Catchstone
The catchstone was used from around 5000 BC. Chr., Together with arrow and arc used as a hunting aid.
Location
In the Sahara , initially a fertile area in the post-glacial period, rock carvings were found depicting hunting scenes. The snapshot captured on stone shows an aurochs that is apparently being attacked by archers and that has two traps on its legs. Another scene shows a rhinoceros in a similar situation, but with only one catchstone. How widespread this hunting technique was is unknown.
Texture and technique
The trap stone was made egg-shaped from boulders. The historically known catch stones weighed between 10 and 90 kilograms. In the middle there was a deep, circumferential notch to prevent the attached safety rope from slipping.
The function in which bow and rope were technically used at this time has not yet been researched in detail. What is certain is that the selected prey fled with the trap stones attached to ropes and that the hunters followed safely until they could kill the exhausted animal without much effort. Depending on the size of the prey, the number of traps or their weight was increased.
literature
- Emil Hoffmann: Lexicon of the Stone Age . Munich: Beck 1999, ISBN 3-406-42125-3