Early Humans Used Bows and Arrows Sooner Than Thought
A new paper published in iScience presents a multidisciplinary analysis of stone and bone projectile points associated with Homo sapiens in the early Upper Paleolithic (40,000 to 35,000 years ago). Researchers from the university of Tübingen and other institutions combined experimental ballistics, detailed measurements, and use-wear analyses. Their conclusion? Some ancient artifacts suggest bow-propelled arrows were used,not just hand-thrown spears or spear-thrower darts.
Humans may have used bow-and-arrow in the early Upper Paleolithic as well as spear-throwers. Image credit: sjs.org / CC BY-SA 3.0.
for decades, archaeologists believed weapon technologies progressed linearly: handheld spears, then spear-throwers, and finally the bow and arrow.
University of Tübingen researcher Keiko Kitagawa and colleagues challenge this idea. They argue technology didn’t evolve in a simple sequence.
“Direct evidence for hunting weapons is rare in the archaeological record,” the researchers stated.
Prehistoric hunting weapons ranged from handheld thrusting spears-effective for close-range hunting-to spear-throwers and bows with arrows, used for medium or long-range hunting. The earliest known hunting tools, wooden spears and throwing sticks, date back 337,000-300,000 years ago in Europe.
Antler objects interpreted as spear-thrower hooks appear in Upper Solutrean contexts (c. 24,500-21,000 years ago). These become more common in the Magdalenian (from 21,000 years ago) in Southwestern France, with nearly one hundred specimens documented.
Meanwhile, evidence for bows remains elusive.