Early Weapon Evidence Reveals Bloody Past

Big Game Hunting the Hard Way

A very different hunting picture emerges from Europe 30,000 years ago. Evidence for weapon use from that period is sketchy, consisting mostly of polished bone points that might have been secured to heavy wooden shafts.

A new study on human bones, however, suggests Aurignacian modern humans (a culture of the Upper Palaeolithic located in Europe and southwest Asia) killed large animals by thrusting spears into them from very close range.

Anthropologist Eric Trinkaus of Washington University studied bones, including a shoulder blade, belonging to a modern human with traits suggesting some degree of Neanderthal ancestry. That in itself is interesting, indicating possible hybridization between humans and Neanderthals, but Trinkaus focused on whether or not this adult individual could have regularly thrown spears overhead.

His findings have been accepted for publication in the journal Annuaire Roumain d'Anthropologie.

"If these (early Europeans) did a lot of over-arm spear throwing, then it would be unable to effectively resist the forces generated across the joint," he told Discovery News. "The joint would be overstressed and it would degenerate."

Since no such wear and tear is visible on the skeletal remains, he believes "hunting must have involved getting very close to the animals before thrusting the spears, either through ambush hunting or very careful stalking."

The animals might have included wild cattle, horses, wild goats and even larger prey. Woolly mammoths, for example, coexisted with Neanderthals.

Among Neanderthal and archaic human hunting groups, Shea thinks even women and children might have joined in the battles.

"You should see some of the skeletons for these individuals," he said. "The females were big and strong, while a 10-year-old kid must have had muscles comparable to those of today's weight lifters."

The Best Tools for the Job

Since a 30,000-year gap separates the invention of the bow and arrow from what was going on in Europe, it might be expected that the higher tech weapon set would have made its way northward, especially after the big "Out of Africa" emigration 50,000 years ago.

Both Backwell and Shea, however, point out that the bow and arrow innovation did not appear to spread throughout Africa, either due to lack of shared technologies or because people lived under different climatic conditions in populations of various size that warranted different types of hunting.

"Neanderthals, who lived in small groups, couldn't have wasted time chasing small prey; while in Africa, individuals who had to feed more than 50 people probably developed weapons under population pressure," Shea said.

Backwell added, "Bow and arrow technology is not necessarily better than other forms of projectile technology. It is simply more efficient on animals in closed, forested environments, whereas weighted throwing (and thrusting) spears would be better suited to large mammals confronted in the open."

Shipman also believes what Neanderthals and archaic humans lacked in weaponry, they possessed in animal know-how, since early European cave paintings and sculptures reveal their keen and intense understanding of animal behaviors.

Weapons Lost to Time

The recent findings perhaps pose more questions than they answer, Shea said. For example, he wonders why it took more than 100,000 years for humans to develop the bow and arrow. Also, if African humans might have had projectile weaponry in hand 60,000 years ago, he wonders why it took so long for Homo sapiens to leave Africa.

Scientists are also not sure when the first slingshots, throwing sticks, spear throwers, traps, nets and boomerangs emerged. Boomerangs would normally not be considered, but an ivory one found in Poland dates to 30,000 years ago.

"It weighs 15 pounds and drops like a brick," Shea said.

The researchers hope to solve these puzzles, and more, in the future. One thing that is clear now, however, is that when the bow and arrow took off, it became the weapon of choice for most people over thousands of years.

Shea explained, "It was an equal opportunity weapon that both men and women could have used to hunt down their dinners."

Related Links:

Jennifer Viegas' blog: Born Animal

How Stuff Works: The Physics of Crossbows

Early Fireworks and Weapons of War

African Weapons and Shields