Oldest bows and arrows found in Sri Lanka

Coriolan

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"Discovery of oldest bow and arrow technology in Eurasia: New archaeological research demonstrates earliest projectile technology in the tropical rainforests of Sri Lanka -- ScienceDaily" https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200612172238.htm

"The origins of human innovation have traditionally been sought in the grasslands and coasts of Africa or the temperate environments of Europe. More extreme environments, such as the tropical rainforests of Asia, have been largely overlooked, despite their deep history of human occupation. A new study provides the earliest evidence for bow-and-arrow use, and perhaps the making of clothes, outside of Africa approximately 48-45,000 years ago -- in the tropics of Sri Lanka."
 
the expansion 48 ka of haplogroups C and GHIJK was not out of Africa, but out of India
that is my impression
that is where new tools were developped
 
the expansion 48 ka of haplogroups C and GHIJK was not out of Africa, but out of India
that is my impression
that is where new tools were developped

This predates the East-West Eurasian split so would these people have been Basal Eurasian like or what?
 
They probably cant get aDNA from this part of the world due to climate right but what do you suppose the ydna and mtdna alog with autosomal component of these people would be if they could?
 
The oldest arrows' points were probably carved out of the arrow shaft and fire hardened. If so, those wouldn't have left a trace, so bows and arrows may have been around a lot longer than ancient artifacts suggest. See Primitive Technology's YouTube Channel here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLoukoBs8TE

He puts fletching on the arrows. The first arrow shafts were probably made without fletching, and fletching technology was added later. Notice how he makes the darts for the atlatl-- no fletching. Yet, he has better precision than a lot of atlatl enthusiasts on YouTube today who use fletching. With the atlatl, Primitive Technolgy also carves the points from the shaft and fire-hardens them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrlr02YDr5A

I believe projectile technology (e.g., bow and arrow and atlatl) may have developed before homo sapiens left Africa. That's why the technology is ubiquitous. The prototypes were formed before the Out of Africa diaspora.
 
The oldest arrows' points were probably carved out of the arrow shaft and fire hardened. If so, those wouldn't have left a trace, so bows and arrows may have been around a lot longer than ancient artifacts suggest. See Primitive Technology's YouTube Channel here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLoukoBs8TE

He puts fletching on the arrows. The first arrow shafts were probably made without fletching, and fletching technology was added later. Notice how he makes the darts for the atlatl-- no fletching. Yet, he has better precision than a lot of atlatl enthusiasts on YouTube today who use fletching. With the atlatl, Primitive Technolgy also carves the points from the shaft and fire-hardens them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrlr02YDr5A

I believe projectile technology (e.g., bow and arrow and atlatl) may have developed before homo sapiens left Africa. That's why the technology is ubiquitous. The prototypes were formed before the Out of Africa diaspora.

that may be the case for the atlatl, which appeared on many continents during or right after LGM
but for bow and arrow it looks like magdalenians didn't have it, the hunted with the atlatl, and they were replaced by by Villabrunans who hunted with bow and arrow (Ahrensburg culture)
we know the Villabruna clade spread from SE Europe around 15 ka, that is were they picked up bow and arrow, which allready existed in Zarzian and Kebaran culture
 
that may be the case for the atlatl, which appeared on many continents during or right after LGM
but for bow and arrow it looks like magdalenians didn't have it, the hunted with the atlatl, and they were replaced by by Villabrunans who hunted with bow and arrow (Ahrensburg culture)
we know the Villabruna clade spread from SE Europe around 15 ka, that is were they picked up bow and arrow, which allready existed in Zarzian and Kebaran culture

These assumptions that the Magdalenians did not have bows and arrows and the later Mesolithic and Neolithic cultures did is based solely on microlithic points. Perishable material like wood, sinew, and plant fiber, used to make the bow, bow string, and arrows, do not survive from these ages. Perhaps, the Zarzian and Kebaran cultures were the first to produce microlithic projectile points. That does not mean they were the first to use the bow and arrow. Bows and arrows made like Primitive Technology (see YouTube video above) makes them would leave nothing for the archeological records. That was the point of my post, that the conclusion that bow and arrow technology only arrived after the manufacture of the smaller points, is an overreach.

Atlatls are good for fishing and killing game when you can get very close without spooking them. They wouldn't be very useful for small game that can bolt, like hare or partridge, outside the riverine environment. Other than traps, something like bow and arrows would be needed for them, and this type of game would not require point attachments. As far as big game, atlatls were probably only effective in cases of injured game and game trapped in kites or natural enclosures, but they would not be effective for fast, reactive animals in the open steppe or parkland environment. I think the likely scenario was that bows and arrows were first made for small animal resources and then later microlithic technology improved them for war and for hunting medium sized animals, such as deer, boar, onagers, and gazelle.
 
Is there any chance these could be Basal Eurasians or were they too far west at this point (Arabia)?
 

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