SOME NOTES ON RECENT AND PRE- AND PROTOHISTORIC FISHING GEAR FROM NORTHWESTERN EUROPE Dick C.Brinkhuizen CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 2. RECENT FISHING GEAR AND FISHING TECHNIQUES 2. 1. A few recent fishing techniques not requiring the use of any fishing gear 2.2. Fishing methods using actively operated fishing gear 2.3. Passively-operating fishinggear 2.4. Auxiliary fishing equipment 3. ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDS OF FISHING GEAR 3. 1. The method of approach 3.2. The fish-spear 3.3. The gorge 3.4. The fish-hook 3.5. The weir 3.6. The wickerwork fish-trap 3.7. The fishing net 4. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 6. NOTES 7. REFERENCES 8. KEYWORDS 7 8 D.C.BRINKHUIZEN 1. INTRODUCTION 2. RECENT FISHING GEAR AND FISH­ ING TECHNIQUES Objects are sometimes found that are interpre­ ted by the archaeologist as fishinggear or parts A characteristic feature of primitive cultures there of. For various reasons finds of items of is that social organization, food acquisition, fishing gear are very rare in direct relation to medicine and religion have not become iso­ the remains of their victims. In recent years lated elements of cultural identity. No diffe­ large quantities of fish remains have been rentiation of these elements has taken place. retrieved with more precise excavation me­ Even in present-day developed societies it is thods, but the fishing gear with which these still possible to trace remnants of cultural fish were caught are often absent or are un­ traditions that remind us of more primitive recognizable as such. Sometimes the investiga­ societies. According to Va n Doorn (1971), in tion of fish remains provides data from which Western Europe this is still valid to a limited it can be deduced what kind of fishing gear extent for inland and sea fishery, notably with may have been used. Ethnographical sources regard to the fo llowing points. can also be of use in providing relevant data. a. The trade and its associated jargon are Such sources can only be made use of, however, handed down from fa ther to son; there is no on a certain condition. The natural environment official occupational training. described in the ethnographical source concer­ b. The fisherman is dependent on the na­ ned must be more or less equivalent to the tural breeding patterns of the fish . natural environment ascertained fo r the pre­ c. The equipment handed down and the historic settlement. From a combination of working rpethods remain the same, with a few archaeological, pedological, botanical, zoologi­ exceptions. cal and ethnographical data it is then permis­ d. There is little contact between the fish­ sible to attempt reconstructions of prehistoric erman and other trades. The fisherman ma­ fishing gear. kes his own equipment. He carves his knitting­ The first part of this article deals with a needles out of wood, makes his own nets and number of fishing methods and types of fishing weaves his own wickerwork fi sh-traps. gear known from ethnographical sources. Much e. Forms of taboo are very abundant among of this information has been obtained from fisher-folk and sailors. Sirelius: Ober die Sp errjischerei bei den Finnisch­ f. Because automatization and mechaniza­ Ugrischen VD/kern (1906) and Die Volkskultur tion play hardly any role in freshwater fishery, Finn/ands. Jagd und Fischerei (1934). In these the terminology of the freshwater fisherman works the fishing tackle and fishing techniques includes many words that have undergone used by the Lapps, Woguls, Ostjaks and Syrjans little or no diffe rentiation. Thus there exists are described in detail. The last three of these in this terminology e.g. a close relation be­ peoples live immediately east of the Ural Moun­ tween bird and fish nomenclature. tains along the rivers that flow into the Ob In non-agrarian societies of the past and basin. The aquatic environment in this region present, gathering, hunting and fishing are is freshwater and contains a standing popula­ essentially the only means of existence. There tion of i.a. pike, perch, burbot and members is no great distinction between these three. It of the carp fa mily (Cyprinidae) and a migrant could be said that hunting and fi shing are popUlation mainly consisting of whitefishes methods of gathering that require the use of (Coregonidae). This ichthyofauna is compara­ tools. ble to that of the freshwater environment of An evolution in fishery technique is evident, Northwestern Europe. from fishingfo r individual fishto catching fish The second part