“Archaeologists Unearth Ancient Mystery: 7,000-Year-Old Poison Arrowheads Discovered in South African Cave’s Strangest Find!”
This re-examination, led by Justin Bradfield of the University of Johannesburg, unveiled revelatory information about the hunting capabilities of prehistoric humans.
The team discovered that the arrowheads had been coated with a complex, multi-component hunting poison made with plants not native to the Kruger Cave area. This discovery shows that not only were these prehistoric humans technologically-advanced hunters, but they also may have had an extensive trade network to source the various plants used to make their poisons.
This find may represent the world’s oldest confirmed use of a poison cocktail specifically applied to arrowheads.
7,000-Year-Old Poison Arrows Found In The Antelope Femur Unearthed In Kruger Cave
Long after the archaeologists in 1983 declined to study the arrowheads, Bradfield and his colleagues believed they could learn more from these artifacts.
Writing for The Conversation, Bradfield says, “Along with other scientists from the University of Johannesburg, I suspected that the femur contained more than just sediment and degraded marrow… Our research has revealed that the femur’s contents are arguably the oldest multi-component arrow poison in the world. It’s a complex recipe combining at least two toxic plant ingredients. There’s also evidence of a third toxin.”
Bradfield clarifies that the use of poison for hunting is much older than these arrowheads, with evidence suggesting that some poisons were used as far back as 70,000 years ago. However, much of that evidence is “tentative at best and yet to be verified chemically.”
