Single-barb harpoon

The bone harpoon with a single point was found during the exploration of marl deposits near Gniewino, the Wejherowo district, in 1889. It was given to the collection of the former Gesellschaft für Pommersche Geschichte und Altertumskunde in Szczecin by Pastor Trapp from Gniewino. The harpoon was made from the metatarsal bone of an unknown species of deer. The first production stage was to cut out a fragment of the long bone, which was then shaped by planing and scraping with flint tools, leaving numerous characteristic marks on its surface. The harpoon apex was additionally smoothed, firstly most probably with stalks of field horsetail, which in prehistory was used similarly to today's sandpaper, and then with soft leather tanned by smoking. Most of the manufacturing marks, especially at the harpoon apex, have been obliterated by long-term use. Bone harpoons are relatively common finds in the northern part of Europe. Many of them have been in peat bogs to the present day; they were discovered during the exploitation of peat deposits in the 19th century. They were used for fishing by hunter-gatherers in the Late Palaeolithic, middle Stone Age - Mesolithic, and the transition period between the Mesolithic and Neolithic. They also worked well as arrowheads, javelins and spears to hunt large mammals. The exact age of the harpoon from Gniewino is challenging to determine. It can be generally dated to the Mesolithic and Proto-Neolithic (ca. 9600-4100 BC).

Michał Adamczyk