [4]

It is unlikely that the harpoons are much different from those used today (see reference for photos).[5] [6]

The archaeologic site coincides with the range of the Efé Pygmies, which have been shown by mitochondrial DNA analyses to be one of the oldest races still existing on earth.

References

  1. ↑ Yellen, JE; AS Brooks; E Cornelissen; MJ Mehlman; K Stewart (28 April 1995). "A middle stone age worked bone industry from Katanda, Upper Semliki Valley, Zaire". Science. 268 (5210): 553–556. doi:10.1126/science.7725100. PMID 7725100.
  2. ↑ "Katanda Bone Harpoon Point". Smithsonian Museum: What does it mean to be human?. Retrieved Oct 8, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Ishango revisited: new age determinations and cultural interpretations". African Archaeologic Review 5 (1): 65-78 (Springer Netherlands). December 1987.
  4. ↑ "The Slow Crawl Forward". Discover Magazine. August 1, 1995.
  5. ↑ "Harpoon Fishing in the Congo". EPOW. June 2008.
  6. ↑ Delevoy, G. (1951). Encyclopedie du Congo Belge. Tome II. (Encyclopedia of Belgian Congo. Volume II.).
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