Arrow poisons in the Palaeolithic?

In a previous issue of PNAS, d’Errico et al. (1) reported interesting findings from Border Cave in South Africa, including the presentation of a “poison applicator,” directly dated to ∼24,000 y ago. The fragmented wooden stick with perpendicular incisions appears, although smaller in diameter, not too indistinct from some poison applicators recovered in the Kalahari. Residues found on the item were studied using gas chromatography, and the authors interpreted the results as evidence for the toxin ricin. This was used to substantiate the claim that this “applicator” is direct evidence of the use of poisons in hunting. Evidence of poison use in bow-and-arrow hunting would add to the …