Earliest Stone-Tipped Projectiles from the Ethiopian Rift Date to >279,000 Years Ago

Abstract

Projectile weapons (i.e. those delivered from a distance) enhanced prehistoric hunting efficiency by enabling higher impact delivery and hunting of a broader range of animals while reducing confrontations with dangerous prey species. Projectiles therefore provided a significant advantage over thrusting spears. Composite projectile technologies are considered indicative of complex behavior and pivotal to the successful spread of Homo sapiens. Direct evidence for such projectiles is thus far unknown from >80,000 years ago. Data from velocity-dependent microfracture features, diagnostic damage patterns, and artifact shape reported here indicate that pointed stone artifacts from Ethiopia were used as projectile weapons (in the form of hafted javelin tips) as early as >279,000 years ago. In combination with the existing archaeological, fossil and genetic evidence, these data isolate eastern Africa as a source of modern cultures and biology.

Experimental projectile impact marks on bone: implications for identifying the origins of projectile technology

“…The earliest archaeological evidence for the spearthrower is from Combe Sauni ere, France dating to 17,500 BP (Cattelain, 1988(Cattelain, , 1989 and the earliest bows were found at Stellmoor, Germany dating to 11,000 BP (Cattelain, 1997). The earliest stone-tipped projectiles have been dated to >279 ka, at the site of Gademotta, Ethiopia (Sahle et al, 2013). However, it is unknown when use of stone-tipped armatures became common or how widespread the use of this technology was at different times in the past.…”

“…The two MSA lithic technologies used in EG2 were chosen as they are two technologies MSA researchers have argued were potentially used as projectiles (McBrearty and Brooks, 2000;Shea et al, 2001;Pargeter, 2007;Lombard and Pargeter, 2008;Lombard and Phillipson, 2010); the convergent points are also represented within the earliest known assemblage of projectile armatures (Sahle et al, 2013). Two modes of projectiles (spear and arrow) were chosen, along with two casting distances (1.4 m and 9 m).…”

Are Lithics and Fauna a Match Made in (Prehistoric) Heaven?

“…Given such analytical uncertainties, it is small wonder that controversies exist as to the causes of observed impact fractures, as to whether they should be considered as diagnostic of hunting (e.g., Douze 2014; Plisson and Beyries 1998 and debate within; Sahle et al 2013), or even as to the identification of the materials on which they were used. Similarly, recent studies of ethnographic material and experimental results suggest that TCSA/TCSP statistics are not robust measures of projectile performance, or reliable proxies for inferring delivery systems (Clarkson 2013).…”

Landscape variability in tool-use and edge damage formation in South African Middle Stone Age lithic assemblages

“…Wallner lines or fracture wings (Hutchings, 2011) from high energy impact fractures but these are only visible on very fine-grain, homogenous materials (Hutchings, 1997;Sahle et al, 2013). To see whether this was possible for heat-treated silcrete, backed blades shot as high-velocity projectile armatures (Schoville et al, 2013) were supplied to Karl…”

“…Africa (Porat et al, 2010;Wilkins and Chazan, 2012), and clearly after 300 ka, in the Kapthurin (McBrearty and Tryon, 2005;Tryon et al, 2005) and Gademotta (Sahle et al, 2013;Sahle et al, 2014) formations in Kenya and Ethiopia, respectively. However, these early expressions of MSA technologies tend to lack evidence of complexity and symbolic behaviors found in later MSA sites.…”