Archaeologica.org

The use of the trident is as old as civilization. There are murals, tiles, and paintings in Egypt, Sumeria, and Minoa, etc. that demonstrate it's use.

It is used with a net. The net has sink rocks attached to it. Net the fish and gig it. Simple. Sometimes those net stones are mistaken for ornaments.

Jumping on a whale is speculation gone wild!

Jumping on a whale is speculation gone wild

actually its well documented

The alternative to the gun is a light lance with a rounded head that doesn't catch inside the whale; standing in the bow, Ollivierre thrusts again and again until he finds the heart. "De whole thing is dangerous, but de going in and de killing of it is de most dangerous," he says. He's been known to leap onto the back of the whale and sit with his legs wrapped around the harpoon, stabbing

http://outside.away.com/magazine/1095/10f_whal.html
so once again you haven't a clue what you're talking about have you Beagle

Charlie, on my way back from my site I stopped by Calico to speak with Chris Christianson who manages the site for Fred Budinger. Here's his picture:



He was the chauffer and bodyguard for Louis Leakey and is older than dirt (he was talking about running cross country in high school in the 40s). We are planning to renovate one of the outbuildings into a lab for Fred this spring. Being a former sheriff he has also agreed to appoint me his deputy for crowd control when the Friends of the Pleistocene show up. Maybe I'll get to shoot somebody?

Found some nice handaxes (of course they don't exist) and other items while at my site in addition to taking some strat pics. I'll post those later since everyone here seems to be having so much fun right now discussing tridents!

One comment is 'well documented'? The fact that it is recorded in that manner infers that it was a somewhat unusual practice. Out of curiosity, how did he die?

Beagle wrote:The use of the trident is as old as civilization. There are murals, tiles, and paintings in Egypt, Sumeria, and Minoa, etc. that demonstrate it's use.

It is used with a net. The net has sink rocks attached to it. Net the fish and gig it. Simple. Sometimes those net stones are mistaken for ornaments.

Jumping on a whale is speculation gone wild!

Hmmm.....

One comment is 'well documented'?

it took me 30 seconds to find that
on a previous occaison (havent you guessed yet that I've researched this before) I found plenty of claims for this method of whaling
Whales aren't as stupid as some of the posters here
when they figure you're after them they leave
so you have to jump on them to get them first time or you go hungry
its seen as a rite of passage in some cultures
really Roy at some point you'll stop bleating and start learning
til then
carry on please
hehe

Like learning how to kill a whale with a trident you mean Marduk? As I have agreed before, you are better on a computer than me, so be kind enough to produce these reams of evidence about a 'rite of passage', do that and I might start learning something as you say. You've made the claim, all I ask is that you provide the evidence to back it up. That's the scientific method.

Maybe it would be useful to point out that whales come in different sizes.

Saw a movie about Eskimos hunting whales in which the hunter jumped on the whale and stabbed....'twas fiction, but seemed to be grounded in anthropological research.

also, for what it's worth, steel gigs (tridents) are used to spear eels in New England.

The Amerindians used wooden spears with two bone points with barbs on the inside, so that they pinch in and grip even small fish.

I was thinking, too that some eskimo harpoons are merely meant to get a rope onto the whale/fish. It is then followed until tired, when it can then be pulled alongside a boat and killed with a spear. In that case it
doesn't seem so far fetched to jump on a whale.

Charlie - remember this guy? Does it match the end of your "trident"?

Not so much that piece, Monk, but this following piece matches up fairly well:





http://cayman.globat.com/~bandstexas.co ... %20155.jpg

Possible Iron Artifact(s)- Lima-Igl



http://cayman.globat.com/~bandstexas.co ... %20156.jpg

Possible Iron Artifact(s)- Lima-Igl- Opposite side

I'll post some individual images of this other piece, that plausible matches up with the original piece we've been discussing.

Or necessary Stan. Think of what awaits you if you slip, would it be worth it?

Its well worth it Digit. Tons of meat and blubber. In the case of sperm whales, gallons of oil with lots of good uses including the ability to keep your fires going through a cold winter. Well worth it.

Now it IS looking like a trident, Charley.

(ok - bident)

Individual shots of the non-barbed piece that plausibly fits up with the barbed piece:



http://cayman.globat.com/~bandstexas.co ... %20157.jpg



http://cayman.globat.com/~bandstexas.co ... %20158.jpg



http://cayman.globat.com/~bandstexas.co ... %20159.jpg



http://cayman.globat.com/~bandstexas.co ... %20160.jpg



http://cayman.globat.com/~bandstexas.co ... %20161.jpg

Now it IS looking like a trident, Charley.

(ok - bident)

Maybe. It's a long shot, Monk, but just maybe.

The other side of the base of the non-barbed piece also appears to have another piece that has cracked off.



http://cayman.globat.com/~bandstexas.co ... %20158.jpg


Highly speculative, but certainly worth studying a bit.

So now I'm reviewing this thread and I'm thinking...
trident....

whaling...

bident...

whaling....

central texas....

Then my thought process just shut down.