80,000-year-old “arrowheads” rewrite human history
Archaeologists have identified tiny 80,000-year-old projectile points in Uzbekistan that may have been used like arrowheads. Their size, design, and impact damage closely resemble weapons found much later at a Homo sapiens site in France. The discovery suggests sophisticated projectile technology may have appeared in Central Asia long before modern humans became firmly established in Europe,…
Archaeologists have discovered tiny, unretouched, triangular "arrowheads" at the Obi-Rakhmat rock shelter in Uzbekistan, dating back approximately 80,000 years. These micro-lithic points are comparable in size to small arrowheads produced by Homo sapiens around 25,000 years later in the Rhone Valley. The findings suggest a possible Central Asian origin for the Initial Upper Paleolithic and challenge previous theories regarding the origins of Homo sapiens' first settlement in Europe.
The tiny points, weighing only a few grams and less than 2 cm in width, were likely thrown rather than thrown from a heavy shaft, and their characteristics indicate they were used in different weapons than the more robust spearheads or javelin heads found in the same assemblage.
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