Humans in Europe used bow and arrow much earlier than previously thought

A research has revealed evidence from a cave in southern France that suggests that use of bow and arrow by humans in Europe started were earlier than expected. The reserach reveals that such a use by modern humans in Europe started some 54,000 years ago. Previously it was thought that bow and arrow started being used in Europe 10,000 to 12,000 years ago.

The research was published in the journal Science Advances on Wednesday (February 22). Use of bow-and-arrow in Africa has been found to date back to 70,000 years.

The new research comes from the Mandrin rock shelter overlooking the middle valley of the Rhone River in southern France.

The Grotte Mandrin site, which was first excavated in 1990, includes layer upon layer of archaeological remains dating back over 80,000 years.

Researchers from Aix Marseille University and University of Toulouse, who have carried out the present study, have documented previously that Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens both used the Mandrin cave in alternately.

For the study, the researchers reproduced the tiny flint points found in the cave, some of which are smaller than a US penny, and fired them as arrowheads with a replica bow at dead animals.

"We couldn't throw them at the animals any other way than with a bow because they were too tiny and too light to be efficient," said Laure Metz of Aix Marseille University, a co-author of the study along with Ludovic Slimak of the University of Toulouse.

"We had to use this kind of propulsion," Metz told AFP. "The only way that it was working was with a bow."

Fractures on the flint points were compared with scars found on the artifacts found in the cave, proving undoubtedly that they were used as arrowheads, the researchers said.

"Fractures for a lot of them, not all, were fractures of impact," Metz said. "And they are coming at the end of the point."

Metz said the evidence suggests that the Neanderthals and the Homo sapiens who used in the cave likely met at some point although "we don't know the nature of the meeting, whether it was nicely or not."

"The traditions and technologies mastered by these two populations were thus profoundly distinct, illustrating a remarkable objective technological advantage to modern populations during their expansion into the European continent," the researchers said.

(With inputs from agencies)

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