Theoriginsofskilledmaritimepursuits,suchasdeep-seafishing,arebelievedtohaveemergedapproximately12,000yearsago.However,anarchaeologist,SueO’ConnorfromtheAustralianNationalUniversity,hasextendedthistimelinebyanadditional30,000years.Dr.O’Connor’squestbeganonanislandoffthenorthernAustraliancoast,aplacewhereearlyAsiansettlerswerethoughttohavearrived.Havingpreviouslyuncoveredearlyfishingimplementsintheregion,shewasintriguedwhenlocalhuntersdirectedhertoalimestonecavecloseby.Couldthiscavehaveservedasahavenforancientseafarers?Toanswerthisquestion,Dr.O’Connorassembledateamoffarmersandinitiatedamonth-longexcavation.Bytheendofthedig,theyhadamassedover10,000fragmentsofstone,bone,andshell.Theoldestlayersofsediment,nowsolidified,revealedslabsencrustedwithartifacts.Theircontentsremainedamystery.Backinherlaboratory,Dr.O’Connortreatedtheslabswithaceticacid,revealinganadditionalmultitudeoffishbones.Themajorityoftheseancientremainsbelongedtospeciessuchastunaandsharks—fast-swimming,deep-seafishthatwouldhaverequiredboatsandadvancedtackletobebroughttothecave.Toherastonishment,carbondatingrevealedthatthesebonesweredatedto42,000yearsago,markingtheearliestknownevidenceofdeep-seafishinginhumanhistory:“Werealizedwehaduncoveredanextraordinarytaleoffishing.”