The World’s Oldest Known Poison

Border Cave, located on the border between South Africa and Swaziland, has produced surprise after surprise for researchers analyzing layers representing literally tens of thousands of years of occupation. One of those surprises is the evidence of the deliberate use of poisons by hunters over 44,000 years ago

Researchers dated a lump of beeswax mixed with a toxic resin to about 35,000 years ago. They believe it was used to attach stone points to the shafts of arrows or spears. Coincidentally, this is also the oldest evidence for the use of beeswax.

Researchers also dated a wooden stick with marked with scratch marks up and down its length and dated at about 20,000 years old. Traces of ricinoleic acid, the notorious poison found in castor beans, were found during a chemical analysis of residue on the stick. The stick closely resembles poison applicators used by the people of the early San culture, which was emerging at about that time.

Bows and arrows were also thought to be emerging about 20,000 years ago and there is a good possibility that they were coming into use when the applicator was created. The thin, small points found in the younger debris at Border Cave resemble the bone points produced by the San people, who are known to have used poison-tipped bone points on their arrows to help bring down medium and some large-sized game.

There is more information on this ancient poison technology here