60,000-Year-Old Poison Arrows

Scientists have recently unearthed the newest and oldest “poison-tipped arrows” in South Africa. This was found in a research at Stockholm University led by Dr. Sven Isaksson. These tips date back 60,000 years, which surpasses the next most recent one by 25,000 years.

The discovery of these arrows reinforces the idea that early homo sapiens may have had cognitive abilities that could be comparable to the sophistication of current humans. The discovery of the poison, the making of arrows and bows, and the mindset to tip poison into the arrows all require deep knowledge and thinking. Another piece of evidence of cognitive mindsets was that the arrow points were tiny, which hints that they have been crafted to deliver poison well and sharply into wounds, as opposed to raw force for the arrow.

The research process involved deep chemical and molecular analysis of the objects in order to identify what exactly was ingrained onto them. They identified two molecular compounds, buphanidrine and epibuphanisine, which were both toxic compounds collected from Boophone disticha, also known as the Bushman’s poison bulb.

Other professors like Felix Riede, a professor of archaeology at Aarhus University, named the finding a “spectacular” one that appears to be the earliest evidence of poison use globally so far. Michelle C. Langley, a professor of archaeology at the Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution at Griffith University, also pointed to the chance that new clues about this ancient tradition may be hidden at other fossil sites or in collections.

On a final note, Dr. Langey states, “I’m not surprised that they found this…It’s just building on everything that’s come before it, and really substantiating that the people 60,000 years ago were as complex as we are today.”