Images From Europe's Ice Age Show How Humans Fished

The oldest known images of fishing have been found among engravings on a cave wall in Germany. And they've revealed that people in the distant Paleolithic era used large nets to capture fish.

This distant era occurred 13,000 to 19,000 years ago. Scientists already knew that people in Europe during this time ate fish as a part of their diet. But they didn’t know how those ancient humans caught the fish. The pictures at the Ice Age archaeological site of Gönnersdorf shed some light on the question. They show carvings of fish and fishing nets on slate-like stone slabs. These slabs are called “plaquettes.”

The way the fish are arranged within the grids appears to show them captured in nets, said an article in LBV magazine. The article said this highlights the skill of ancient people. It also explained how people adapted to the land.   

Researchers have long studied the plaquettes. They're seen as marvels of the Stone Age in Europe. But they are now using modern technology to better study the ancient treasures and what they reveal.  

Besides the fishing nets, the plaquettes feature pictures of animals. The pictures include mammoths, horses, and wooly rhinos. They also show pictures of ancient humans. A lot of females are among the pictures. This has drawn the interest of people who wonder about ancient humans' lives. The carvings also reveal a link between useful tasks like fishing for food and artistic expression of the time, researchers wrote.  

The recent study of the plaquettes was led partly by Monrepos. It's a department of the Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie. Durham University also led the study. Durham is in England. The study was published in the journal PLOS ONE. 

Reflect: What do you think ancient artwork can tell us about how people lived long ago?

Photo of fishing with a net from Unsplash courtesy of Fredrik Öhlander.