Traces of plant toxins have been found on 60,000-year-old arrow tips in South Africa, showing that ancient hunters made use of poisons much earlier than previously known. Until recently, the evidence ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about biodiversity and the hidden quirks of the natural world. For centuries, scientists had the wrong idea about what ...

The oldest evidence for the use of arrow poison globally was long thought to come from Egypt, dating to 4,000 years ago. It was a black, toxic residue on bone arrowheads from a tomb at the Naga ed Der ...