Scientists detected traces of plant toxins on arrow tips used by hunter-gatherers in Southern Africa around 60,000 years ago. This discovery points to the oldest known poisoned arrows and suggests that such tools and complex hunting strategies emerged much earlier than previously thought.
According to the study’s authors, published in Science, poisoned arrows indicate that our ancestors developed chemical aspects of hunting long before this was widely recognized.
Evidence and Toxic Compounds
In the collections, researchers identified two different alkaloids derived from gifbol or Boophone disticha. Local hunters in the region later continued to use this plant, which is known as the “poison bulb.”
The Umhlatuzana Rock Shelter in KwaZulu-Natal Province proved pivotal: quartz arrowheads were found that had been dipped in poison before their use in hunting. Excavations at this site began in 1985 and have provided important evidence for early poison hunting practices.
«In endurance hunting, poisoned arrows usually did not kill prey immediately»
– Sven Isaaksson
Chemically, analyses revealed the presence of the alkaloids buypandrine and epibuphanizine on five of the ten examined tips. Despite the age of the tools, these compounds have persisted thanks to their specific chemical properties that do not dissolve in water, helping them preserve traces even after a long time.
Researchers also compared these data with four arrows dating to about 250 years, which were collected in South Africa and transported to Sweden for analysis. They found the same toxic alkaloids, underscoring the long-standing tradition of using poison in hunting.
«Understanding that the substance applied to an arrow weakens an animal after a few hours requires causal thinking and the ability to anticipate distant outcomes»
– Sven Isaaksson
Although humans traditionally turned to plants as sources of food, poisonous arrows are just one of many examples of how our ancestors who lived during the last Ice Age used the chemical properties of plants as part of hunting, medicine, and possibly defensive tactics, noted Isaaksson.
Hunters could apply poison directly to the tip of arrows, prepare medicinal or toxic substances from the gifbol bulb, or store them in containers. According to the study’s conclusions, the toxic compounds could intensify through heating or sun exposure.
Poisonous substances act differently: some alkaloids destroy muscles, others – neurotoxins – affect the nervous system. Hunter-gatherers could avoid body parts of animals affected by muscular toxins, while neurotoxins acted throughout the body; this is how the study authors explain it.
«Some toxins are dangerous only when they reach the bloodstream, and do not cause harm when ingested», as stated in an email from Isaaksson.
– Sven Isaaksson
Archaeologists also note that bow and arrow were a defining technology for humans during migrations across the world, and there remains a difference in the development level of this technology between Homo sapiens and other hominins. According to Ludovic Slimak, the bow is not a late invention but a fundamental and complex technology dating back at least 80,000 years in Africa and Asia and accompanying Homo sapiens in Europe around 54,000 years ago.
The authors also plan to expand the research to determine how widely the poisonous arrow technology was applied in the Southern Africa regions. “This opens a new perspective on how people of that time thought, planned, and perceived the surrounding world,” concluded Isaaksson.