Scientists have discovered chemical traces of a highly toxic plant compound on 60,000-year-old quartz arrowheads excavated from Blombos Cave on the southern coast of South Africa — making them the oldest confirmed poison-tipped weapons ever found and pushing back the known history of chemical warfare by tens of thousands of years.
The toxin identified is derived from Boophone disticha, known locally as the gifbol plant, which produces alkaloids lethal in tiny quantities. The alkaloids act on the nervous system, causing paralysis and cardiac arrest. Using such a compound on a hunting weapon requires not just knowledge of the plant, but the ability to extract, concentrate, and apply the compound in a way that remains effective on impact.
Evidence of Complex Chemical Thinking
"This is not simply picking up a sharp rock and throwing it," said lead researcher Dr. Lena Fischer of the University of Bergen. "To select this specific plant, prepare it correctly, apply it to a projectile, and preserve its potency represents deliberate chemical engineering. It tells us that 60,000 years ago, humans in southern Africa had the kind of abstract, multi-step planning ability we often assume is much more recent."
The finding adds to a growing body of evidence from Blombos Cave suggesting that behavioral modernity — the full cognitive toolkit of contemporary Homo sapiens — emerged much earlier and in Africa rather than in Europe as scientists once believed.