Fishing Ring Net Weight

From card: "Object consists of a withe, 1/2" in diameter, bent in circular form, ends joined with diagonally cut splice. Extending across hoop at center are two bast strips, each spirally bast wrapped throughout their lengths; wrapping serves also to secure strips to withe at opposite sides of circle. A celt-like worked stone weight is inserted in the wrapping of the two transverse bast strips within 1 1/2 " of the withe hoop. The other ends of the two bast transverse strips join the encircling withe at a distance of 7 1/3" from each other and form a V with the suspended lashing of the stone weight." Letter in accession record dated February 8, 1946 indicates that collector picked object up in Benton County, Washington, along the Columbia River.

Rex Buck, Jr., Patrick Wyena, and Clayton Buck came to Anthropology collections April 20-22, 2015 on a Recovering Voices Community Research Grant. They are members of the Wanapum Band of Priest Rapids, who live in Washington state along the Columbia River. They identified this object as a fishing ring net weight and Rex Buck gave the following description on how the object would be used for gill fishing. This type of fishing is where a net is strung between two canoes and the net and canoes float downriver with the current, catching fish by the gill in the nets. The net knots are sized to catch a certain kind of fish. E387903 is used to weigh down the net, but be more buoyant than a stone sinker to allow the net to flow freely with the current without getting stuck in the river bed. Multiple fishing ring net weights would be used to weigh down a single net. The wooden ring would be tied to the bottom of the net vertically and there would have been a small tail attached to the ring to create drag and keep it vertical as the net moved downriver. There is no tail attached to either the fishing ring net weight in the Anthropology collections at NMNH nor the fishing ring net weight in the National Museum of the American Indian collections (NMAI # 210443.000). Rex, Patrick, and Clayton described how the technology went out of use when the Wanapum left their traditional fishing territory so the United States Government could build the Hanford Site on the Columbia River as part of the Manhattan Project in the 1940s. They explained that their grandparents and other Wanapum Band members left caches of fishing and hunting equipment behind when they had to leave.

This object was on display in the National Museum of Natural History exhibit "Objects of Wonder", 2017 - 2024.

10 Jan 2025

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