MARFA, TEXAS—According to Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine, 6,500-year-old objects found deep within a cave in West Texas may comprise the oldest nearly-intact weapons kit recovered in North America. The wooden and stone tools were collected by a team of archaeologists from Sul Ross State University and the University of Kansas over the past several years from San Esteban Rockshelter near Marfa. Several thousand years ago, an Indigenous hunter sat by a fire in the cave and evaluated the state of their weapons, making repairs to some and discarding others. Their arsenal consisted of a throwing spear, a boomerang, and several wooden poisoned-tipped darts and stone projectiles. “A person came to the back of the cave and went through their hunting gear piece by piece: ‘This is good. This is not good. I need to remake this leather pouch a little bit.’ And then they went on their way,” Center for Big Bend Studies archaeologist Bryon Schroeder said. “But that one small act is going to have profound implications in understanding a wide range of topics, including the environment.” The team also found a neatly folded antelope hide nearby. To read about paintings in a Texas canyon that hunter-gatherers created thousands of years ago, go to "Reading the White Shaman Mural."
