Hunter-gatherers in southern Africa during the Late Pleistocene already had knowledge about plant poisons and how to use them for hunting, as revealed by arrowheads from 60,000 years ago.
That discovery, made at a site in South Africa, pushes back the chronology of the use of poisoned weapons, which was previously thought to date back to the mid-Holocene, and implies a cognitively complex hunting strategy.
Traces of plant poison were identified in five of ten quartz arrowheads found at the Umhlatuzana rock shelter in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, providing the first direct evidence of such use.
The arrowheads contained chemical residues of poison from the gifbol plant (Boophone couplets), which is still used by traditional hunters in the region, indicates a study published in Science Advances and signed by researchers from Sweden and South Africa.
These findings show that “our southern African ancestors not only invented the bow and arrow much earlier than previously thought, but they also knew how to use nature’s chemistry to increase the effectiveness of hunting,” said researcher Marlize Lombard of the University of Johannesburg.
The discovery shows that 60,000 years ago the people of southern Africa had already developed advanced knowledge about toxic substances and how to use them for hunting.
Chemical analyzes revealed the presence of the alkaloids buphanidrine and epibuphanisin, which are found in gifbol, a plant whose highly toxic properties have long been known to local hunters.
Similar substances were also found in 250-year-old arrowheads from Swedish collections, which were collected by travelers during the 18th century.
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Hunting with poison represented a revolutionary change, study says
The fact that the same plant poison was used, both in historical and prehistoric times, indicates a long continuity of knowledge and traditions.
Finding traces of the same poison in prehistoric and historical arrowheads “was crucial,” said Sven Isaksson, from Stockholm University and also a signatory of the study.
Additionally, they were able to determine that those particular substances are stable enough to survive that long in the soil.
Early hunters not only had technical skills, but also advanced planning capabilities and a knowledge of how poisons act over time, characteristics that reflect modern human cognition.
Using poison in arrows requires planning, patience and an understanding of cause and effect, which is “a clear sign of the advanced thinking of early humans,” said Professor Anders Högberg of Linnaeus University in Sweden.
Hunting with poison was a revolutionary change for hunter-gatherers, as it made it easier to kill prey, and meant that they had to memorize the poisonous plants they could use and anticipate the behavior of the animals as they slowly weakened, as it does not have an immediate effect.
“Since venom is not a physical force but rather acts chemically, hunters must also have relied on advanced planning, abstraction, and causal reasoning,” the authors write.
With information from EFE
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