Archaeologists have found the oldest arrowheads outside of Africa
(ORDO NEWS) — Archaeologists excavating a cave in southern France led by the University of Connecticut in the US have found the earliest evidence of bow and arrow use outside of Africa.
Grotto Mandren is a cave in which early representatives of modern people lived about 54 thousand years ago. Here, the research team found over 300 tiny tips.
The largest of them were 6 cm long, and the smallest – only 10. Almost 200 artifacts were found to have traces of impacts and damage.
The research team could not figure out what these tips were used for – arrows or spears. The team made 82 replicas of flint tips and created replicas of ancient throwing weapons with them.
The archer then fired arrows and spears at the goat’s carcass. The team found that the small size and weight of the flint points worked best for archery.
The arrows penetrated much deeper – more than 25 cm – than the spears, which only pierced the skin.
Scientists believe that the inhabitants of the cave are the earliest representatives of Homo sapiens who arrived from Africa in this region inhabited by Neanderthals.
According to scientists, the discovered artifacts are the oldest evidence of the use of a bow with arrows, which gave Homo sapiens an advantage over the Neanderthals.
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