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Archaeologists discover world's oldest arrow poison in 7,000-year-old bone

25-01-2025 09:40 AM


Ammon News - Archaeologists believe they've found evidence of the world's oldest arrow poison inside a 7,000-year-old antelope bone.

The femur has been in the possession of experts since its discovery in 1983, but a new paper has revealed how X-ray analysis located three arrowheads inside the marrow cavity.

It was collected from Kruger Cave in the western Magaliesberg mountains, located one hour north of Johannesburg, South Africa.

The poison is a "complex recipe" comprised of at least two toxic plant ingredients, according to researchers, who published a paper on their findings.

They say there is also evidence of a third ingredient - ricin, which is found in the African native castor bean plant.

"Our results reveal the presence of digitoxin and strophanthidin, both cardiac glycosides associated with hunting poisons," the researchers said in a paper published on December 20. "These two compounds, and others identified, do not occur in the same plants and thus indicate a multi-taxa recipe. This is the oldest unequivocal complex hunting poison recipe yet identified, notwithstanding the many chemically unsupported assertions of older examples."

They added that "the identification of ricinoleic acid points to the possibility of ricin as a third toxin."

Poison is believed to have been first used on hunting weapons 60,000 to 70,000 years ago, though there is no chemical evidence to support this, the paper says. Daily Express US




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