Geo Amazing and Interesting

Early humans fished deep sea
PARIS: The world's earliest known fish hooks reveal that humans
 fished the open sea for much longer than previously thought,
science journal LiveScience reported.

Past studies have revealed that early humans were capable of
 crossing the open ocean as far back as 50,000 years ago, such
as they did to colonize Australia. Until now, however, evidence
 that such mariners could fish while in the open sea dated back
 only to 12,000 years ago.

"In most areas of the world, evidence for our early ancestors'
coastal exploitation is now submerged - it was drowned by rising
sea levels," researcher Sue O'Connor, an archaeologist at Australian
 National University in Canberra, told LiveScience.

Now O'Connor and her colleagues have found evidence of prehistoric
 fishing gear and the remains of large fish such as tuna at a cave
 shelter known as Jerimalai, located in the Southeast Asian island nation of East Timor.

Their discovery uncovered fishing hooks made from bone that date back
 to about 42,000 years ago, making them the earliest definitive evidence of such tools in the world.

"It is possible that people caught the tuna in the deep channel that
lies off the coast of the Jerimalai shelter," O'Connor said.