Researched
Bow and Arrow
Stone and bone arrow points from South Africa show hunters shooting from a distance by about 60,000 years ago.
Open in the interactive tree →Points from Sibudu Cave, dated to roughly 64,000 to 61,000 years ago, are read as arrowheads; the wooden bow itself rarely survives, so it is inferred. A ranged weapon made hunting safer and spread across the world.
Prerequisites
- Stone Tools~3.3 million years ago
- Hunting Spears~300,000 years ago
Unlocks
- Gunpowder Rockets (Fire Arrows)~1232Fire arrows began as arrows fitted with gunpowder, later becoming rockets
Not fully verified: Bows rot away; the earliest bow is inferred from points whose use as arrowheads is debated.
Sources
More in Foundations of Civilization · Prehistory
- Stone Tools~3.3 million years ago
- Mastering Fire~1.8 million-400,000 years ago
- Hunting Spears~300,000 years ago
- Spoken Languageat least ~135,000 years ago?
- Clothing & the Sewing Needle~120,000-40,000 years ago
- Burial & Religion~100,000 years ago
- Art & Symbols~73,000 years ago
- Cordage & Weaving~30,000 years ago