Content uploaded by Marlize Lombard
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Marlize Lombard
Content may be subject to copyright.
A preview of the PDF is not available
Indications of Bow and Stone-Tipped Arrow Use 64,000 Years Ago in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Abstract and Figures
The invention of the bow and arrow was a pivotal moment in the human story and its earliest use is a primary quarry of the modern researcher. Since the organic parts of the weapon – wood, bone, cord and feathers – very rarely survive, the deduction that a bow and arrow was in use depends heavily on the examination of certain classes of stone artefacts and their context. Here the authors apply rigorous analytical reasoning to the task, and demonstrate that, conforming to their exacting checklist, is an early assemblage from Sibudu Cave, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, which therefore suggests bow and arrow technology in use there 64 millennia ago.
Figures - uploaded by Marlize Lombard
Author content
All figure content in this area was uploaded by Marlize Lombard
Content may be subject to copyright.
... The adoption of archery also coincides with changes in hunting strategies (Tomka, 2013). Before the appearance of bows, spears and darts were commonly used tools, and it is often assumed that other tools, such as the atlatl dart, were abandoned with the emergence of the bow (Lombard & Phillipson, 2010). The use of the bow and arrow increased the hunter's advantage and extended the distance at which they could effectively kill their target. ...
... However, the traditional bow and arrow does not seem to provide a significant advantage in terms of range. While spears have a range of 8-18 meters, traditional bows are said to have a slightly better range of only 9-25 meters (Lombard & Phillipson, 2010). The most beneficial aspect of using the bow and arrow is that hunters can make multiple shots quickly. ...
... The most beneficial aspect of using the bow and arrow is that hunters can make multiple shots quickly. The lightweight and portable nature of the bow and arrow allows hunters to track their prey at greater distances while expending less energy (Lombard & Phillipson, 2010;Tomka, 2013). ...
Archery is a sport that requires high levels of attention and concentration. Yantra and Grid Card applications are utilized to help athletes focus on their mental processes, overcome mental barriers, and enhance their performance. This study aimed to examine the effects of Yantra and Grid Card applications on shooting performance in archery. An experimental design was employed in the research. The study was conducted with 59 athletes (n=34 female, n=25 male) affiliated with the Archery Federation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). Participants were divided into two age categories: n=38 young athletes and n=21 junior athletes. The experimental group consisted of 25 athletes, while the control group included 34 athletes. The experimental group underwent Yantra and Grid Card exercises for eight weeks, whereas the control group did not receive any intervention. Data were collected using a Demographic Form and the official competition scores of the TRNC Archery Federation. Athletes' personal characteristics, such as gender and age category, as well as their shooting scores during competition periods, were analyzed. Shooting scores were measured at three different points: Week 1, Week 4, and Week 8. Data analysis involved frequency and percentage calculations, cross-tabulations, Pearson's chi-square analysis, and parametric tests. The results revealed a significant increase in the shooting performance of the experimental group from the first to the eighth week. This improvement was particularly significant among female athletes and specifically in the junior female category. The findings suggest that Yantra and Grid Card applications enhance shooting performance in archery. However, this improvement may vary depending on gender, age group, and time periods. Future research is recommended to involve diverse sample groups to further explore these effects.
... 1. Significant overlaps of the points' sizes across different weapon delivery systems, as well as wide variability within a given weapon delivery system in the ethnographic record (Clarkson, 2016;Newman & Moore, 2013;Sahle et al., 2023); 2. The TCSA/TCSP values of a given archaeological stone point in isolation of other functional evidence (e.g. usewear, macroscopic impact fractures, distribution of edge damage) only indicates its potential for use as a weapon component (Hutchings, 2016;Lombard & Phillipson, 2010;Milks et al., 2016b;Rots & Plisson, 2014;Sisk & Shea, 2011); 3. Experimental results point to a negative correlation between TCSA/TCSP and penetration depth as one factor of weapon performance (with smaller areas and perimeters associated with greater depths of penetration), but other factors such as shape and energy also play a role and remain under-explored (Baldino et al., 2024;Clarkson, 2016;Grady & Churchill, 2023;Hughes, 1998;Salem & Churchill, 2016;Sitton et al., 2020Sitton et al., , 2022. ...
The origins of weapons, and subsequent innovations, constitute a significant focus of archaeological research, particularly for the Pleistocene period. Due to preservation challenges, inorganic components of early weapons, such as lithic points, are often the only artefacts to survive. As a result, archaeologists rely on proxies for understanding performance and function of these lasting components including experimental research and ethnographic comparison. Within these analogical frameworks, and alongside use-wear and fracture analysis, morphometrics constitute a key method in assessing whether a point is a weapon component. Early attempts to use the cross-sectional geometries of weapon points (or tips), making use of complete archaeological specimens and ethnographic weapons as reference datasets, suggested clear demarcations between different delivery modes. Yet, subsequent studies have shown that there are considerable overlaps. Recently, it was proposed that on the basis of tip geometries, the earliest complete weapons, Pleistocene wooden spears, are best matched to thrusting spear use. Here we demonstrate that there are measurement errors involved in this classification, and that furthermore there are overlaps between thrusting spears and javelins (throwing spears) that undermine the use of tip geometries to define spear delivery mode. If the correct methods are applied, archaeological wooden spear tip geometries would fit within both thrusting and javelin categories, meaning this is not methodologically useful at this time. We overview the available archaeological, experimental, and ethnographic evidence and propose that these currently support a hypothesis that the technological capacity for use of distance hunting weapons was in place from at least 300,000 years ago.
