Stone artefacts from a rock shelter in South Africa have yielded chemical traces of toxic plant compounds, offering what researchers describe as the earliest direct evidence of poisoned hunting weapons. The backed microliths were recovered from layers dated to about 60,000 years ago at Umhlatuzana Rock Shelter. Using microchemical and biomolecular testing, scientists identified alkaloids associated with poisonous plants native to the region. The findings suggest that Middle Stone Age hunters applied plant-derived toxins to arrow tips far earlier than previously confirmed. Until now, secure chemical evidence of poisoned weapons has been dated to much later periods. The new analysis places this behaviour deep in the Pleistocene and adds detail to discussions about early human technology and subsistence strategies in southern Africa.
