Bone Fishhook

A bone fishhook is a hook cut and ground in one piece from bone, usually without a barb, with the top of the shank grooved or knobbed to hold the line. The bend is the weak point and is often left thicker than the shank, and broken hooks outnumber whole ones (Bell 1980).

At the McLaughlin-McCutchen site (Lt-11), Latimer County, Oklahoma, a flat rectangular bone blank was ground through in the middle from both faces to make an oval hole, then cut on either side so that one blank gave two hooks, finished by scraping and abrading; small hooks were apparently made from bird bone the same way (Bell 1980). At the Baum village, Ohio, bones were split and ground thin to a narrow rim, then cut near each end, giving two hooks per split bone; finishing rounded the base, sharpened the point, widened the gap and notched the shank (Moorehead 1910, after Mills).

Green River Archaic shell middens in Kentucky hold many bone fishhooks, probably used on plant-fiber lines for drum, catfish and softshell turtles (Henderson and Burdin 2006). The key trait is a one-piece bone hook with a grooved or knobbed shank and usually no barb.

Two size groups in Oklahoma: small hooks about 20 mm long or less, and large hooks about 45 mm long (Bell 1980; sample size not given).

Kentucky shell middens, Ohio mounds and villages, Plains villages (Mandan, North Dakota) and Oklahoma, where they are rare; also the Pacific coast and the Arctic, where composite hooks are common (Hodge 1907; Moorehead 1910; Bell 1980; Henderson and Burdin 2006).

Look for a curved one-piece hook with a shaped line attachment at the top of the shank, and for flat preforms with a ground central hole, which show where hooks were made (Bell 1980; Moorehead 1910). A gorge is straight and pointed at both ends, with no bend (Hodge 1907). Great Lakes copper fishhooks are bent from metal rod. Chipped flint fishhooks have been a popular fake since about 1890, and Bell (1980) knew of none from an excavation. Shell fishhooks are a Pacific-coast form, absent in Oklahoma (Bell 1980). Hooks in every stage of manufacture are known from Lt-11, the Baum village and a Mandan village (Bell 1980; Moorehead 1910).