... Small-sized animals were also hunted and exploited to maximize the overall foraging net returns. The procurement of the small-sized prey may have necessitated an investment in snares and nets (Lupo & Schmitt, 2005;Wadley, 2010) or the use of stone-tipped arrows as has been reported at Sibudu in South Africa during the Howiesons Poort dated 65-60 Ka (Lombard & Phillipson, 2010). Recent analyses of the MSA lithic assemblage at site have reported a considerable number of pieces with pointed and sharp working edges which could have functioned as tips of hunting weapons and used for prey carcass processing (Bower & Mabulla, 2013;Bower et al., 2012;Maíllo-Fernández et al., 2019). ...
A detailed study of the vertebrate faunal assemblage from the Middle Stone Age (MSA) deposits at the Loiyangalani open-air site is presented. The study considered skeletal part representation, mortality profile, bone surface modifications, and fragmentation patterns to provide insights into MSA hominin foraging strategies. Multivariate taphonomic analyses implicate hominins as the key agents responsible for the modification and accumulation of the faunal assemblage. The prevalence of butchery marks (cut marks and hammerstone percussion marks) on the small- and large-sized animals, particularly on high-meat and marrow-bearing bones, suggests that hominins frequently butchered fleshed carcasses procured through active hunting. The “hot zone” areas of the long bones and the axial bones are more cut-marked than tooth-marked. The proportions of cut marks, percussion marks, and carnivore tooth marks on long bone midshaft fragments indicate that hominins enjoyed primary (early) access to the fully fleshed carcasses, and carnivores had secondary (late) access to the defleshed and demarrowed bone fragments. The evidence supports that effective hunting and meat-eating were integral adaptive elements of MSA hominin behavior at the site.
The evolution of projectile technology remains a central topic in palaeoanthropological discussions on prey acquisition, subsistence strategies, and interpersonal violence. A linear technological development is traditionally assumed from handheld spears, spearthrower and darts, to bow and arrows throughout the Palaeolithic, although recent studies argue for a more complex scenario. Here, we combine experimental prehistoric ballistic with use-wear and morphometric analyses to investigate whether Aurignacian (c. 40–35 kya) osseous projectile points represent a diverse hunting strategy, i.e., whether some armatures were hafted on arrows rather than on spears. Our results suggest that breakage patterns depend more on the raw material and size of the armature than its specific launching mechanism. Variation in damage types and sizes recorded for arrowheads falls within that observed for spear points. Thus, we suggest that Aurignacian hunting gears included diverse weaponry technologies, including both spears and arrows, from the onset of the early Upper Palaeolithic.
Points are often the most abundant class of retouched lithics in MSA collections yet there is very little research on their functions, especially in southern Africa where it has always been assumed that points were spearheads. Two types of points from Rose Cottage Cave, South Africa, are technologically analysed here. The study examines the possibility that thick, broad points from various post-Howiesons Poort layers dating between 50 000 and 29 000 years ago were used as spearheads that were thrust at prey, or hand-delivered, while the narrow, thin points from one of the final MSA layers, Dc (between 31 000 and 29 000 years old), were used as arrowheads.
Stone tools and the debris from their manufacture are the most common remains from archaeological sites all over the world. Unraveling how prehistoric people made and used their technology is a major challenge of archaeological interpretation. Many archaeologists have sought to understand the organization of technology through an emphasis on the internal production mechanics of stone tools. This approach has been used to study behavioral tactics through examination of the inferred design of lithic reduction strategies. Such studies implicate aspects of behavior that can be monitored through differential raw material use (Ahler 1977; Bamforth 1986; Goodyear 1979; Jeske 1989; Kuhn 1991; Wiant and Hassen 1985; Winters 1984), production trajectories (Bradley 1975; Collins 1975; Dibble 1988; Muto 1971), tool design, and use life (Bleed 1986; Gurfinkel and Franklin 1988; Hayden 1989; Keeley 1980; Kelly 1988; Kuhn 1994; Shott 1986, 1989a, 1989b; Vaughan 1985).
Ideas about the possible uses of Howiesons Poort backed
artefacts, which appeared about 70 000 years ago, have been
based on Later Stone Age and ethnographic examples. This
paper describes an experimental test of the effectiveness of
Howiesons Poort-type segments as projectile points, as well as
the results of Tip Cross Sectional Area (TCSA) calculations (see
Shea 2006). My aim is to show the usefulness of a range of
possible hafting positions for Howiesons Poort segments as
projectile tips through the use of controlled experiments and
replication work. The results of these experiments may shed
light on the hunting technologies of people living during the
Middle Stone Age (MSA) of South Africa. Shea’s (2006) Tip
Cross Sectional Area (TCSA) calculations were used to compare
hafted segments with other types of pre-historic projectile
points. The TCSA values, in conjunction with other quantitative
or morphometric studies, can help determine how these
tools were used.
This paper takes the results from the morphological analysis of Middle Stone Age material from Rhino Cave and White Paintings Rock Shelter, Botswana, by L.H. Robbins and his associates and compares them with the results of a new attribute cluster analysis. The extent to which the method of analysis may affect the conclusions drawn is demonstrated. The reanalysis of selected artefacts provides new evidence that Middle Stone Age points from these sites were serrated and it identifies the tools that were used to retouch these points. It is argued that the points were used as components of hand-held stabbing spears.