Carpe carp!
Posted on 01/02/2007 3:24:53 PM PST by blam
Missouri man reels in ancient fish hook<
Associated Press
COLUMBIA, Mo. - A man hunting for American Indian artifacts with his sons along a gravel bar on the Missouri River has uncovered an ancient fishhook that is making collectors envious.
"The first thing I thought is, 'I hope this isn't metal,'" said Eric Henley, who found the hook last month near McBaine. "When I picked it up, there was a pretty good jump for joy and a couple of 'whoops' and yells. It's the cream of the crop."
The hook is made of bone and covers his entire palm, making it much larger than most bone hooks.
Joe Harl, of the Archaeological Research Center of St. Louis, said the size of the hook suggests the fisherman who used it was after a larger fish.
Another artifact collector, Kenny Bassett, said the large size of the hook might indicate an earlier origin. American Indians used bigger rocks and tools in earlier periods to hunt larger game such as wooly mammoths. He said the hook could have been used to fish for pallid sturgeon or enormous catfish.
Bassett, who works with Henley, said he had to control his envy when he saw the oversized hook.
"I've been hunting" American Indian artifacts "for 30 years and never found anything so identifiably unique. I've never seen anything like it," Bassett said.
Because bone matter deteriorates rapidly, bone artifacts typically have to be buried deep enough in the ground to be preserved. And they are usually found during archaeological digs, said Bill Iseminger, assistant site manager at Cahokia Mounds State Historical Site in Illinois.
Harl said sandier soil in spots along the river might have kept the hook preserved. He said the hook could be anywhere from 300 to 12,000 years old.
Henley, a maintenance man at the University of Missouri-Columbia, has no plans to learn the hook's exact age. Carbon dating the item would require drilling through the fragile bone, and he doesn't want to risk ruining the hook.
Henley credits his sons, 11 and 6, for being good-luck charms because he made the discovery on the first trip the boys had joined their dad for an artifact hunt.
"Now every time I go, they're going to be there."
Found on a sand bar in the Missouri River.
Hard to go wrong with a margin of error like that.
----------
LOL! Yeah,well, that does seem to have most of the bases covered.
Carpe carp!
Eh. If it were important to you, you wouldn't leave it lying around.
The legal world is the real world. As a man said when he came to my window, 'I am here representing the public.' I said, 'You'll find the Representive of the Public in his office on the fourth floor. He has a sign on his door--Mayor.'
The land of the free. Humph!!
Didn't know that. But seeing as how you gave me a choice - I would have to say I vehemently disagree.
I would flush it down the toilet before I let the "government" or "Indian group" take it from me.
Wonder what beauracrtic lawyer has penned, probably not a Happy New Year card to the discoverers of this wonderful piece of American history?
"You cannot steal our heritage from our property for your shoebox."
No indian made that - its obviously viking and it belongs to me.
PS - I wonder if salvage rights can be claimed for items lost underwater
Vegetarian - Old indian word meaning "lousy hunter and fisherman"!
Oh, for God's sake...lighten up! Your ancestors scalped my ancestors just for ego decorations on their belts!
Nice rack!
Collectivist principles in action.
Hank
There is no such thing as "public property." It is a contradictions of the concept of property itself. It is collectivist and statist idea that is one of the many corrupting the foundations of America.
Then, maybe that's what you intend.
Hank
Beautiful
This would be permitted on private land as long as there was no excavation or historical areas or gravesites.
Bingo! - we have a winner!!!
BTW--I saw some REALLY BIG redwoods on some "collective" land (sumpin' like a natshunal park or forest) and I'm a gonna cut 'em down and take 'em to the saw mill and make myself allota $$$!!!!
My son hunts indian artifacts several days out of a year. I know how he would have handled a find like that. VERY QUIETLY!
And how do you feel about the old southern cannon ball I found recently? It was in the same general area as a number of Indian artifacts that were found. Is that part of your heritage? Or do I need to find some "son of the confederacy" to give it to?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.