An ancient hunting kit found deep within San Esteban Rockshelter at Big Bend National Park in Texas may be the oldest intact weapon system ever found in North America.
G. Yancy/Flickr A view of the Santa Elena Canyon and Rio Grande River at Big Bend National Park.
Recently, archaeologists uncovered a 6,000-year-old cache of ancient weapons, including darts, spears, and a boomerang, at San Esteban Rockshelter near Big Bend National Park in southwest Texas. Other items discovered at the site include an exceptionally well-preserved animal pelt and human feces.
This wealth of artifacts has presented researchers with an invaluable opportunity to study the lifestyles, diets, and hunting activities of the little-known ancient cultures who lived in the region thousands of years ago.
Archaeologists Discover An Ancient Weapons Cache In Texas
Recently, archaeologists from the Center for Big Bend Studies and the Odyssey Archaeological Research Fund at the University of Kansas were excavating San Esteban Rockshelter in the Big Bend region of Texas when they uncovered an ancient hunting kit. It may potentially be the oldest intact weapon system ever found in North America.
The archaeological team initially began excavations as part of a project to uncover and study artifacts from early human activity in the region. Researchers began their search in the park’s caves due to their status as special places for various Indigenous American cultures.
The weapons were discovered in various states of disrepair. The cache includes part of an atlatl (an ancient spear-throwing device) as well as broken pieces of four darts that fit at the end of the weapon, six stone-tipped foreshafts that connected the darts to the atlatl, and four hardwood foreshafts that may have been used to deliver poison to targets.
Texas Parks and Wildlife DepartmentSome of the artifacts discovered in the 6,000-year-old hunting kit.
“We don’t yet have the socket ends we need to understand how the foreshafts attach to the main shafts,” Devin Pettigrew, an assistant professor at the Center for Big Bend Studies, told Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine. “We’re also missing the proximal (handle) end of the atlatl, but we know enough about this type to reconstruct what it may have looked like.”
Researchers also uncovered a straight-flying boomerang amidst the hunting tools. Ancient cultures likely used the artifact to hunt small prey. These weapons, alongside other finds from the San Esteban Rockshelter, shed light on the daily lives of the people who once called the area home.
Unveiling The Ancient History Of The Big Bend Region Of Texas
A pile of ancient human feces found alongside the weapons cache holds promise for future research into the diets and lifestyles of Indigenous American cultures. Additionally, a folded hide from a pronghorn, North America’s fastest land mammal, reveals the hunting preferences and skills of the people who lived in the area.
“We just sat there and stared at [the hide] in wonder,” Bryon Schroeder, director of the Center for Big Bend Studies, told Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine. “That’s a moment in time… Somebody folded that hide up and sat that right on top of this rock. And nobody touched it for 6,000 years.”
Center for Big Bend StudiesArchaeologists excavate San Esteban Rockshelter, where the ancient weapons were discovered.
Researchers were also stunned by the preservation of the hunting kit. “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,” said Schroeder.
These artifacts promise to add to what little we know about the lives of enigmatic American cultures. The materials used for the weapons can help researchers map how these people interacted with their environment. The placement of the precious items in the rockshelter also underscores the importance of caves for these ancient groups, opening up discussions about their symbolic or spiritual purposes.
“We get these incredible snapshots of life, vignettes of how they lived, what the environment was and how they responded to it,” Schroeder concluded.
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