Page 48 - Shark

Shark artifacts

For centuries, people around the world have
caught sharks and taken their teeth and
skin to make a wide variety Large, serrated
of objects, or artifacts. tooth, probably
Monkey business from a great
This monkey-head Shark teeth are so sharp white shark
was made by the that early people were able (pp. 28–31)
Aztecs in Mexico.
Made of precious to make tools and weapons
stones, its teeth are from them. Shark skin is so hard-
those of a shark.
wearing that it could be used to make
Crown jewel
shoes, as well as grips or sheaths for swords and daggers The 10 shark teeth that
(pp. 60–61). Early people who caught sharks had great went into making this decorative
respect for these magnificent predators. Fishing for necklace probably came from
great white sharks caught by
sharks with primitive tools was difficult and Maoris off the coast of New
dangerous, and stories and legends about Zealand. Today’s shark-tooth
jewelry, made specially for
sharks were common among seafaring and tourists, has contributed to
island people. Sharks were even regarded some shark species becoming
endangered (pp. 60–61).
as gods and worshipped on some islands
in the Pacific. In comparison, Europeans have
few myths about sharks, but they did appear
in natural history books (pp. 28–29).

Pair of
fisherman’s
shoes, made
of shark skin, Shark
from India skin
Shark-shaped Shark
gold weight tooth
from Ghana
in West
Africa Tin toy, in the form of a
shark, from Malaysia 18th-century
carved
Tool, wooden
tipped drum, with
with a shark-skin-
shark’s covered top;
tooth, for from the
Shark tattooing Hawaiian
tooth people’s Islands in
skin, the Pacific
from
Wooden rasp, covered in Kiribati
shark skin, from the island Shark (the
of Santa Cruz in the skin Gilbert
southwest Pacific Islands)
in the
western
Pacific
Ocean
sharks in the hoMe
From ancient times, the skins and teeth of sharks
Shark-skin-covered grater have been used to make a variety of household
(below) from the Wallis Wooden knife (right), with cutting edge items. Some shark skins are so rough that they
Islands in the Pacific made of sharks’ teeth, from Greenland have been used for grating food (left), but if the
denticles are removed the soft skin is used like
leather for making shoes and belts, or even drums
(above). Shark teeth have been used for knives,
jewelry, and tools. Other items were made in the
Shark shape of a shark because people admired sharks,
skin but, like today, toy sharks were made just for fun.