Ammon News - Scientists have detected traces of plant toxins on Stone Age arrowheads that were used by hunter-gatherers in South Africa about 60,000 years ago.

The find marks the oldest known poison arrows and indicates that such tools and sophisticated hunting strategies existed thousands of years early than previously thought, according to the authors of a study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances.

“In persistence hunting, poisoned arrows did not usually kill prey instantly,” said lead study author Sven Isaksson, professor of archaeological science at Stockholm University’s Archaeological Research Laboratory. “Instead, the poison helped hunters reduce the time and energy needed to track and exhaust a wounded animal.”

Two different alkaloids, or organic plant compounds, found in the poisonous chemical residue were from the gifbol plant, or Boophone disticha. Traditional hunters in the region still utilize the plant today and refer to it locally as poison bulb.

Hunter-gatherers likely dipped the quartz arrowheads, excavated from the Umhlatuzana Rock Shelter in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, in 1985, in poison before using them to kill animals for food. The presence of poison arrows during the Late Pleistocene suggests that hunter-gatherers knew which plants to use, as well as how long it would take for the toxins to be effective.

“Understanding that a substance applied to an arrow will weaken an animal hours later requires cause-and-effect thinking and the ability to anticipate delayed results,” Isaksson wrote in an email. “The evidence points to prehistoric humans having advanced cognitive abilities, complex cultural knowledge, and well-developed hunting practices.”

CNN