The ancient hunting toolkit, found in pieces, communicated to researchers how industrious prehistoric humans used the cave and how organized their hunting strategies were.
Archaeologists were astonished to discover a hunting kit in North America in a special cave dwelling reserved for “rest and repair.”Researchers at Sul Ross State University and the University of Kansas had a hunch about a cave near Marfa, Texas.
Located about 40 miles northwest of the Mexican border, looters have ransacked the site for years, but these archaeologists put themselves in the minds of prehistoric humans. They crawled between rocks to reach deeper into the cave. “We quickly found out that it’s really, really, really deep in that part of the site,” says Bryon Schroeder, Director of the Center for Big Bend Studies at Sul Ross State University. “The reason we were out there is to find really old stuff,” he added. “So we kept going deeper.”The find “stunned” archaeologists. They stumbled upon a hunting shelter/repair shop where hunters spent a night or two. So these skilled warriors successfully evaded threats of the past and looters of the future. An ancient hunting toolkit, found in pieces, communicated to researchers how these industrious prehistoric humans used the cave and how organized their hunting strategies were.Entrance to the cave where kit was found Robert GreesonA place for hunter-gatherers to rest and repairDr. Schroeder and his team began excavating the site at the San Esteban Rockshelter on a mission to search for the oldest evidence of humans in North America. They didn’t expect to find the first rest stop for prehistoric hunters. They uncovered an impressive and unusual collection of weapons, such as an atlatl. As “the oldest directly dated specimen in North America,” the ancient spearthrower bore striking similarities to others from the greater Texas Big Bend area, a paper from 2023 states. After examining a boomerang, archaeologists believe they spiked the long wooden tips to render it even more deadly.Additionally, they found other items such as wood-and-stone-tipped darts and a folded antelope hide used to sew a bag or clothing, according to a New York Times article published on the Center for Big Bend Studies website. Unusually, as archaeologists typically only recover stone tools at these cave sites, these ancient hunters left well-preserved wood, sinew, and feathers behind.University of Kansas students working on grave Robert GreesonSmart hunters know: prep and upkeep are everything Devin Pettigrew, project researcher and expert in ancient weaponry at Sul Ross State University, described the distance hunter-gatherers must have crossed to find shelter here during hunting season. They most likely set up camp to organize and repair their tools, almost as if “doing an inventory,” and even disposing of unusable “broken stuff.”Chris Morgan, a professor of anthropology and archaeology at the University of Nevada, Reno, described the discovery as revelatory. “It shows that they were very well equipped with sophisticated technology. It showed that they were planning.”Archaeologists will analyze the human feces along with the weapons to ascertain their diets and DNA after they gain approval from Indigenous groups in the area. They plan to publish the results without a specified date. The find demonstrates that stone tools “are just one component of these much more complex tool assemblages,” the New York Times article concludes.
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