A team of Australian experts have uncovered evidence of the practice in a small cave at the eastern end of East Timor, north of Australia, which contained the bones of more than 2,800 fish.
Some were caught as long as 42,000 years ago. Fish bones and hooks at the excavation site in an East Timor cave, which showed prehistoric humans were adept at catching fast-moving fish in deep water
They also found the world's earliest recorded fish hook, made of shell and dating from between 23,000 and 16,000 years ago, during excavations at the Jerimalai cave site.
Sue O'Connor (Austrailian National University) said it demonstrated prehistoric man had high-level maritime skills, and by implication, the technology needed to make the ocean crossings to reach Australia.
'What the site in East Timor has shown us is that early modern humans in Southeast Asia had amazingly advanced maritime skills.
'They were expert at catching the types of fish that would be challenging even today - fish like tuna. It's a very exciting find.'
Tuna can be caught using nets or by trawling hooks on long lines through the sea. But this can be tricky even by today's standards
She added that the finds may shed light on how Australia's first inhabitants arrived on the continent, with the implication that seaworthy boats would have been used to fish in the deep ocean.
Also thanks to coldrum for a similar story. Read more from the article by Simon Tomlinson at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech.
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