In Uzbekistan Found Arrowheads Aged 80 000 Years: They Could Be Created by Neanderthals
In Uzbekistan, archaeologists have found arrowheads about 80 000 years old – long before Homo sapiens came to these places. The discovery calls into question the familiar idea that the onion and arrows invented and used only our species.
For a long time it was believed that the weapon of long-range battle, like onions with arrows, was invented exclusively by Homo sapiens. But the find in the Goreta Obi-Rahmat in Uzbekistan forced scientists to revise this version. Here are found tiny sharp tips made about 80 000 years ago – in an era when the region was inhabited mainly by Neanderthals.
What is unique the find
Usually stone tools of Neanderthals are large and multifunctional, suitable for both cutting meat and for processing plants. But the triangular fragments found suspiciously look like arrowheads, which Homo sapiens used tens of thousands of years later. Their size and shape suggest that they were attached to thin arrow shafts, and not to spears or other guns.
Technology is thousands of years old
Small sharp tips were not intended for strong strokes, but had to punch the skin of the pregnancies and give the shaft to enter deeper. This technology has spread widely from Homo sapiens in the Upper Paleolithic era, about 50 000-40 000 000 years ago. The oldest such arrows were previously found in France and dated 54 000 years ago. But samples from Obi-Rahmat are almost 26 000 years older.
Who made them is a mystery
The problem is that in the layer where the artifacts were found, no human remains were found. It is known that the region could be a meeting place and mixing of Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, but these tips appeared 10 000 years before the confirmed contact between the species. The baby’s skull and teeth found in the next layer have features of both species, which hints at cultural metabolism. But this find is clearly older.
Rewriting stories
Who owns the authorship of this technology is still unknown. But archaeologists are sure that the migrations and contacts of ancient people in Eurasia were much more difficult than commonly believed. Perhaps the inventors of the arrows appeared in this region much earlier than we thought.
Source: In Uzbekistan Found Arrowheads Aged 80 000 Years: They Could Be Created by Neanderthals