“Archaeologists Unearth Ancient Mystery: 7,000-Year-Old Poison Arrowheads Discovered in South African Cave’s Strangest Find!”
How The Use Of Poison In Hunting Marked A Major Step Forward In Humans’ Prehistoric Development
Dr Aliénor DuhamelBradfield believes the marrow in the femur bone may have helped to preserve the poison compounds for all these years.
Creating an effective poison was not necessarily a simple task. It required a vast amount of botanical and pharmacological knowledge. Prehistoric humans would have needed to know how to identify toxic plants, where to find them, and which combinations yielded the best results. That may sound simple enough, but keep in mind that this was a time before writing even existed, thus there was no catalog or field guide to reference.
The use of poisons for hunting has been documented across various cultures worldwide, as has the widespread use of various plants as medicines or adhesives. The practical use of various plants played a major role in the evolution of humankind, with hunting poisons in particular marking a major advancement of early technological innovation. Though this is not the oldest hunting poison on record, it is a remarkably solid confirmation that prehistoric humans did indeed utilize poison-coated arrows in their hunts.
As the researchers wrote, “To date, there have been several attempts to identify putative poisons on stone and bone arrowheads with varying degrees of confidence.”
But now, researchers have confirmed evidence of prehistoric hunting points and definitive identification of what those poisons were.
After reading about one of the world’s oldest poison arrows, learn about nine of the world’s oldest structures and the stories behind them. Then, read about 11 of Earth’s most unbelievable prehistoric animals.
