JENA, GERMANY—Cosmos Magazine reports that an international team of researchers led by Michelle Langley of Griffith University has identified bow-and-arrow technology, tools that may have been used to make clothing, and decorative beads among the objects recovered from Sri Lanka’s Fa-Hien Cave and dated to as early as 48,000 years ago. The oldest of the 130 bone projectile points are thought to have been used to hunt hard-to-catch monkeys, while longer points were eventually crafted to hunt larger pigs and deer. Notches and wear on the points indicate they were used in bow-and-arrow toolkits, the oldest-known weapons of this type to be found outside of Africa. More than 20 of the bone tools are thought to have been used to work animal skins and plant fibers, perhaps to make clothing to serve as protection from insect bites and diseases. It had been previously thought that early clothing was developed as a protection against cold weather. Some of the beads recovered from the cave were made from the pointed tips of marine snail shells, and are thought to have come to the site through trade with people living near the coast. Other beads in the collection are the oldest known to be made entirely of red ochre, the researchers explained. To read about early hunting weapons, go to "Weapons of the Ancient World: Hunting Equipment."
