Study pinpoints when bow and arrow came to North America

"People in North America adopted the bow and arrow as replacement weapons for the dart and atlatl about 1,400 years ago, according to a new paper published in the journal PNAS Nexus. But the adoption was almost immediate in southern regions, while people living farther north initially adopted the bow and arrow as a complement to their existing toolkit, gradually phasing out the atlatl and dart over a thousand years."

"Radiocarbon results suggest a single origin and rapid diffusion through cultural transition networks. The atlatl is an ingenious handheld rod-shaped device that employs leverage to launch a dart or spear, representing a significant technological advancement that eventually gave way to the more efficient bow and arrow technology across North American populations."

Research from Kent State University's Experimental Archaeology Laboratory reveals that North Americans transitioned from atlatls and darts to bows and arrows approximately 1,400 years ago. The adoption pattern varied geographically: southern regions embraced the new technology almost immediately, while northern populations initially used bows and arrows alongside their existing atlatl and dart systems before gradually phasing out the older weapons over roughly a thousand years. This research, published in PNAS Nexus, employed radiocarbon dating to establish the timeline and diffusion patterns. The Experimental Archaeology Laboratory, led by Metin Eren, conducts hands-on studies reverse-engineering ancient technologies through practical experimentation, including ballistics tests, butchering efficiency analyses, and comparative weapon performance evaluations.

Read at Ars Technica