A cache of ancient hunting tools discovered in a remote cave near Marfa, Texas, is revealing new facts about the lives and ingenuity of prehistoric North Americans. Archaeologists believe the 6,500-year-old weapons kit, including intricately crafted wooden darts, a spear thrower, and a straight-flying boomerang, to be the oldest near-complete set of wood and stone hunting equipment ever found on the continent.

PH๏τo 5: The artifacts recovered from the cave. Credit: Robert Greeson

The find, revealed at the San Esteban Rockshelter by researchers from Sul Ross State University’s Center for Big Bend Studies and the University of Kansas’ Odyssey Archaeological Research Program, includes over a dozen weapon components, a folded pronghorn hide, coprolites (fossilized human feces), and the remains of an ancient fire.

Excavations at the cave began in 2019, with the first elements of the kit unveiled in 2020. The team has continued to visit annually, digging attentively through the debris left by both time and looters. Although the cave contents had been disturbed over the years and, thus, untouched artifacts were very difficult to locate, the scientists were able to spot one section where the layers were still intact.

Most notable in the discovery is a partially preserved 7,000-year-old atlatl, or spear thrower — potentially the oldest in all of North America. The atlatl, which would have been used to hurl darts with greater force and speed, was essential for hunting large game. Alongside it, the team found four notched dart ends, six stone-tipped wooden foreshafts, and four additional hardwood foreshafts, which could have been used to deliver a poison — an advanced technique for that time in hunting.

University of Kansas students Haley Bjorklund and Ayla Borges Alves working in the Cave. Credit: Erika Blecha

The researchers noted that this is remarkable because wood, sinew, and feathers — materials that practically never survive thousands of years — were preserved. The aridity of the Big Bend region’s climate likely contributed to the preservation of such delicate organic materials.

The fact that a tanned pronghorn hide, still bearing much of its fur after more than 6,000 years, has survived points to the possibility that this cave was not just a temporary shelter but a workshop where hunters maintained and perhaps crafted or upgraded their tools. The hide had been folded and placed on a rock, untouched for millennia. Researchers noted traces suggesting it had been stretched over a frame to soften it — a technique used by Plains Native American societies.

OARF archaeologist Chris Hord at the entrance to the Cave. Credit: Robert Greeson

Dr. Bryon Schroeder, the director of the Center for Big Bend Studies at Sul Ross State University and one of the lead researchers on the project, speculated that one hunter or a small group could have used the cave to sort through and discard broken weapons. “They’re just kind of doing an inventory, and they’re throwing out the broken stuff,” he said.

Even more secrets of daily life were revealed in the discoveries of fossilized human feces. Testing of the remains, pending approval from Indigenous groups, could potentially offer clues about diet, health, and DNA and ᴀssist in the construction of a more complete portrait of the people who lived in this harsh environment.

Despite the challenges of radiocarbon dating — referred to in the field as the “Old Wood Problem,” in which ancient wood may have been reused — the context of the artifacts clearly shows they were used around the same time. The researchers are now analyzing the artifacts and hope to publish their complete findings soon.

More information: Center for Big Bend Studies, Sul Ross State University