80,000-year-old “arrowheads” rewrite human history

Archaeologists have identified tiny 80,000-year-old projectile points in Uzbekistan that may have been used like arrowheads. Their size, design, and impact damage closely resemble weapons found much later at a Homo sapiens site in France. The discovery suggests sophisticated projectile technology may have appeared in Central Asia long before modern humans became firmly established in Europe, potentially rewriting a major chapter of human migration.

80,000-year-old “arrowheads” rewrite human history. 80,000-year-old “arrowheads” rewrite human history Science News from research organizations 80,000-year-old “arrowheads” rewrite human history Tiny 80,000-year-old “arrowheads” from Uzbekistan could rewrite the story of how Homo sapiens reached Europe. Their size corresponds to small arrowheads, which are directly comparable to those produced by Homo sapiens during an incursion into Neanderthal territory in the Rhône Valley, 25,000 years later.

This new study, published in the PLOS One journal, provides a strong argument that could rewrite history on Homo sapiens ‘ first settlement in Europe. The chrono-cultural and anthropological frameworks of prehistory, along with the evolutionary models they inspired, were first created in Western Europe, especially France, in the second half of the 19th century. They were initially linear and Eurocentric: Cro-Magnons (European early modern humans), descending from Neanderthals, laid the foundations for the civilizational superiority claimed by this part of the world at the time.

It was not until a century later that the African origin of Homo sapiens, as well as the technological and social features that characterised the Western Upper Paleolithic (symbolic productions, long-distance networks, and diversified lithic and bone tools and weapons), were recognized.