In 1983 archaeologists excavating a cave in South Africa discovered an unusual femur bone. It belonged to an unspecified antelope and was found to be 7,000 years old. X-rays revealed that three ...

Embedded in the bone of a bovid—a large mammal related to modern cattle—the arrowhead represents one of humanity’s earliest examples of weaponry enhanced with a multi-component poison.

The ancient bone arrowheads are the oldest ever found outside Africa, and show how humans adapted to a new environment. The artefact comes from deposits dated to more than 60,000 years ago.