Fishing with lure hooks at the Late Neolithic site of Vinča – Belo Brdo, Serbia

•We discuss the early evidence of lure fish-hooks in prehistoric south-east Europe.•We integrate technological, use-wear, residue and ethnographic analyses.•Complex fishing techniques were used at Vinča – Belo Brdo site during the Neolithic.

The authors present an early evidence for the use of complex fishing techniques for obtaining variable fish resources in prehistoric south-east Europe as recovered at the Neolithic site of Vinča – Belo Brdo in Serbia. In particular, a group of bone artefacts have been analysed through the application of an integrated approach combining technological, use-wear, and residue analyses as well as the comparisons with ethnographic artefacts. The results of the functional analysis indicate that these artefacts were parts of lure hooks, i.e. composite hooks, probably used to catch large predatory fish. On methodological grounds, the discussion proposed in this paper could be relevant for other case studies worldwide where one finds prehistoric communities with evidence of fishing activities.