Abstract: A harpoon unearthed in Xiaogushan site, Haicheng, Liaoning province in 1983, is thedetachable head of the fishing tool, which appeared in the Late Palaeolithic Age. It is the car-liest harpoon found in China. It is formed of head, body and end parts. The head and the endparts are not intact, but the original shape of the harpoon is clear. Barbs are on both sides of thehead part, and a wood handle and a rope can be fixed on the end part. According to the ethno-logical material, har poons were used for fishing and hunting. As an animal was stabbed withthe harpoon, it would struggle and the harpoon would be separated from the wood handle.The more the animal struggles, the more deeply the harpoon stabs. It is hard for the animalto escap. When the harpoon is detached from its handle; it is still linked by a rope, with whichthe fishing or hunting man can catch the animal.
The detachable head harpoon may be developed from a tool with sharp point which canbe thrown. A lot of harpoons were found in M agdalenian Culture, but their shapes are not exactly similar with Xiaogushan, and the date of Xiaogushan is a little earlier than that of Mag-dalenian. A large number of detachable head harpoons found in Neolithic sites of China aresimilar with Xiaogushan harpoon, but these harpoons are more advanced. It would be provedthat the detachable head harpoons of neolithic were developed from Xiaogushan harpoon.
The harpoon unearthed in Xiaogushan is important at least in three points. First, amongthe harpoons found in China, Xiaogushan harpoon is the earliest and the most intact. It offersa clue to study the method of use and development of the detachable head harpoon as well asrelation with the detachable head harpoon of neolithic. Second, Xiaogushan harpoon is a ra-ther fine tool, and it must have been developed from simple ones, so we are looking forward tofinding more archaeological materials. Third, the harpoon reflected that in the Late Palaeolithicstage the compound hunting tool began to be used for fishing. It made the fishing techniqueimproved and the man could get more food.

Key words: Harpoon; Detachable head harpoon; Xiaogushan