Arrowheads used 14,000 years ago were much more dangerous than we imagined.

14,000 years ago, small groups of human beings roamed Alaska in search of prey, often as dangerous as mammoths. For their task they depended on bows and arrows, but how deadly were their weapons? A team of scientists has tested them with surprising results.

One of the great unknowns related to the weapons used by hunter-gatherers is why they used different types of arrows, the most widespread hypothesis was that each group had developed different techniques separately, but that hypothesis did not match the fact that different arrowheads appear in the same archaeological site.

On the other hand, it's considered that the technology of carving arrowheads was developed with the first hominids in Africa and from there it spread to other areas.

In Alaska, three tip types converge. The reason for this variety is much more sinister and reveals that the humans of that time had a much more refined technology than we thought.

Researchers from the University of Washington have manufactured the different types of projectiles found in Alaska with the same tools and techniques used by those ancient settlers and then have tested them on ballistic gel and a deer carcass in cold conditions below zero.

The results suggest that hunters used all three types of arrows at the same time. The thick tip carved in stone does not have a lot of penetration, but it hit hard and causes incapacitating wounds. It was probably used to restrain especially large prey.

The fine tip of bone was the one that more index of penetration offered to cause deep wounds. Finally, the tip of bone covered with small sharp stone flakes was probably the one used to finish off the prey.

It's the one that causes larger and more lethal wounds. Probably, and taking into account that they hunted in groups, each member had a different function in the hunt and used different arrows for it.