The Antiquity of the Bow and Arrow in the Kalahari Desert: Bone Points from White Paintings Rock Shelter, Botswana

Abstract

This paper presents new information on the antiquity of the bow and arrow in the Kalahari. Excavations at White Paintings Shelter (WPS) uncovered bone point fragments that appear to have been parts of reversible arrowheads that could have been used with poison. We present a sequence of nine new, internally consistent OSL ages that date specific soil horizons at WPS. These dates/soil horizons are related to the bone point finds. The oldest bone points are estimated to date between 35–37 ka, while worked bone technology extends to at least 45 ka. Several engraved points are also discussed in relation to ethnographic evidence regarding decorated bone link-shafts collected in the 1970s. Additional information includes the first description of a reversible bone arrow point, made by a person who used such points with poison in his youth.