A 23,000-year-old fishhook that is considered to be one of the world’s earliest has been excavated in Okinawa, southwestern Japan, local researchers said Monday. Unfortunately, scientists don’t know much about the distribution of primitive maritime technology during the Late Pleistocene.
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In addition to the fish hooks, which signify an important development in maritime technology, the other artifacts that might indicate people have been living on Okinawa for up to 35,000 years.
Okinawa Island is known for three things: housing an American military base established following the conclusion of World War II, being the home of one of the longest-living populations of people in the world and having been a hard place to live during the Paleolithic era.
The findings suggest a wider use of advanced maritime technology in that era than previously thought.
The new discovery breaks previous assumptions that it was hard for humans to live and thrive on the island which has poor resources.
But it seems now that Paleolithic people on Okinawa Island were more resourceful – and well fed – than previously supposed, according to a study published in Progress of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
The study’s co-author, Masaki Fujita, the curator at Okinawa Prefectural and Art Museum, told CNN that it was maritime technology that allowed the human race to spread throughout the world. But the hooks were not the only thing found in the cave that is rewriting their understanding of the region.
It is thought humans inhabited the island from at least 30,000 years ago, surviving despite scarce resources. During their fieldwork, not only did researchers find the remains of small animals, but they also came across evidence suggesting residents were actually picky about what they ate.
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The crab is the most interesting of these discoveries, as its size suggests it was caught during the autumn when the delicacy is at its best and therefore the ancient people practiced seasonal eating habits.
