Scientists believe that humans began hunting for food sources 1.7 million years ago through the Homo erectus species before humans invented wooden weapons around 500,000 years ago. Now scientists from Stockholm University have found evidence that humans have been using poison to hunt since 60,000 years ago after the poison side was detected on the head of an ancient arrow.
Analysis of ancient arrowheads from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa found traces of poison made from the Boophone disticha plant, also known as the poison onion. Despite being tens of thousands of years old, the active compounds of the poison can still be detected by spectrometers in the laboratory.
This discovery shows that humans have mastered and understood the use of poison to kill animals they hunted since the Stone Age. It is also evidence that ancient humans had the ability to think more complexly than previously thought.
The study was published in the journal Science Advances.
