Poison arrows are Trad- Right?

[Beendare]

Care of Ground News;​

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Earliest Direct Evidence of Poisoned Arrows Revealed in 60,000-Year-Old Relics​

Chemical analysis of 60,000-year-old quartz arrowheads reveals use of plant-derived poisons to increase hunting efficiency, evidencing advanced cognitive skills in early humans.​

• At Umhlatuzana Rock Shelter, KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa, researchers identified traces of plant-derived poison on quartz microlith arrowheads dating to roughly 60,000 years ago.
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• Archaeologists suspected older poison use because bone and stone arrowheads resembled poisoned examples, while the earliest direct evidence came from bone arrowheads in an Egyptian tomb dated little more than 4,000 years and Kruger Cave arrowheads around 6,800 years ago.
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• Using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, the team found buphandrine on five of ten microliths and epibuphanisine on one, both toxic plant alkaloids.
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• Researchers argue poisoned arrows indicate advanced planning, botanical knowledge, and causal reasoning among Stone Age hunter-gatherers in southern Africa, pushing back evidence by tens of thousands of years.
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• The team compared prehistoric residues with historical specimens and found the same toxic compounds on four 18th-century arrowheads in Swedish collections and noted Indigenous hunters still use Boophone disticha.

 

[Beendare]

Thats pretty advanced knowledge for that time.....

 

[High Climber]

That’s incredible, I wonder if the poison arrows were for hunting animals or for shooting other tribes

 

[Q_Sertorius]

That’s incredible, I wonder if the poison arrows were for hunting animals or for shooting other tribes

Local tribes still use poison arrows for hunting in that part of the world. I don’t think we have any evidence of homicide that far back, but it wouldn’t surprise me.

 

[Beendare]

I wish they would have elaborated on the effects of the poison- like, is it ok to eat the animal after its been shot?

I knew a guy decades ago that tried those pods.....and he said you just get and arrow in that critter and they are down in 20'.

 

[GLB]

I have watched documentaries of primitive tribes in the Amazon use poison arrows to get game for food. It was mentioned that they had to be careful not to accidentally cut themselves as the poison would be deadly. However somehow they could eat the meat without affect.

Interesting Fred Bear whom I have great respect but questioned the use of poison pods attached to his arrows on a Cape buffalo hunt somewhere in Africa. I believe this was a onetime deal and was not a common practice for him but not sure.

 

[ResearchinStuff]

Fred advocated for using poison arrows

 

[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

An anti coagulant on the arrow sure seems like a great way to reduce crippling from less lethal shots. Might be more ethical than current practices .