Harpoons

A harpoon is a long spear-like instrument used in fishing, whaling, sealing, and other marine hunting to catch fish or large marine mammals such as whales. It accomplishes this task by impaling the target animal and securing it with barbs or toggling claws, allowing the fishermen to use a rope or chain attached to the butt of the projectile to catch the animal. A harpoon can also be used as a weapon.

In the 1990s Zaire (nowadays the Democratic Republic of the Congo), harpoon points, known as the Semliki harpoons or the Katanda harpoons, were found in the Katanda region. As the earliest known harpoons, these weapons were made and used 90,000 years ago, most likely to spear catfishes.

Later, in Japan, spearfishing with poles (harpoons) became widespread in palaeolithic times, especially during the Solutrean and Magdalenian periods. Cosquer Cave in Southern France contains cave art over 16,000 years old, including drawings of seals which appear to have been harpooned.

There are references to harpoons in ancient literature; though, in most cases, the descriptions do not go into detail. An early example from the Bible in Job 41:7: "Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish spears?"

The Greek historian Polybius (c. 203 BC – 120 BC), in his Histories, describes hunting for swordfish by using a harpoon with a barbed and detachable head. Copper harpoons were known to the seafaring Harappans well into antiquity. Early hunters in India include the Mincopie people, aboriginal inhabitants of India's Andaman and Nicobar islands, who have used harpoons with long cords for fishing since early times.

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