Do bow and arrow predate modern humans?

BOWS and arrows may not be the preserve of modern humans. It seems that simple stone blades make adequate arrowheads, so they might have been used in lightweight projectile weapons as far back as 100,000 years ago, when the blades first appeared.

Spears and arrows would have let early hunters catch small fast-moving creatures rather than tackling large dangerous animals with hand-held blades. Matthew Sisk and John Shea from Stony Brook University in New York have shown that so-called Levallois points make effective arrowheads. They turned 51 reproduction blades into arrows and successfully shot them into an animal carcass (Journal of Archaeological Science, DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2009.05.023).

The earliest definite arrowheads date to around 20,000 years ago and are the handiwork of modern humans.

Read the rest of this article...