{"id":2225,"date":"2026-11-03T10:11:24","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T10:11:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/11\/03\/stone-age-hunters-in-northern-europe-may-have-used-poison-arrows-to-hunt-big-prey\/"},"modified":"2026-11-03T10:11:24","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T10:11:24","slug":"stone-age-hunters-in-northern-europe-may-have-used-poison-arrows-to-hunt-big-prey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/11\/03\/stone-age-hunters-in-northern-europe-may-have-used-poison-arrows-to-hunt-big-prey\/","title":{"rendered":"Stone age hunters in northern Europe may have used poison arrows to hunt big prey"},"content":{"rendered":"

Autumn walks in Britain are glorious, as the foliage changes colour and cool crisp air begins to bite. However, some of these European trees hide a much darker secret. For example, the yew tree\u2019s lovely red arils \u2013 the cup-shaped coverings around the seeds \u2013 carry toxins that may have been used to poison arrow tips in the past.<\/p>\n

A new Danish study<\/a> has shown that the \u201csmoking gun\u201d is not the poison itself, but the size of the small arrowheads used to deliver the toxin into the hunted<\/a> animal.<\/p>\n

The authors of the latest research examined Danish stone tool technology from the period immediately preceding the arrival of farming in Europe \u2013 the Mesolithic<\/a>. <\/p>\n

They argue that the distinctive small size of stone arrow tips from the early Mesolithic period (about 9,000\u20133,950 BC) suggest they were used to hunt large prey with the help of poisons. The poison has long since vanished, leaving only the stone tip.<\/p>\n

Arrows that do not use poison are typically larger, since they need to damage the animal\u2019s flesh. But poisoned arrows need only wound a prey animal enough to allow the poison to enter the blood stream. <\/p>\n

There were several poisonous plants available to hunter-gatherers in early Mesolithic Denmark. These include northern water hemlock, European birdcherry, buttercup and bittersweet nightshade, which have been proposed as possible toxins on arrow points.<\/p>\n

In contrast, the authors report that stone arrowheads from the Middle and Later Mesolithic (about 6,400\u20133,950 BC) are larger and were used to hunt smaller prey. According to the researchers, the sizes of arrowheads used during this period do not indicate poison use.<\/p>\n

\n \"Yew
\n The red arils of the yew tree could have been used to poison arrow tips.<\/span>
\n Blaszko \/ Shutterstock<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Surprisingly, poison assisted-hunting is widely known from a variety of archaeological and ethnographic contexts. For example, ricin \u2013 which is made from the castor bean plant \u2013 has been linked to a 24,000-year-old poison applicator at Border Cave, KwaZulu-Natal<\/a> in South Africa. <\/p>\n

The San and Ju|\u2019hoan people of Namibia use beetle larvae<\/a>, as well as sap from a succulent plant called the Bushman poison (Adenium boehmianum<\/em>). Many other toxins remain unidentified, despite their use as a hunting aid being well established.<\/p>\n

The oldest direct evidence of the use of poisoned microlithic (small) tools is from a site in Umhlatuzana Rock Shelter in KwaZulu-Natal. The poison is likely to have derived from a bulbous plant native to Africa called Boophone disticha<\/em>. <\/p>\n

\n \"Umhlatuzana<\/a>
\n Poison arrows dated to 60,000 years old were excavated at the Umhlatuzana Rock Shelter in South Africa.<\/span>
\n Anders H\u00f6gberg, Marlize Lombard<\/a>, CC BY-SA<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The archaeological levels in which these poisoned arrows were recovered have been dated to 60,000 years old<\/a>, suggesting that this technology has deep roots.<\/p>\n

For poison to be effective, a certain set of skills and precautions are vital. Hunters require detailed knowledge of the plant or animal from which the poison can be gathered, the exact way to prepare it, how to concentrate and mix the poison and the best way to employ the toxin without contaminating the meat of your kill. <\/p>\n

This depends on knowledge of the particular poison, and it sometimes necessitates removing the flesh around the arrow wound. The crucial distinction is that a substance can be deadly through a wound but may only be poorly absorbed when swallowed.<\/p>\n

For the Danish findings, the authors infer the use of poison from the relationship between arrow-tip shape, prey size and the availability of toxic plants in the environment. <\/p>\n

Their study suggests poison may have been common in the early Mesolithic to hunt large animals such as elk and aurochs. The authors suggest that future studies might be able to directly test for minute traces of toxin.<\/p>\n

\n \"Elk,
\n Elk, or moose, was among the animals hunted by early Mesolithic groups in Denmark.<\/span>
\n Sonja Foerster-Odenthal \/ Shutterstock<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From about 19,000 to 12,500 BC, hunter-gatherers associated with the Magdalenian tradition<\/a> lived across much of western and central Europe. The tradition\u2019s duration and expression varied by region. As the Magdalenian came to an end, there\u2019s a trend towards miniaturisation in the stone tools used by successor cultures. The Danish evidence fits into this trend. <\/p>\n

Ancient DNA evidence<\/a> suggests a new population was expanding across Europe at this time. The authors of the latest study suggest that effective arrow poisons could have been one of the secrets of their success.<\/p>\n

Poisoned arrows were not a universal hunter-gatherer technology, but they were used by many hunting peoples in different parts of the world. The Danish finds raise the possibility that this strategy also shaped how Mesolithic hunters designed their tiny stone arrow tips. <\/p>\n

The study shows that important inferences can be made about ancient technology, even in the absence of the toxin itself. Something to ponder on your next woodland walk.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Sally Christine Reynolds does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Autumn walks in Britain are glorious, as the foliage changes colour and cool crisp air begins to bite. However, some of these European trees hide a much darker secret. For example, the yew tree\u2019s lovely red arils \u2013 the cup-shaped coverings around the seeds \u2013 carry toxins that may have been used to poison arrow […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2225\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}