Socketed antler toggle harpoon head – a unique hunter­gatherer fishing implement in western Lithuania’s freshwater lake environment

Abstract

Daktariškė 5 is a huntergatherer site with organic preservation in western Lithuania. It is located on a former island of Lake Biržulis, where most finds were obtained in the lacustrine environment. The excavations revealed various osseous tools, such as axes and adzes, projectile points, barbed points, gouges and chisels, dating from the 6th to the 3rd millennium cal BC. Despite the abundance of finds in the vicinity of Lake Biržulis, including those at the Daktariškė 5 site, many remain unexplored in terms of presenting their typological diversity, technology and direct AMS 14 C dating. In this paper, we focus on a single case and present a study of a fully preserved socketed toggle harpoon head manufactured from antler. We provide the latest data on its technological assessments, direct AMS 14 C dating, species identification by ZooMS, and archaeological and ethnographic parallels. The latter suggest that such type of implement in northern latitudes was designed for hunting large aquatic mammals. Archaeozoological evidence of large freshwater fish, beavers and otters from Lake Biržulis suggests that this tool could have been adapted to the local environment. Consequently, we discuss the origin and possible use of the toggle harpoon head in the Lake Biržulis environment. K E Y W O R D Stoggle harpoon head, antler technology, AMS 14 C dating, ZooMS analysis, Lake Biržulis.