News Archaeology

A digital exam reels in engraved scenes of Stone Age net fishing

The images may be the only known Upper Paleolithic representations of net-fishing practices

A close-up of stone with crisscrossing lines and the outlines of two fish etched on it

Newly identified scenes of net fishing engraved on stones at a nearly 16,000-year-old German site include this depiction of two fish (center and top) surrounded by crosshatched lines likely representing a net.

J. Robitaille et al/PLOS ONE 2024 (CC-BY 4.0 )

By Bruce Bower

Rare depictions of Stone Age net fishing have surfaced on engraved stones thanks to an imaging technique that gives magnification a digital boost.

Previously unnoticed lines etched into eight stones found at Gönnersdorf, a roughly 16,000-year-old German site, form scenes of fish caught in large nets, researchers report November 6 in PLOS ONE.