13,000 years ago prehistoric people went flyfishing on the Jordan River

• Author: ROSSELLA TERCATIN
• Published date: 06 October 2021
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

The researchers from the Tel-Hai College in the Galilee, as well as from the United States, Italy and Germany, employed a multidisciplinary approach to analyze artifacts and other remains collected at the site of Dureijat, including several bone fish hooks and six grooved stones.

The findings represent the world's most ancient evidence for turning the hooks themselves into bait.

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"Using the technique of three-dimensional scanning and high-magnification microscopes, we were able to reproduce the advanced technology through which the hooks were made," Prof. Gonen Sharon, lead author of the study and director of the MA Program in Galilee Studies at Tel-Hai, said. "Each hook is a work of art in itself and no two hooks are the same size.

Dureijat was first discovered following a drainage operation in the Hula Valley in 1999.

It started to be visited by groups of hunter-gatherers 20,000 years ago and remained in use for about 10,000 years.

Among the artifacts found were also limestone net sinkers. The ancient...