At first sight, they could pass for a pair of shell earrings but these items are far more significant - and were once more practical.
Archaeologists have found the world's oldest fish hooks in a cave on Okinawa in Japan, the BBC and Guardian report.
They say the hooks - made from sea snail shells - date to 23,000 years ago.
"The new evidence demonstrates a geographically wider distribution of early maritime technology that extended north to the mid-latitude areas along the western Pacific coast," according to the National Academy of Sciences.
The Asia/Oceania regions are significant when it comes to evidence of how fishing evolved.