For decades, scientists have debated when our ancestors first mastered the bow and arrow, a skill that transformed hunting, survival, and eventually warfare. Now, a new study suggests that the answer might lie deep in the mountains of Central Asia.
At a site in northeastern Uzbekistan, archaeologists have uncovered tiny stone points that appear to be the oldest known arrowheads on Earth. Dating back 80,000 years, they are roughly 6,000 years older than the previous record from Ethiopia.
If confirmed, these ancient fragments could reshape our understanding of early humans, hinting that advanced hunting tools spread across the world far earlier than anyone thought.
“Early weapons and hunting technologies were more geographically widespread at an earlier date than previously supposed. As usual, we consistently underestimate the abilities of our ancestors,” Christian Tryon, an expert in paleolithic archaeology from the University of Connecticut, told Live Science. He wasn’t involved in the study.
The Arrowheads Were Ignored At First
The discovery was made at the Obi-Rakhmat rock shelter, a site already renowned for its stone tools and the remains of a child believed to be a mix of Neanderthals and modern humans.
Digs in the past had turned up wide blades (thin flakes of stone that are intentionally chipped off a larger rock to use as a cutting or a scraping tool) and small bladelets, but a collection of broken triangular chips called microliths had mostly been ignored.
They seemed too small and fragile to be useful. However, when the study authors re-examined them, they noticed something unusual. The pieces were so thin and narrow that they wouldn’t have fit on spears or knives.
Instead, their size suited lightweight shafts, like arrows. Many of the tips also showed tiny cracks and fractures that are typical of high-speed impacts, exactly the kind of wear expected if they had been fired into prey.
“The most obvious evidence is when the tip of a perforating projectile is found stuck in a bone, though such finds are rare. It is far more prevalent to find lithic or bone points that have sustained impact damage,” the study authors note.
These clues convinced the team that the tools were more than just random stone fragments. They were likely designed arrowheads. Dating techniques confirmed their age at around 80,000 years. That makes them older than the Ethiopian arrow tips, which are about 74,000 years old, and much earlier than finds in Sri Lanka (48,000 years) and France (54,000 years).
The big question, however, is who made them. Central Asia at that time was Neanderthal territory, yet no other Neanderthal arrowheads have ever been found.
Levant Migrants, or Local Makers?
One possibility is that these tools were created by early modern humans, who are believed to have spread into Eurasia around the same period. Archaeologists suggest these migrants may have come from the Levant, today’s eastern Mediterranean, bringing new technology that gave them an edge in unfamiliar environments.
“The lithic industry of this settlement is forming part of the continuity of the Levantine Early Middle Paleolithic but with several innovative traits,” the study authors said.
This could explain how small groups of humans survived in new and challenging landscapes, competing successfully with long-established Neanderthal populations. Still, we cannot fully rule out the idea that Neanderthals might have made their own arrows without solid evidence.
An important point to note here is that although there is enough evidence to confirm that the stone tools are arrowheads, the researchers didn’t find any preserved bows or arrow shafts. Unlike the stone tips, these are wooden and tend to decay over time. So, some scientists will remain doubtful of the findings.
The team now hopes to investigate when the Obi-Rakhmat people first arrived in Central Asia, and whether they can be linked through archaeology or genetics to groups in the Levant. They also plan to search for older sites that might push the origins of bow-and-arrow technology even further back in time.
The study is published in the journal PLOS One.
