6,500-Year-Old Hunting Kit Recovered from Texas Cave

Archaeology Magazine ^ | April 8, 2025 | editors / unattributed

[SunkenCiv]

According to Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine, 6,500-year-old objects found deep within a cave in West Texas may comprise the oldest nearly-intact weapons kit recovered in North America. The wooden and stone tools were collected by a team of archaeologists from Sul Ross State University and the University of Kansas over the past several years from San Esteban Rockshelter near Marfa. Several thousand years ago, an Indigenous hunter sat by a fire in the cave and evaluated the state of their weapons, making repairs to some and discarding others. Their arsenal consisted of a throwing spear, a boomerang, and several wooden poisoned-tipped darts and stone projectiles. "A person came to the back of the cave and went through their hunting gear piece by piece: 'This is good. This is not good. I need to remake this leather pouch a little bit.' And then they went on their way," Center for Big Bend Studies archaeologist Bryon Schroeder said. "But that one small act is going to have profound implications in understanding a wide range of topics, including the environment." The team also found a neatly folded antelope hide nearby.

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TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: boomerang; flintknapping; godsgravesglyphs; marfa; precolumbian; texas

[SunkenCiv]

Hunting weapons kit

Robert Greeson |

[SunkenCiv]

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Interesting.

[Salamander]

I wondered where I left that stuff.

[Red Badger]

boomerang?................

[Red Badger]

Maybe this cave was the first Cabelas/Bass Pro Shop?..................

[BradyLS]

Too bad there’s nothing inserted to give a sense of scale.

[BradyLS]

Surprised there’s no ready evidence of a sling.

[katana]

Cave, boat accident. What’s the diff?

[Repeal The 17th]

“...A person came to the back of the cave
and went through their hunting gear piece by piece:
‘This is good. This is not good.
I need to remake this leather pouch a little bit.’
And then they went on their way...”
-
There seems to be a lot of speculation
there as to the origin of these items.

[july4thfreedomfoundation]

It was left there by Dick Cheney.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks MMTU.

[SunkenCiv]

Okay, boomerang. :^)

• 300,000-year-old double-pointed stick among oldest record of human-made wooden tools [07/23/2023]
• 300,000-year-old throwing stick documents the evolution of hunting [04/26/2020]
• Aboriginal hair shows 50,000 year connection to Australia [03/08/2017]
• British Claim On Boomerang (6,000 Years Old) [05/07/2004]

[SunkenCiv]

There’s no speculation regarding the origin. The tools were made by one or more humans and used for hunting.

[SunkenCiv]

Or atlatl.

[SunkenCiv]

:^)

[ConservativeMind]

6,500 years ago Australia was still attached to the North American continent…or something like that…

[Round Earther]

Walking a friend’s ranch near Marfa after a heavy rain often reveals arrowheads scattered across the surface, sometimes dozens in an hour, other times none at all. I Imagine the cycles of human presence and then absence over thousands of years.

Periods of intense activity and toolmaking, hunting, and long stretches of silence.

When we find none, we don’t say much, but wonder when it was that no one was there any why.

[Does so]

Check again...

[TigersEye]

I’d love to know what poison they used on the darts. Plant or animal origin?

Also, why did they leave the kit there? Being hunted by someone or something else and had to get out fast?