Document Type
Newsletter
Editor
Pauleena MacDougall
Bethany Haverlock
Publication Date
Winter 12-1-2004
Issue Number
10
Volume Number
2
Abstract/ Summary
Four thousand years ago, Archaic period peoples hunted swordfish in the Gulf of Maine. In addition to fauna remains, archaeologists have recovered stone representations of the distinctive sword-shaped bill, suggesting that these animals had a cultural significance that went beyond their dietary value. What archaeologists don't know is precisely where and how the fish were taken. In our own time, swordfish rarely come inshore. Commercial operators, both harpooners and long-liners, fish the eastern side of Brown's and George's Banks and points farther along the continental shelf. Even if hunters of the Archaic period could travel that distance, it would have been too far to make swordfishing worthwhile. Moreover, archaeological evidence shows that Natives in the region stopped hunting swordfish about 3,800 years ago.
Repository Citation
Maine Folklife Center, "Maine Folklife, Vol. 10, Iss. 2" (2004). Maine Folklife Center Newsletter. 19.
https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mfc_newsletters/19
Version
publisher's version of the published document
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