Over the last few decades, several hundred slate slabs with engravings from the late Ice Age, 15,800 years ago, have been discovered near Neuwied am Rhein. Now, new analyzes using a special technique reveal that some of these plates show previously unrecognized engravings of fish in a grid – likely depictions of fish caught in nets. They represent the earliest known depictions of net or trap fishing in European prehistory.
The Neuwied-Gönnersdorf site is one of the most important and richest late Ice Age sites in Europe. As early as 1968, the first stone tools and bones were discovered on this spur of the Rhine Middle Terrace, which come from the Magdalenian culture stage around 15,800 years ago. Since then, archaeologists have discovered, in addition to further evidence of Ice Age camp sites and meals, a true treasure of Ice Age art: hundreds of mostly small, flat slate slabs engraved with images of animals such as wild horses, woolly rhinoceros, reindeer and mammoths – animals that are… the survival of late Ice Age people was of crucial importance. Slate slabs with stylized female figures are also among the finds.
Engravings of fish in the net
Now researchers from the MONREPOS Archaeological Research Center and Museum at the Leibniz Center for Archeology (LEIZA) in Gönnersdorf have made another spectacular find. For their study, they analyzed 406 of these Ice Age slates using the latest imaging techniques such as reflectance transformation imaging (RTI). “This advanced technique was essential because it reveals even fine details and textures,” explain Jérome Robitaille from MONREPOS and his colleagues. “The RTI manipulates light and shadow in the digital environment, highlighting subtle details on the surface. This reveals aspects that traditional investigative methods miss.”
The archaeologists discovered previously unrecognized depictions of fish covered in grid-like patterns on eight of the slate slabs. “In all cases, the fish shape was first scratched and then partially covered with the grid-like pattern,” report Robitaille and his colleagues. In their opinion, the size and arrangement of these grid lines in relation to the fish suggest that they are depictions of nets or fish traps. “The sequence of these engravings suggests the representation of an animal, as it was initially swimming freely, but was then captured by the addition of the grid,” the archaeologists write. These depictions almost show a scenic representation of fishing, they explain.
Earliest depiction of fishing with nets
The Gönnersdorf engravings represent the earliest known depictions of net or trap fishing in European prehistory. It was already known that fish were part of the diet of the Paleolithic hunters and gatherers of the Magdalenian. However, there has been a lack of concrete information about the techniques people used to catch their fish back then. “Net fishing reveals the diversity, adaptability and creativity of prehistoric communities and highlights their skills in different types of fishing techniques that exploited aquatic resources in their environment,” explain Robitaille and his team.
In addition, the engravings from Gönnersdorf expand the well-known repertoire of Ice Age art to include practical and symbolic elements. The fact that people recorded and immortalized their fishing in drawings suggests that fishing also had an importance in the social and cultural life of hunter-gatherer societies. “Our research therefore not only improves our knowledge about the various food procurement strategies of Paleolithic societies, it also contributes to the broader discourse about the complexity and richness of their cultural practices,” the archaeologists state.
Source: Leibniz Center for Archeology (LEIZA); Specialist article: PLoS ONE, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0311302