The oldest evidence of the use of the bow and arrow outside of Africa discovered in France

() — Archaeologists exploring a cave in southern France claim to have unearthed the first indications of the use of the bow and arrow outside of Africa.

Grotte Mandrin, near Malataverne in the Rhone Valley, is a cave that was inhabited by the first modern humans around 54,000 years ago. A team of researchers recovered more than 300 tiny arrowheads, crafted in an intricate style known as Neronian. Scientists believe that the cave dwellers are the first Homo sapiens to arrive in a region that had long been home to another group of hominids, the Neanderthals.

Nearly 200 of the surprisingly delicate arrowheads showed impact and damage patterns that suggested they had once been pushed, thrown or mechanically propelled in some way, according to research published Wednesday in the academic journal Science Advances.

It is possible, according to the researchers, that the possession of advanced projectile weapons, such as a bow and arrow, could have given these early Europeans an advantage over the Neanderthals, who disappeared around 40,000 years ago.

The arrowheads found in the cave were of different sizes. The largest artifacts measured 60 millimeters in length, while the smallest were only 10 millimeters. To understand exactly how the points were used, Laure Metz, co-lead author of the study and an archaeologist at Aix-Marseille University, France, and her colleagues carried out a series of experiments with replica weapons.

The first humans used a ballistic technology

The study team fabricated 82 replica flint points and attached them to wooden poles using a natural glue made from tree sap, beeswax and the mineral ochre, residues of which had been found on some of the flint points. In total, the researchers made 82 projectiles.

Metz worked with an expert archer, who fired the arrows and spears into a goat carcass: nine were tested by hand and 73 with a propellant and a bow made from deer sinew. The team found that due to the small size and weight of the flint points, they worked best when shot from a bow.

The researchers reproduced arrows and spears made 54,000 years ago. Credit: Ludovic Slimak

According to the study, arrows fired from a bow penetrated much deeper — more than 10 inches — than points fired from a propellant, and 10 of the arrows passed completely through the goat’s body. Hand-launched arrows rarely penetrated the animal’s skin, the researchers wrote.

Fracture marks on the bow-fired flint replicas also closely matched the wear pattern of many of the points recovered from the cave, revealing that they are the result of “ballistic technology” such as a bow and a arrow, according to the study.

“When you have these light weapons you need to correct for this low kinetic energy with mechanical propulsion. And the only way to make these fractures in the arrows really tiny…was with the bow,” Metz explained.

Although the spikes were tiny, Metz said they were likely used to hunt relatively large game, such as a horse, deer or bison, the remains of which have been found in the cave. However, he said that he did not rule out the possibility that they were used as weapons to cause harm to other humans.

Chris Stringer, head of human evolution research at London’s Natural History Museum, agreed that the small heads would only have been effective as arrowheads, not spearheads. He was not involved in the investigation.

The arrowheads were found in the Grotte Mandrin, a cave occupied by early modern humans and Neanderthals. Credit: Ludovic Slimak

The first clear indications The use of the bow and arrow arose in South Africa 64,000 years ago, a pivotal moment in human history. Early humans also used this technology in what is now Sri Lanka to hunt forest animals 48,000 years ago.

Prior to this latest discovery, the first compelling evidence of bow and arrow use in Europe came from wooden bows and arrows found in northern European peat bogs around 12,000 years ago, according to the study.

Neanderthals clung to their traditional hunting tools

The Grotte Mandrin cave condenses a particularly interesting chapter in human history because it is one of the few archaeological sites where groups of early modern humans and Neanderthals alternated: a tooth from a young Homo sapiens found in the cave was among layers of Neanderthal remains.

Before this, the prevailing scientific opinion was that modern humans arrived in Europe around 40,000 years ago, around the same time that the Neanderthals went extinct.

Were our Homo sapiens and Neanderthal ancestors together in this cave overlooking the French Rhone Valley 54,000 years ago? The researchers have no hard evidence of interaction between the two groups at that time, although we do know from genetic studies that the two groups met and reproduced.

According to Metz, there is no indication that the Neanderthals who lived in the cave after the makers of the small arrowheads adopted this method of flint carving, and by extension, the use of the bow and arrow, although it is possible that they they will find the arrowheads scattered on the floor of the cave. The stone tools and points associated with Neanderthals, known as Mousterian tools, are much larger and thicker.

“When you have a bow and arrow it’s more accurate and takes less effort to use and it’s easier to carry with you. You can carry a lot of arrows with you, not just one or two spears to hold in your hand. You can shoot a lot in one very quick operation All this and you can hunt alone,” Metz said.

“What I find incredible is that they (the Neanderthals) did not use, did not develop this type of weapon. They continued to use their traditional weapon: stick or hand-thrown spears.”