The fishhook from the final stage of the Paleolithic from Chernoozerye II. Presentation of the artifact

A fragment of the bone artifact which appears to be a part of a fishhook according to typology and its wear marks is introduced into scientific discourse. The artefact was discovered in 2022 during an archaeological survey of subsection 3.2 of a Final Paleolithic site Chernoozerye II, located in Middle Irtysh land. The cultural horizons of the site are found as hidden in aeolian deposits of a low ridge of the same name that developed on a residual of the first upland fringe of the Irtysh River. The dry ridge and the flood plain may have aroused the hunter-forager groups’ interest in the development of fluvial resources. The monument’s faunal collections confirm - and the found hook fragment concretises - the views on how this interest was practically realised. The small-size article is made of the wall of a large tubular bone diaphysis; it is damaged in several places, which prevents us from speculating on its fastening to the string and the prey hooking tactics. But for the most part, the item is well-preserved, demonstrating the original shape and traces of intense attrition. Traces of pike teeth (Esox lucius) and representatives of the carp species are recorded on the surface of the artifact. The bones and scales of the fish fauna were found in large numbers on the territory of the site, but have not yet received a qualitative analysis. New dates - 10.5-11 thousand years BC - were agreed on the deposits of Chernoozerye low ridge and the cultural horizons of the site, which made it possible to regard the item as the oldest fish hook known to have been found in Southwestern Siberia.