Bows and arrows and complex symbolic displays 48,000 years ago in the South Asian tropics

Abstract

Archaeologists contend that it was our aptitude for symbolic, technological, and social behaviors that was central to Homo sapiens rapidly expanding across the majority of Earth's continents during the Late Pleistocene. This expansion included movement into extreme environments and appears to have resulted in the displacement of numerous archaic human populations across the Old World. Tropical rainforests are thought to have been particularly challenging and, until recently, impenetrable by early H. sapiens. Here, we describe evidence for bow-and-arrow hunting toolkits alongside a complex symbolic repertoire from 48,000 years before present at the Sri Lankan site of Fa-Hien Lena-the earliest bow-and-arrow technology outside of Africa. As one of the oldest H. sapiens rainforest sites outside of Africa, this exceptional assemblage provides the first detailed insights into how our species met the extreme adaptive challenges that were encountered in Asia during global expansion.

Fig. 1. Find context.

Location and stratigraphy of Fa-Hien Lena, Sri Lanka.

Fig. 2. Pointed bone technologies of Fa-Hien Lena.

Bone projectile points (A to H) and scrapers (I to K) from Fa-Hien Lena. (A and B) Geometric bipoints, with (B) coming from phase D context 146; (C and F) hilted bipoint, red arrows indicate cut notches; (D and E) hilted unipoints, red arrows and red circle indicate wear indicating fixed hafting; (G and H) symmetrical bipoints.

Fig. 3. Antler blank with tooth and bone fur- and/or plant-working tools from Fa-Hien Lena.

(A and B) Cercopithecid bone peg or lissoir; (C) antler blank; (D and F) Cercopithecid canine awls or knives; (E) flaked muntjak molar; (G and H) Cercopithecid bone pegs or awls; (I) cervid metapodial wedge.

Fig. 4. Symbolic material culture of Fa-Hien Lena.

(A and B) Possible decorated spatula, shuttle, or lissoir in bone; marine shell beads in (C to E) Conus spp. and (F and G) Nassariidae; ochre beads (H to K and O) and used (L) yellow, (M) red, and (N) mica colorants.