Ishango (Lake Edward) – Harpoon & Ishango Bone
Ishango · Ishango bone · Ishango harpoon · Lake Edward Ishango
Later Stone Age Ishango·Ishango LSA fisher-foragers·🇨🇩 North Kivu Province, Lake Edward north shore, Virunga–Rutshuru plain, Semliki outflow, Congo (DRC)
About
About Ishango (Lake Edward) – Harpoon & Ishango Bone
Lakeshore fishing village (25–20 ka LSA) famed for 25,000 barbed bone harpoons and Ishango Bone – baboon fibula with tally marks (perhaps 20 ka lunar calendar or arithmetic, oldest maths artefact, Musée Brussels). Dark volcanic tuffs cap fish-bone mounds.
Why it mattersSignificant regional centre illustrating cultural transition.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Chronology refinement
- 02Function of enclosures
Theories
- 01Trade corridor model
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- 25–20 ka LSA; Ishango bone ~20 ka
- Period
- Later Stone Age Ishango
- Culture
- Ishango LSA fisher-foragers
- Purpose
- Regional centre / fortified town and trade node
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
25–20 ka LSA; Ishango bone ~20 ka
Initial construction
c. 1413 CE
Major expansion
On the ground
Structures & features
0.1500° S · 29.6000° E · 920 m · 2 mapped features
Harpoon Mound (Site 11)
moundHarpoon concentration 50 per m2 on beach ridge
0.1497° S · 29.6003° EIshango Bone Findspot
findspotStratum where Jean de Heinzelin recovered bone 1957
0.1503° S · 29.5997° E