Some of the oldest harpoons ever discovered reveal that Brazil’s indigenous people were hunting whales 5,000 years ago

Harpoons made from the bones of humpback and southern right whales indicate that indigenous peoples in what is now Brazil were hunting whales 5,000 years ago.

The discovery, which includes 118 whale bones and crafted artifacts, reveals that prehistoric whaling was not limited to people in temperate or polar climates in the northern hemisphere, according to the study published in the journal Nature Communications on January 9.

“Whaling has always been shrouded in mystery,” Andre Carlo Colonese, study co-author and head of research at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, ​​told Live Science, because bone tools made from actively hunted and left behind animals are difficult to distinguish in the archaeological record.

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The new tool is therefore significant, as it was found alongside multiple bone remains from members of the same species and represents some of the earliest evidence of active whaling in the world, the authors write in their study.

prehistoric whaling

For prehistoric people, whales provided rich feasts, oil for warmth, and bones for tools and cultural ornaments and accessories. Coastal communities have been expediently recovering these resources from beached whales for at least 20,000 years, but evidence of active hunting is much younger. For example, 6,000 years ago in what is now South Korea, people used deer bone harpoons to hunt large whales. Additionally, harpoons dating from approximately 3,500 to 2,500 years ago have been found in the Arctic and sub-Arctic.

Colonese and his team didn’t initially set out to study early whaling. Instead, they were trying to document the marine life used by the indigenous Sambaqui people of southern Brazil. To do so, they analyzed the molecular characteristics of pre-colonial cetacean (whale, dolphin, dolphin) bones at Brazil’s Joinville Sambaqui Archaeological Museum. Of the 118 identifiable cetacean remains, most were from southern right whales, but many were from humpback whales. Only 37 pieces were made into items such as pendants.

Colonese said it was “pure coincidence” that one of the museum’s curators brought out a box containing what appeared to be a stick. However, he immediately recognized it as a harpoon based on its design, including the hollow center of the wooden shaft and the carved tip. The researchers identified 15 harpoon elements, including head and shaft parts, made from the ribs of southern right whales or humpback whales.

Researchers took small samples from the foreshafts of two harpoons to determine their age, and found that the tools were between 4,710 and 4,970 years old. Colonese said he jumped for joy when he saw the results because these harpoons are some of the oldest harpoons found anywhere in the world, more than 1,000 years older than arctic and subarctic harpoons.

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Harpoon socket parts made from southern right whale bone.

Harpoon shaft parts made from southern right whale and humpback whale bones.

The discovery also showed that Brazil’s indigenous peoples weren’t just collecting molluscs or catching fish. “The conventional wisdom is that the Sambaki did not have the skills to hunt whales,” Colonese said. “This tells us they were actually hunting.”

“This is a very spectacular and informative discovery,” Jean-Marc Pétillon, an archaeologist at the University of Toulouse in France who was not involved in the study, told Live Science.

Petillon said it’s not clear whether these particular harpoons were used to hunt whales, as opposed to other marine animals such as seals, but this new evidence helps contradict the assumption that whaling only occurred in the northern hemisphere.

“The fact that these people live in southern Brazil in a tropical environment and also hunt whales is also a way to change the way we look at these marine exploitation systems,” he said.