Posted on 01/02/2007 3:24:53 PM PST by blam
If that were the case, then his recovery of the item would be legal. I don't have a problem with what he did. I was just pointing out that in many situations, what he did was illegal. He would have been fine if it were found on private land with the owner's permission.
Semi jest.
Harl's "interpretation" about big fish was just too pat; and just plain non-thoughtful. There are really several possible valid interpretations, IF any time were actually spent considering the object and its milieu.
The time frame given must have made you, as a professional, cringe even more than the rest of us.
Anytime from Clovis to what, Late Woodland? is pretty broad.
As for "ritual object", as trite and silly as it seems, it DOES remain a valid possibility: use in a fishing ritual, much as (so it's been hypothesized) cave paintings of animals were used in hunting magic in other times & places.
IIRC, several Amerind tribes did have hunting rituals that included sacred arrows. A sacred Hook for use during a "sturgeon dance" doesn't seem out of the question.
Could have even been brought back to his tribe as a souvenir by a traveler, or, conversely, left as a gift by a visitor from another area.
I just thought it was funny to turn the tables on Harl, and point out the 'ritual object' chestnut, since he was shooting from the hip, so to speak.
I had the Lower Division classes and have had a couple of Upper Division classes in archeology/anthropology in the early 70s, but never finished. At that time, it turned out to be too political for me. Probably still is.
I went into construction for a while, instead.
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Ten years as a shovel bum and everything except the thesis for a MS in anthro.
Some one got up on the wrong side of the rock...
and,..... it might be a hoax.
You know, I am not 100% in love with your tone right now.
LOL!
Yes.
"Well, gee, this fishhook was made sometime between the glaciers and the period after first European settlement".
No! Ya think?
I guess you're just stuck with giant carp and mango salsa then....
Yep. As would I have.
Yep, it could have been muskie. I was thinking catfish too.
I need to get one of those the next time I go fishing, and the Rapala looks pretty good too. LOL.
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