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| Version | User | Scope of changes |
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| Jun 24 2008, 4:13 PM EDT (current) | WareHistorical | 2 photos added, 2 photos deleted |
| Jun 24 2008, 8:59 AM EDT | WareHistorical | 9 words added, 9 words deleted, 4 photos added, 4 photos deleted |
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 Weir on the Ware River in Three Rivers | | |||||||||||||
 Indian Weir in Connecticut | ||||||||||||||
 Fishing weir in New Jersey  Catching fish at the mouth of the Fishing Weir | ||||||||||||||
| A weir is a low dam built across a stream to divert its water or to control its flow, or a fence-like trap put on a stream for catching fish. Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weir" weir O.E. wer "dam, fence, enclosure," especially one for catching fish (related to werian "dam up"), from P.Gmc. *warjanan (cf. O.N. ver, O.Fris., M.Du. were, Du. weer, O.H.G. wari, Ger. Wehr "defense, protection," Goth. warjan "to defend, protect"), from PIE *wer- "to cover, shut" (cf. Skt. vatah "enclosure," vrnoti "covers, wraps, shuts;" Lith. uzveriu "to shut, to close;" O.Pers. *pari-varaka "protective;" L. (op)erire "to cover;" O.C.S. vora "sealed, closed," vreti "shut;" O.Ir. feronn "field," prop. "enclosed land"). Weir Pronunciation: 'wer, 'wir Function: noun Etymology: Middle English were, from Old English wer; akin to Old Norse ver fishing place, Old High German werien, werren to defend 1 : a fence or enclosure set in a waterway for taking fish 2 : a dam in a stream or river to raise the water level or divert its flow Fishing Baskets Baskets were also used to fish. The basic fishing basket (left) had an inner basket and an outer basket. The inner basket had a hole in the center, which the fish would swim through. To prevent it from swimming out the inner basket had spike around the hole that would deter the fish from going back the way it came in. The eel basket (right) was long and slender so the eel could not turn around and swim back out. INDIAN FISHING AND HUNTINGFishing and hunting were important activities for the Native Americans found living here by Sir Walter Ralegh's explorers and colonists in the 1580s, for Indians relied heavily on the meat of wild animals and fowl, and on fish, for their food.Lacking conventional tools, or metal, they used the materials available to them and employed a high degree of ingenuity in devising methods for catching or killing fish and game. The Europeans were impressed especially, with their fishing techniques, which proved much more effective in the shallow sounds surrounding Roanoke Island than those employed by Ralegh's colonists. For the most part, the Indians caught their fish in net-like obstructions called weirs, which they placed across streams or channels in much the same way as modern pound-netters catch the seasonal runs of striped bass or shad. The weirs were made of reeds, woven or tied together, and anchored to the bottom by poles stuck into the sand. With their tops extending above the surface of the water the weirs looked very much like fences, and were arranged in varied patterns designed to catch the fish, and then impound them. One of the colonists, Thomas Harriot, described the Indian's weir-fishing technique as " settinge opp reedes or twigges int he water, which they soe plant one with another, that they growe still narrower, and narrower, " thus preventing the fish, once imprisoned, from swimming out again. Harriot added that yet another fishing technique " which is more strange, is with poles made sharp at one end, by shooting them into the fish after the manner as Irishmen cast darts, either as they are rowing in their boats or else as they are wading in the shallows for the purpose. " Sometimes these spears or harpoons were fitted with sharp points made from " the hollowe tayle of a certaine fishe like to a sea crabb...wherewith by nighte or day they stricke fishes, and take them opp into their boates. " The Englishmen reported that the Indians caught a wide variety of fish including " trout, porpoise, rayes, oldwives (probably menhaden), mullets, plaise (flounder), and very many other sorts of excellent good fish, which we have taken and eaten, whose names I know not but in the country language." They, also said that " for four months of the year, February, March, April and May, there are plenty of sturgeons. And also in the same months of herrings, some of the ordinary bigness of ours in England, but for the most part far greater, of eighteen, twenty inches, and some two feet in length. " As was the case with most other American Indians, the natives of the Albemarle and Pamlico Sound regions relied to a great degree on bows and arrows for hunting. Harriot made special mention of black bears, which he said were " good meat, " adding that " the inhabitants in time of winter do use to take and eat many. They are taken commonly in this sort, " he said. " in some islands or places where they are, being hunted for as soon as they have spial of man, they presently run away, and then being chased, they climb and get up the next tree they can. From whence with arrows they are shot down stark dead, or with those wounds that they may after easily be killed. " Hunting the fleet-footed deer with bow and arrow was something else again, but the Indians often employed a special technique there as well, and one involving a high degree of skill and cunning. " These savages, " Harriot said, " being secretely hidden among high reeds, where oftentimes they find the deer asleep, and kill them. " Thus the Indians engaged in fishing and hunting not only to secure food, and hides for clothing and other uses, but as recreation and sport as well. Credits: Text by David Stick. Illustrations: Vicki Wallace Main Page Contact Information:http://www.nps.gov/fora/hunt.htmFort Raleigh National Historic Site National Park Service Rt. 1, Box 675 Manteo, NC 27954 Call (252) 473-5772 An Ancient Indian Fish-Weir Charles C. Willoughby American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 29, No. 1 (Jan. - Mar., 1927), pp. 105-108 The Boylston Street Fishweir: A Study of the Archaeology, Biology, and Geology of a Site on Boylston Street in the Back Bay District of Boston by Frederick Johnson Review author[s]: J. W. Goldthwait Geographical Review, Vol. 33, No. 1 (Jan., 1943), pp. 140-143 doi:10.2307/210625 http://www.curtis-collection.com/tribe%20data/portfolio%20index/portfolio13.html Fishing scenes are rarely represented in ancient Greek culture, a reflection of the low social status of fishing. There is a wine cup, dating from 510?500 BC, that shows a boy crouched on a rock with a fishing-rod in his right hand and a basket in his left. In the water below, a rounded object of the same material with an opening on the top. This has been identified as a fish-cage used for keeping live fish, or as a fish-trap. It is clearly not a net. This object is currently in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.Image of an ancient angler on a wine cup. www.wcu.edu canadianheritage.org atlas.nrcan.gc.ca Huron Indian word for fishing weir An Indian salmon weir and dugout ... 499 x 399 pixels - 46k - jpg canadianheritage.org Indian - portfolio 13 plate no. ... 640 x 531 pixels - 83k - jpg curtis.library.northwestern.edu Indian - volume 13 facing: page ... 640 x 524 pixels - 80k - jpg curtis.library.northwestern.edu [ More results from memory.loc.gov ]
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