Several 60,000-year-old arrowheads excavated from a rock cave in South Africa are the world’s oldest evidence of the existence of poisonous weapons, a new study has found.
This discovery postpones confirmation of the use of poisonous weapons by hunter-gatherers by more than 50,000 years.
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The discovery shows that prehistoric hunter-gatherers understood the medicinal effects of these plants, the researchers said.
“Humans have long relied on plants for food and manufacturing tools, and this discovery shows that the biochemical properties of plants are being deliberately exploited,” study lead author Sven Isaksson, professor of experimental archeology at Stockholm University, told Live Science.
What’s more, the tips of poisoned arrows reveal that prehistoric hunters were complex thinkers. Isakson said the poison takes time to take effect, so hunters needed to understand cause and effect and plan their hunts in advance.
Until now, the earliest clear evidence of poison weapon use was a 7,000-year-old arrow poison implanted in the femur bone of an ungulate mammal found in South Africa’s Kruger Cave. There are also older discoveries, such as indirect evidence of a 24,000-year-old wooden “poison applicator” also unearthed in South Africa’s Border Caves, but these are controversial.
poison weapon
Toxic substances break down over time, but traces of these chemicals can survive under certain conditions.
The Umhlatuzana rock shelter, excavated in 1985, is one of the best places for such a situation. Archaeologists have so far unearthed 649 pieces of carved quartz from the Howieson’s Port period, a uniquely South African technological culture dating back 65,000 to 60,000 years. However, no one had examined the surfaces of these remains closely beyond looking for the glue that was used to attach the arrow tips to the arrow shafts.
For the new study, Isaacson and his team closely examined 10 of the 216 available arrowheads from the 60,000-year-old excavation layer. These 10 were selected because they still had fine residues that could be analyzed.
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Researchers found traces of the plant-based toxin bufandriin in the residue of five arrowheads, and one also contained the toxin epibufanisin. Isakson said the five arrowheads may have originally contained both toxins, but there wasn’t enough leftovers to detect with current technology.
Both toxins are found in plants throughout southern Africa, but only the species Bouffon distica, known locally as “poison bulb”, is better known as arrow poison and is the most likely source of the poison. In fact, the researchers also detected two toxic chemicals in four arrows from 18th century South Africa. Analysis of milky extracts from modern B. disticha bulbs confirmed the presence of both toxins in this species. Although there is no evidence that B. disticha grew in this area 60,000 years ago, the plant is now found within 8 miles (12.5 km) of the rock shelter.
The discovery of these ancient poisoned arrows is “very remarkable,” Justin Bradfield, an associate professor of archeology at the University of Johannesburg who was not involved in the study, told Live Science via email.
Importantly, Umhlatuzana hunter-gatherers appear to have used single-component poisons. More complex recipes, such as those found in Kruger Cave, may have been invented much later, Bradfield said.
Archaeologists have long believed that hunter-gatherers knew about plant toxins and how to use them. But the new discovery reveals that these toxins can survive for tens of thousands of years, opening the door for further research, Bradfield said.
The researchers will now examine younger deposits in the rock shelter to determine whether poison dart use was ongoing or whether it disappeared before being rediscovered.
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