Fishing Seasonality and Techniques in Prehistory: Why Freshwater Fish are Special
Volume 13 (2010): At the Origins of the Culture of the Balts, pp. 37–42
Pub. online: 20 June 2010
Type: Article
Open Access
Open Access
Received
6 April 2010
6 April 2010
Revised
3 May 2010
3 May 2010
Accepted
20 June 2010
20 June 2010
Published
20 June 2010
20 June 2010
Abstract
Freshwater fish could provide the stable resource base that made possible permanent settlement in lake basins during the Mesolithic and Neolithic in the eastern Baltic region, but the utilisation of this resource required the development of a body of cultural knowledge and techniques for fishing in different seasons, corresponding to the changes in environmental conditions and the behaviour of fish. This paper examines Stone Age fishing techniques from a seasonal aspect, in the light of ethnographic accounts of traditional fishing.