Gypsy Heart
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Taken from the Columbia Tribune
(Caption for Photo below) A Holts Summit man found a rare fishhook carved from bone in the Missouri River this month, and experts say it could be anywhere from a few hundred to thousands of years old.
Eric Henley of Holts Summit displays a bone fishhook he found this month near McBaine along the Missouri River that some say dates back at least hundreds of years. Henleyâs find is much larger than most American Indian fishhooks that have been recovered.
Eric Henley, who has been hunting arrowheads and other American Indian artifacts for 13 years, found the hook on a gravel bar in the river near McBaine.
"The first thing I thought is, âI hope this isnât metal,â " Henley said. "When I picked it up, there was a pretty good jump for joy and a couple of âwhoopsâ and yells. ⌠Itâs the cream of the crop."
Henley, a maintenance man at the University of Missouri-Columbia, plans to show the hook to more experienced collectors to determine just how rare it is.
Bone fishhooks arenât uncommon, but theyâre usually found during archaeological digs, said Bill Iseminger, assistant site manager at Cahokia Mounds State Historical Site in Illinois. Bone matter deteriorates rapidly, so ancient bone artifacts typically have to be buried deep enough in the ground to be preserved.
Sandier soil in spots along the river might have kept the hook preserved, said Joe Harl of the Archaeological Research Center of St. Louis.
The hook could be anywhere from 300 to 12,000 years old, Harl said.
Henley is OK with that estimate. Carbon dating the item would require drilling through the fragile bone, and he doesnât want to risk ruining the mint condition hook.
Most bone hooks that have been discovered are smaller, about the size of common fishhooks today. Harl said itâs likely the fisherman who used the hook was after a larger fish.
Another area artifact collector, Kenny Bassett, said the large size of the hook might indicate an earlier origin. American Indians used bigger rocks and tools in earlier periods to hunt larger game such as wooly mammoths. Likewise, he said, the hook could have been used to fish for the now-endangered pallid sturgeon or enormous catfish.
Before the waterway that became known as the Missouri River was affected by man-made changes, Bassett said, "no telling how big catfish got."
The hook was likely attached to a line made of deer sinew - tough tissue that joins muscle and bone - using glue made from other substances in the carcass.
Bassett, who works with Henley, said he had to control his envy when he saw the oversized hook. "Iâve been hunting" American Indian artifacts "for 30 years and never found anything so identifiably unique. ⌠Iâve never seen anything like it."
Henley credits his sons, 11 and 6, for being good-luck charms because the fateful trip was the first time they joined their dad on an artifact hunt. "Now every time I go, theyâre going to be there."
But Henley has a history of finding interesting items on his own. A few years ago, while working on the roof of the Barnes & Nobel store at the Columbia Mall, he found a 1995 Florida State Basketball Tournament championship ring that was lodged in a gravel removal machine.
The ring is engraved with the name Garvin, and Henley believes it belonged to Travis Garvin, a former MU wide receiver-turned-basketball player who was arrested on a robbery charge in 2004 in West Virginia. Henley said heâd like to someday return the ring to its rightful owner.
But he has no plans to sell the latest find.
"Itâs more personal," Henley said. "I hope to pass it on to my kids."
Just knowing "that youâre the first person to touch this since an Indian made it" makes it worth hunting arrowheads and other artifacts, he said. "And then, when you get a payoff like this, itâs well worth it."
(Caption for Photo below) A Holts Summit man found a rare fishhook carved from bone in the Missouri River this month, and experts say it could be anywhere from a few hundred to thousands of years old.
Eric Henley of Holts Summit displays a bone fishhook he found this month near McBaine along the Missouri River that some say dates back at least hundreds of years. Henleyâs find is much larger than most American Indian fishhooks that have been recovered.
Eric Henley, who has been hunting arrowheads and other American Indian artifacts for 13 years, found the hook on a gravel bar in the river near McBaine.
"The first thing I thought is, âI hope this isnât metal,â " Henley said. "When I picked it up, there was a pretty good jump for joy and a couple of âwhoopsâ and yells. ⌠Itâs the cream of the crop."
Henley, a maintenance man at the University of Missouri-Columbia, plans to show the hook to more experienced collectors to determine just how rare it is.
Bone fishhooks arenât uncommon, but theyâre usually found during archaeological digs, said Bill Iseminger, assistant site manager at Cahokia Mounds State Historical Site in Illinois. Bone matter deteriorates rapidly, so ancient bone artifacts typically have to be buried deep enough in the ground to be preserved.
Sandier soil in spots along the river might have kept the hook preserved, said Joe Harl of the Archaeological Research Center of St. Louis.
The hook could be anywhere from 300 to 12,000 years old, Harl said.
Henley is OK with that estimate. Carbon dating the item would require drilling through the fragile bone, and he doesnât want to risk ruining the mint condition hook.
Most bone hooks that have been discovered are smaller, about the size of common fishhooks today. Harl said itâs likely the fisherman who used the hook was after a larger fish.
Another area artifact collector, Kenny Bassett, said the large size of the hook might indicate an earlier origin. American Indians used bigger rocks and tools in earlier periods to hunt larger game such as wooly mammoths. Likewise, he said, the hook could have been used to fish for the now-endangered pallid sturgeon or enormous catfish.
Before the waterway that became known as the Missouri River was affected by man-made changes, Bassett said, "no telling how big catfish got."
The hook was likely attached to a line made of deer sinew - tough tissue that joins muscle and bone - using glue made from other substances in the carcass.
Bassett, who works with Henley, said he had to control his envy when he saw the oversized hook. "Iâve been hunting" American Indian artifacts "for 30 years and never found anything so identifiably unique. ⌠Iâve never seen anything like it."
Henley credits his sons, 11 and 6, for being good-luck charms because the fateful trip was the first time they joined their dad on an artifact hunt. "Now every time I go, theyâre going to be there."
But Henley has a history of finding interesting items on his own. A few years ago, while working on the roof of the Barnes & Nobel store at the Columbia Mall, he found a 1995 Florida State Basketball Tournament championship ring that was lodged in a gravel removal machine.
The ring is engraved with the name Garvin, and Henley believes it belonged to Travis Garvin, a former MU wide receiver-turned-basketball player who was arrested on a robbery charge in 2004 in West Virginia. Henley said heâd like to someday return the ring to its rightful owner.
But he has no plans to sell the latest find.
"Itâs more personal," Henley said. "I hope to pass it on to my kids."
Just knowing "that youâre the first person to touch this since an Indian made it" makes it worth hunting arrowheads and other artifacts, he said. "And then, when you get a payoff like this, itâs well worth it."
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