That Is One Big Hook

Kind of a neat story out of Missouri. A man who searches for native American artifacts has discovered a rather unique one. A bone fishhook. Now that may not sound like a big deal, but this one is comparatively huge. It is about palm-sized instead of the more normal-sized ones found routinely.

Eric Henley, who has been hunting arrowheads and other American Indian artifacts for 13 years, found the hook on a gravel bar in the river near McBaine.

"The first thing I thought is, ‘I hope this isn’t metal,’ " Henley said. "When I picked it up, there was a pretty good jump for joy and a couple of ‘whoops’ and yells. … It’s the cream of the crop."

Henley, a maintenance man at the University of Missouri-Columbia, plans to show the hook to more experienced collectors to determine just how rare it is.

Bone fishhooks aren’t uncommon, but they’re usually found during archaeological digs, said Bill Iseminger, assistant site manager at Cahokia Mounds State Historical Site in Illinois. Bone matter deteriorates rapidly, so ancient bone artifacts typically have to be buried deep enough in the ground to be preserved.

Sandier soil in spots along the river might have kept the hook preserved, said Joe Harl of the Archaeological Research Center of St. Louis.

The hook could be anywhere from 300 to 12,000 years old, Harl said.

There's a good picture at the link. Given the location he found it, had he not recovered it, it likely would have been lost forever had he not spotted it. A historical oddity preserved by sheer luck. Henley has no plans to have it carbon dated as that process could destroy the artifact.