Scientists' amazing California discovery includes fishing tackle 12,000 years old

Outdoor ^ | March 4, 2011 | Pete Thomas

[Islander7]

People are discovering antique fishing tackle all the time, in closets and at garage sales, but none of that compares to discoveries made recently by archaeologists at two of the Channel Islands off Southern California.

Looking for signs of ancient human settlement, they unearthed meticulously-crafted spearheads and other tools (see photo at right) that date back 12,000 years and provide insight into the lives of a seafaring culture that obtained bounty from the ocean.

The astonishing discoveries, at three sites on Santa Rosa and San Miguel islands west of Santa Barbara, strongly support the theory that during an era when the first traces of humans appeared in the archaeological record in North America, a coastal culture existed that was distinct from the well-chronicled inland Clovis culture, which consisted of big-game hunters who subsisted on mastodons and other large mammals.

[Islander7]

The sites are thought to have represented seasonal hunting grounds. Prey items probably included surf perch and rockfish, geese, cormorants and other birds, shellfish and perhaps seals, sea lions and otters. The crescent-shaped stones probably were used at the ends of darts to stun birds. Fish and larger marine mammals were speared.

[Islander7]

Ping to the happy hunting grounds.

[Huck]

Which one’s the crankbait?

[Roccus]

Lemme know when they come across those stone tablet BassPro catalogs.

[Leisler]

Found with the fishing gear.....

[runninglips]

Isn’t it interesting that findings of intelligent homo-sapien life is usually about 14,000 years old? Almost like something happened on this planet around that long ago that led to intelligent “Man”.

[SunkenCiv]

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[Two Kids' Dad]

As long as your assessment of intelligent “man” doesn’t include a white heterosexual male, you’ll be okay. So saith the entire entertainment industry.

: )

[muawiyah]

The Ice Melted ~ that's why you find "stuff". They didn't get smarter, just more numerous, and they had plenty of nice new property to move into ~ that's when they started losing junk and setting fires.

BTW, smart guys could have been all over the place 125,000 years ago during the last big interglacial, but that came to an end and the ice came back grinding everything into poop.

[blam]

Here's the people:

'Arlington Springs Woman', 13,000 Years Old Human Skeleton, California Island

[count-your-change]

The spinning reels were a bit rusty but workable.