Monday, August 30, 2010

Earliest Arrow Heads Reveal Hunting Style

Scientists in South Africa have unearthed 64,000-year-old “stone points” they say were probably arrow heads. Examination of the ancient weapons revealed remnants of blood and bone, as well as traces of plant-based resin scientists think was used to fasten them onto a wooden shaft.

The arrow heads were excavated from layers of ancient sediment in Sibudu Cave in South Africa. During the excavation the team dug through layers deposited up to 100,000 years ago.

Professor Chris Stringer from the Natural History Museum in London said the work added to the view that modern humans in Africa 60,000 years ago had begun to hunt in a “new way.” Neanderthals and other early humans, he explained, were likely to have been “ambush predators,” who needed to get close to their prey in order to dispatch them.

“This work further extends the advanced behaviors inferred for early modern people in Africa,” Stringer told the BBC.

Click here for the complete BBC article.

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