Whale bone harpoons from nearly 5,000 years ago in Brazil show indigenous communities hunted large whales before metal tools or advanced boats existed. Harpoons were crafted from southern right, humpback, sei, and blue whale bones. Researchers Susan de Rosia-Vieira, José Souto, and team pushed back organized whaling by 2,500 years 🐋
5,000-year-old whale bone harpoons found in Brazil
BrazilArtifactBreakthrough
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Key facts
- Whale bone harpoons dating back 5,000 years identified in southern Brazil
- First evidence that indigenous communities hunted large whales before metal tools or advanced boats
- Harpoons crafted from bones of southern right whales, humpbacks, sei whales, and blue whales
- Artifacts recovered from Sambaqui shell mounds near Babitonga Bay
- Items collected from area in 1940s-1960s and stored in local museum, re-examined by team from Spain and Brazil
- Lead researcher Christina McGrath from Autonomous University of Barcelona
- Pushes back date of organized whaling by 2,500 years compared to previous understanding of North American societies
Sources
Molecular and zooarchaeological identification of 5000 year old ...nature.com
Here, we present evidence that large baleen whales were likely hunted 5000 years ago by Indigenous groups in southern Brazil. We analysed ...
Whaling may have started 1,500 years earlier than already knownsciencenews.org
Specialized whale-bone harpoons from southern Brazil dating back 5000 years suggest that Indigenous groups in the area were whalers.
Brazil's Ancient Whale Watchers - Archaeology Magazinearchaeology.org
She believes the Sambaqui hunted whales to gather food, to harvest resources, and to celebrate ceremonial or ritual events. “Some of the ...
Harpoons Before History Remembered - Anthropology.netanthropology.net
Archaeologists have identified 5,000 year old whale bone harpoons from coastal Brazil, providing the earliest known evidence of large whale ...
These Baffling Bone Artifacts Discovered by an Amateur ...smithsonianmag.com
After revisiting items from a Brazilian museum, researchers think humans may have been hunting whales 5000 years ago, a millennium earlier ...
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