It's impossible to conceive the harpoon technology without a suitable hunting line system, and that was well known by the last marine hunters of the Atacama Desert before the Europeans arrive. We present a hunting harpoon line set made of sealion skin from cemeteries along Camarones Valley mouth and Arica, plus one case from Tocopilla, all of them dated between 1000 and 1500 AD. We delve into aspects like manufacture technology, artefactual design, assembly gestures, ways of store, and maintenance strategies. Finally, we will compare our results with the technological solutions of some of the principals and more specialized marine hunters of the world.
Ballester, B. (2017). The thin red line: Harpoon lines of the last marine hunters from northern Chile (1000-1500 ad). Revista Chilena De Antropología, (35). Retrieved from https://nuevosfoliosbioetica.uchile.cl/index.php/RCA/article/view/46130