of this article deals with a en masse. Thus we see the development of variety of pre- and protohistoric fishing gear fishing gear from those forms in which one from Northwestern Europe. fish can be caught at a time, to those forms in which many fish can be caught simulta­ neously. As for fishing methods, a correspon- Recent alld pre- and profohistoric fishing gear 9 ding distinction can be made between active this method of fishing (Sirelius, 1934). and passive fishing. What I mean by active fishing is that the fisherman searches for the fish or lures it towards himself and then tries 2.1.3. Catching fish by making the water turbid to catch it. With passive fi shing the fisherman only has to cqllect the fish that have become In small pools with a muddy bottom the caught in his traps or nets. Those types of fi sherman stirs up the silty substratum with fishing gear with which only one fishat a time a stick, so that the water becomes turbid. The can be caught generally involve active fishing, fish thus suffer a shortage of oxygen, fl oat up while those types of gear designed to catch to the surface and can be lifted out of the many fish simultaneously involve passive fish­ water. ing, although it is not always easy to make a sharp distinction between these two types of gear. 2. 1 .4. Poisoning Of all known fi shing methods fishing with the 2. 1. A few recent fishing techniques not re­ aid of poison is the most effective. After being quiring the use of any fishing gear poisoned almost all fish come to the surface, more or less in a state of torpor, and from These techniques are very simple, and often there they can be lifted out of the water. In give good results. The use of such techniques Asia and South America many fish poisons by prehistoric fishermen will not have left any are known to fishermen. Rotenone, which is traces for the archaeologist to discover. Never­ prepared from the roots of plants of the genus theless I shall briefly describe some of these Derris, is used at the present time in biological fishing techniques. research concerned with fishery. This poison is effective at very low concentrations (0.5 I per 1,000,000 1 water) and is harmless to people. Formerly pOlsons were also used in 2. 1.1. Catching fish with one's bare hands the Netherlands. Such poisons were freely available and among Dutch fishermen were Many fish, even the swift and elusive trout, known as koggelbonen (Van Doom, 1971). can be caught with one's bare hands. With Also in ancient times in Europe various poi­ this method one must be able to see or feel sons derived from plants were used in catching the fish. fish. An extract of the flowers of the great mullein was used by the Greeks. The Romans used the juice of cyclamens (Muus & 2. 1 .2. Stunning fish with a stick or cudgel Dahlstf0m, 1968). A fish that can be seen in shallow water can be struck dead with a stick or cudgel. The 2.2. Fishing methods using actively operated Syrjans had a certain method of fi shing that fishing gear was practised in the autumn. When ice forms over a surface of water, the oxygen distribution With these methods specially made equipment in the water changes and the fish come up is used by the fi sherman who is an active to just under the ice. They are visible through participant in the process of catching fish.The the thin ice if there is no covering layer of types of gear include the stick fitted with a snow. A blow is struck on the ice immediately hook, the rod with a bob, the stick with a above the fish by means of a stone, attached noose, the fish-spear (fish harpoon, leister), to a wooden haft. The pressure wave generated the gorge, and the fish-hook. A number of in this way stuns the fish. Since thin ice cannot these are in evidence in various archaeological take the weight of an adult man, boys practised contexts. 10 D.C.BRINKHUIZEN 2.2.1. Th e stick with hook or gaff To gether with the latter the remains of a noose of horse-hair were found. A bent nail is fixed to a stick. A piece of bait is put on the nail. The baited stick is held in the water until the fisherman feels a fish 2.2.4. Th e fish-spear biting. Then he suddenly flings up the stick with the fish on it out of the water (Barthel, The basic form of this kind of fishing gear 1977). The fishermancan also use a non-baited is a long straight wooden stick with a fo rked stick. When he sees his prey, he carefully extremity. In the recent past the Lapps used shoves the stick with hook under the fish and this kind of fishing gear to catch arctic charr drags the fish out on to dry land.