1 Big Fish Hunting: interpretation of stone clubs from Lepenski Vir Ivana Živaljević Laboratory for Bioarchaeology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade ivziv81@yahoo.com Abstract ! In this paper, I discuss a specific type of stone tool found at Lepenski Vir: clubs or mallets  which may have been used in fishing as stunners. The significance of large fish species (especially beluga sturgeon) in the diet, settlement patterns and cosmogony of the inhabitants of the MesolithicNeolithic settlement of Lepenski Vir (c. 62005900. cal. BC) is amply manifested in the archaeological record, namely by significant quantities of sturgeon bones, the famous ‘fishlike’ sandstone sculptures and isotopic dietary signatures of humans buried at the site. Ironically, there is less evidence to suggest how exactly these great animals were caught. The massive and often ornamented stone clubs were initially interpreted as ‘magic’ and ‘ritual’ devices; however, it should be noted that the ‘ritual’ and ‘profane’ uses of an object need not exclude one another. The aim of this paper is to present the material and stylistic properties of these tools, look into and interpret their contextual provenience, and offer an understanding of them not as passive objects, but as powerful agents in dramatic encounters with the big fish. Keywords: objects, agency, Lepenski Vir, Padina, Vlasac, Danube Gorges, Mesolithic, Neolithic, sculpted boulders, stone clubs, mallets, scepters, fish stunners, fishing, sturgeons, beluga sturgeon Introduction Similarly to human beings, material things possess the power to influence the outcome of events, regulate relationships or express and reinforce beliefs. In recent years, social sciences have brought forward the idea of non!human agency; either in the form of meanings bestowed upon objects, animals and natural phenomena by human agents (Dobres and Robb 2000; Ingold 2007), or through deconstruction of ontological differences between ‘people’ and ‘things’ (Latour 2005; Webmoor 2007; Witmore 2007; Webmoor and Witmore 2008). Latour admits that things themselves do not necessarily ‘determine’ or ‘cause’ social activity. However, one can not imagine playing football without a ball, boiling water without a kettle or hitting a nail without a hammer. In this sense, things might be understood as participants in social action (Latour 2005: 70!74). The interrelationship between human and non!human agency is perhaps best described by Wagner (1975: 59), who acknowledges that “in learning how to use tools, we are secretly learning how to use ourselves” (see also Chapman 2001). Material things ‘outside of us’ objectify the skills which reside ‘inside of us’, they enable and participate in specific culturally learned ‘body techniques’ (sensu Mauss 1973 [orig. 1934]). At Lepenski Vir, the use of massive stone fish stunners enabled not solely a good catch, but also a specific type of fishing technique, body technique, and a specific mode