Fish Hooks: Evidence for Dual Social Systems in Southeastern Australia?

Abstract

This paper considers two implications of the known distribution and use of Aboriginal fish hooks: their Holocene origins, and the mechanisms and motives for their adoption. To examine the first, information is presented from archaeological and historical sources elaborating earlier views of fish hook origins on this continent. The second aim arises from two important papers dealing with the social relations of production in Aboriginal Australia (Bowdler 1976; Hamilton 1980). The mechanisms and motives for fish hook adoption, at least in the south-east, are considered in terms of the way labour and society were organized.