Scientists have detected traces of plant toxins on Stone Age arrowheads that were used by hunter-gatherers in South Africa about 60,000 years ago. The find marks the oldest known poison arrows and ...

When you think of critical developments in human technology, chances are that things like farming or the wheel come to mind. New research, however, highlights a more niche stepping stone—poison. In a ...

A new analysis of ancient arrowheads from South Africa pushes back prehistoric humans’ earliest use of poisoned weapons by more than 50,000 years. “This is the earliest direct evidence of the use of ...

Long before agriculture or cities, hunters in southern Africa were already engineering weapons that relied on chemistry as much as sharp stone. New research on tiny stone points from South Africa ...

Researchers have identified traces of plant poison from the South African plant gifbol on Stone Age arrowheads – the oldest known arrow poison in the world to date. The discovery, published in the ...

Poisoned arrows or darts have long been used by cultures all over the world for hunting or warfare. For example, there are recipes for poisoning projective weapons, and deploying them in battle, in ...