"Making poisoned arrows is about as hard as following a "complex cooking recipe", says study co-author Marlize Lombard, an archaeologist at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. "You have to add to it the danger of the poison, and planning to work with it without getting poisoned yourself, then you have to hunt and track the prey animal under difficult and dangerous conditions sometimes for a day or two.""
"Archaeologists had already proposed that early modern humans probably started using poisons for hunting around 70,000-60,000 years ago, roughly the same time as the invention of projectile weapons such as bows and arrows. "It shows advanced planning, strategy and causal reasoning - something that is very difficult to demonstrate for people living so long ago, but for which the evidence is increasing every year," agrees archaeologist Justin Bradfield, also at the University of Johannesburg, who was not involved in the study."
Traces of toxic plant compounds were detected on several microlith arrowheads dated to about 60,000 years from the Umhlatuzana rock shelter in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The chemical residues represent direct evidence that Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers applied plant-based poisons to projectile weapons. Manufacture and use of such poisons required complex preparation, handling risks, planning and prolonged tracking of prey, implying advanced cognitive and technological capabilities. The temporal association with small microlith projectiles suggests toxins compensated for the limited lethality of tiny stone tips. Preservation of organic toxic residues is rare and requires exceptional conditions.
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