Introduction to Net Making

A Skill from the Palaeolithic Age, Passed Down to You

During this introduction to net making workshop you will produce yourself a small net using a prehistoric tradition of net making, a skill most likely going back at least 12,000 years into the Palaeolithic period.

Learn the skills our ancestors knew, feel the freedom of the natural world, and in doing so, help protect it.

The History Behind the Craft

In 1913, a net now known as the Antrea Net was found in a Russian swamp (at the time, part of Finland). Woven from willow bast (the tree's inner bark) the net is believed to have measured 15–30 metres long and 1.3–1.5 metres wide: no small feat, as you'll discover for yourself. It was found with pebble sinkers wrapped in willow bark, and floaters made from Scots pine bark. Remarkably, the knots used to construct it are the very same knots still used in net making today.

While the Antrea Net is thought to be Mesolithic, indirect archaeological and artistic evidence suggests net making stretches back even further, into the Palaeolithic period, limestone weights believed to be around 29,000 years old have also been discovered.