In Ashkelon a new neighborhood called Agamim was being developed in 2018. What was found during the excavations before construction was an ancient fisherman’s tackle:
A 6,000-year-old copper fishhook— one of the oldest known in the world—possibly for fishing sharks or very large fish, was discovered in the Israel Antiquity Authority excavations carried out prior to the construction of the new Agamim neighborhood in Ashkelon in 2018. The find, presented here for the first time, will be exhibited in April at the 48th Archaeological Congress, organized by the Israel Antiquity Authority, the Israel Exploration Society, and the Israeli Archaeological Association.
According to Dr. Yael Abadi-Reiss, co-director of the excavation and Dr. Daniel Varga, both from the Israel Antiquities Authority, “This unique find is 6.5 cm long and 4 cm wide, its large dimensions making it suitable for hunting 2–3 m long sharks or large tuna fish. More ancient fishhooks found previously were made of bone and were much smaller than this one. The use of copper began in the Chalcolithic period. It is fascinating to discover that this technological innovation was applied in antiquity to produce fishhooks for fishermen along the Mediterranean coast.”
In the Chalcolithic period, there were large villages around Ashkelon, whose economy was based on branches of agriculture still common today, such as the pasturing of sheep, goat, and cattle, the cultivation of wheat, barley, and legumes and the tending of fruit orchards. “We learn about the dietary habits of the people who lived here 6,000 years ago from the remains of animal bones found in ancient rubbish pits, from burnt wheat grains found in ovens, and from the hunting, cooking, and food-processing tools retrieved, including flint sickles, and a variety of pottery vessels that served for the storage, cooking and the conservation of food by fermentation and salting. The rare fishhook tells the story of the village fishermen who sailed out to sea in their boats and cast the newly invented copper fishhook into the water, hoping to add coastal sharks to the menu,” says Dr. Abadi-Reiss. source: https://www.friendsofiaa.org/news
Ashkelon might be more familiar from Prophecy:
The Lord used three prophets, Amos, Jeremiah and Zephaniah to pronounce judgement on Ashkelon in the form of the city’s complete destruction. However, Zephaniah went further and said that a remnant of the House of Judah would rebuild it and they will graze their flocks on its pasture. source: https://www.adefenceofthebible.com/2020/06/12/prophecies-concerning-biblical-cities-ashkelon/
Fittingly, the word Agamim means lakes. Source: https://www.pealim.com/dict/5556-agam/ So, it makes some sense, one supposes, to find a fishhook if your neighborhood is called “lakes”. If one is not seeing some flocks grazing on the pastures, though, one might want to be sure they are not in the sights of the above Prophets.
Featured image at: https://storiearcheostorie.com/2023/03/29/archaeonews-6000-year-old-copper-fishing-hook-discovered-in-ashkelon-israel-it-was-made-for-hunting-sharks/