7,000-Year-Old Weapon Shows “Unprecedented Degree” of Precision and Technical Mastery

[Portre]

A study team led by researchers from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) says that a 7,000-year-old weapon kit consisting of two bowstrings believed to be the oldest ever found in Europe and a set of three wood arrows discovered in the Cave of Los Murciélagos in Albuñol, Granada, reveals an “unprecedented degree of precision and technical mastery” in their construction.

Bowstrings were woven together from the tendons of three different animal species 

The research is also the first to confirm the decades-old theory regarding reed woods’ use in the construction of prehistoric Europe’s arrows.

7,000-Year-Old Weapon Shows “Unprecedented Degree” of Precision and Technical Mastery

[+OverSword]

Amazingly well preserved for 7k years

[jethrofloyd]

I'ts no wonder a humans made the Antikythera Mechanism (the first computer) some 5 000 years later.

[Claira]

A research team has made exceptional discoveries on prehistoric archery from the early Neolithic period, 7,000 years ago. The well organic preservation of the remains of the Cave of Los Murcielagos in Albunol, Granada, made it possible for scientists to identify the oldest bowstrings in Europe, which were made from the tendons of three animal species. The use of olive and reed wood and birch bark pitch in the making of arrows reveals an unprecedented degree of precision and technical mastery, as highlighted in the study. The discoveries redefine the limits of our knowledge about the earliest agricultural societies in Europe and provide a unique view on ancestral archery materials and practices.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/12/241205142749.htm