All Outdoors Staff 07.27.26
Stone Age fish traps found in Norwegian mountain lake
Archaeologists have uncovered the first known evidence that prehistoric humans kept freshwater fish in upper mountain lakes. In 2022, researchers observed fish nets at the bottom of Lake Tesse in the mountains of modern-day Norway. Dating and analysis of the five excavated nets and their associated wooden fragments revealed that the artefacts were 5,000 to 7,000 years old. The findings, led by archaeologist Axel Majorum of the University of Oslo, were published in Antiquity.
Humans first came to these mountains of Norway about 10,000 years ago. The steep waterfalls left during the last Ice Age should have prevented fish from moving upstream, making seafood an unlikely item on Neolithic menus. During the last ice age, between about 115,000 and 9,700 BC, ice cover made inland habitats inaccessible to freshwater fish.
A trout hotspot with a long history
Before it was built as a hydroelectric reservoir in the 1940s, Lake Teesse was famous for its impressive population of brown trout. That abundance has likely made the lake a prime fishing destination. Each spring, lowering of water levels will expose areas of the lake shore that contain buried archaeological objects, including parts of a Stone Age settlement.
How the trout reached the lake has long puzzled scientists. As early as 1918, researchers speculated that humans had probably introduced brown trout into mountain lakes from their natural habitat. “For more than 100 years, it has been known that fish living in water bodies in the Norwegian mountains descended from specimens moved by humans,” Mjerm said. However, until now, it was not clear when people first began taking fish upriver into the waters where they were originally scarce.
mesh dating
Radiocarbon dating dates the oldest net specimen to approximately 5,000 BC and the youngest to 2,700 BC. The nets were tied together with wooden poles, with the best preserved specimens showing cut marks, splits, and other signs of being prepared.
The team noted that it would realistically have taken several decades for the translocated trout to reproduce. These early humans appear to have transported the fish in anticipation of a delayed return, an indication that hunter-fishermen were effectively managing their environment to control food supplies. “By introducing brown trout, a strong and lasting entanglement was established between people and aquatic resources in the mountains,” the researchers wrote. Those relationships continued to shape activities in the region during the Neolithic period, and the results of that early environmental management can still be enjoyed by sport fishermen and professional fishermen today.
