According to new research, several quartz arrowheads dating back 60,000 years, excavated from the Umhlatuzana rock shelter in South Africa, represent the oldest evidence of poisoned weapons in the world.
This discovery pushes back the previously confirmed use of poisoned weapons by hunter-gatherers by more than 50,000 years.
Scientists reported that samples of this unique prehistoric weapon were soaked in a slow-acting poison derived from the plant species Boophone disticha. Using this dangerous substance, hunters would exhaust their prey during prolonged hunts. Today, this plant can be found just 12.5 kilometers from the Umhlatuzana rock shelter.
What Did Scientists Learn?
A team of researchers from Stockholm University, Linnaeus University (Sweden), and the University of Johannesburg (South Africa) conducted a chemical analysis of 10 arrowheads found in the cave several decades ago.
The scientists discovered that five of these arrowheads still contained traces of poison. This allowed hunters to significantly save time and energy needed for hunting.
Poisons decompose over time, but traces of these chemicals can remain under certain conditions for quite a long time.
The results of the study, published in the journal Science Advances, confirmed that prehistoric had a solid understanding of the pharmacological effects of plants.
“People have long relied on plants as a source of food and materials for making tools. But this discovery demonstrates the intentional use of the biochemical properties of plants,” said Sven Isaksson, the lead author of the study and a professor of archaeology at Stockholm University, in an interview with Live Science.
Moreover, the poisoned arrowheads that prehistoric hunters possessed complex thinking. The poison requires time to take effect, meaning that people had to understand cause-and-effect relationships and plan their hunts in advance, explained Professor Isaksson.
Previously, the oldest indisputable evidence of poisoned weapons was a 7,000-year-old arrow poison found in the femur of a hoofed mammal, also discovered in South Africa, in the Kruger Cave.
A True Scientific Breakthrough
“The discovery of these ancient poisoned arrows is an extraordinary event,” stated Justin Bradfield, an associate professor in the archaeology department at the University of Johannesburg.
Archaeologists already knew that prehistoric hunter-gatherers understood plant toxins and their applications. However, this new finding confirms that these toxins can remain in the body for tens of thousands of years. This inspires further research, according to Bradfield.
The Umhlatuzana rock shelter, excavated in 1985, is one of the best sites for such discoveries. Previously, archaeologists found 649 processed quartz fragments from the Howiesons Poort period, a unique South African technological culture that thrived 65,000 to 60,000 years ago.
