March
18
/ 2026
For thousands of years, prehistoric hunters across western North America relied on the atlatl, a powerful dart-throwing device, to take down their prey. However, a recent comprehensive study reveals that this ancient tradition was disrupted roughly 1,400 years ago when the bow and arrow suddenly appeared across the region. Rather than a slow, gradual spread from north to south as previously believed, the new technology emerged almost simultaneously across a vast area stretching from subarctic Canada to northern Mexico. The study, published in PNAS Nexus, analyzed 136 well-preserved organic weapons, including bows, arrows, atlatls, and darts. These rare artifacts were recovered from melting ice patches, dry caves, and rock shelters, allowing researchers to directly date the weapons using radiocarbon methods
