Fishing Nets and String at the Final Mesolithic and Early Neolithic Site of Zamostje 2, Sergiev Posad (Russia)

Abstract

Abstract The site Zamostje 2, located in Sergiev-Posad district of Moscow (Russia) on the west bank of the Dubna River, has provided two Mesolithic and one Early Neolithic occupations dated from 7000 to 5400 cal BC. Thanks to the waterlogged environment, the site has an exceptional preservation. The site has yielded fishing screens, fishing fences, wooden fishing traps, and several small cordage remains elaborated with plant fibres, pine bark floats, fragments of paddles, and other wooden objects. In this work, we present the study of the fragments of cordage and fishing nets with the objective of providing new insights into the production and use of implements made of plant fibres. We have characterized the production process by analysing the morphological and technical characteristics by carrying out experimentation with plant fibres in order to obtain reference material to recognize them at an archaeological level. The analysis of 82 knots and 23 fragments of strings has allowed to determine that they were elaborated with single threads from 0.5 to 1.5 mm thick, which is noticeably smaller than most examples from other sites. All of them were elaborated with woody bast fibres.