Net Shuttle Set

A set of wooden net shuttles (aka netting needles), hand-carved in the Puget Sound region. Early- to mid-20th century.

The net is one of humankind‘s most marvelous inventions. Or borrowings, rather, since nets are obviously inspired by spider webs! The oldest known examples are 10,000-year-old net fragments found in Finland/Russia. However, nets sinks (stones used to hold down the bottom edge of a fishing net) dating back 27,000 years have been unearthed in Japan.

Mostly, we think of nets as being used for fishing, but they have many other applications. For example, the indigenous peoples of Central and South America weave netted hammocks to sleep comfortably in the tropical climate. In Papua New Guinea, most indigenous groups make “bilum bags”, stretchy expandable carryalls made with an ingenious looped netting technique, used to carry everything from yams to babies.

And, as anyone who’s watched the reality show “Alone“ knows, having a gill net is your absolute best wilderness survival tool! So, you never know when a few net shuttles could come in handy…