Oldest Known Octopus Lures Found In The Mariana Islands

A contemporary peek has stumbled on that Cowrie Shell artifacts that is also stumbled on in significant numbers within the Mariana Islands are regarded as the oldest known octopus lures.

The archeological peek weak carbon dating tactics on artifacts from the Northern Mariana Islands of Tinian and Saipan and stumbled on that nearly all dated from around 1500 BCE, making them over 3,500 years weak.

Scientists are particular the devices are octopus lures, as they undergo a placing resemblance to varied octopus hunting lures that is also stumbled on across the Pacific islands, at the side of some 3,000-One year-weak ones stumbled on on Tonga.

Based entirely on Michael Carson, an archaeologist with the Micronesian Space Study Center on the College of Guam:

“That’s abet to the time when of us were first residing within the Mariana Islands. So we think these might possibly well well well presumably be the oldest octopus lures within the final Pacific utter and, in point of truth, the oldest on the planet. The artifacts were known — we knew about them. It ultimate took an extraordinarily very lengthy time pondering the chances, the assorted hypotheses, of what they would perhaps well well presumably be…

“The mature belief — what we were told lengthy within the past from the Bishop Museum [in Honolulu, Hawaii] — became that these might possibly well well well tranquil be for scraping breadfruit or varied vegetation, love presumably taro. [But] they don’t ogle love that.”

Carson added:

“We’re assured they’re the pieces of octopus lures, and we’re assured they date abet to 1500 B.C…. Purely from an archaeology standpoint, interesting the oldest of something is continuously considerable — in consequence of then you definately might possibly well well well also song how issues trade thru time…The entirely varied utter that will be is within the foreign place of origin dwelling for the significant CHamoru of us transferring to the Marianas. So we would ogle in islands in Southeast Asia and Taiwan for these findings.”

The peek became printed in World Archaeology and is also stumbled on here.