The ancient people of the North Caucasus crafted hunting tools from obsidian and flint, creating compound arrows and darts that were used to pursue animals. This finding comes from the press service of the RNF, which reported on new evidence gleaned from the region.
Researchers arrived at these conclusions after a careful examination of artifacts found in Mezmaiskaya Cave and at the Sosruko and Psytuazhe sites in Russia’s North Caucasus. The 20,000-year-old pieces of obsidian and flint are small pointed pebbles whose exact function is not immediately obvious. Through detailed analysis of wear patterns and micro-traces, scientists determined that these pieces most likely served as indicators of throwing weapons, specifically arrows and darts, rather than as simple blade tips or cutting tools.
In addition to these single-use tips, researchers noted the presence of blade inserts in various shapes — segments, triangles, trapezoids, and rectangles — which were used as lateral inserts for cutting and piercing, as well as in darts and arrows. The study employed X-ray fluorescence analysis to trace the origin of the obsidian, a key material in these finds. The results showed that the obsidian largely originated from the Zayukovsky deposit in the Elbrus region. This reveals that ancient peoples, while living in or traveling through the Elbrus area, accessed this material and transported it over notable distances to sites such as Mezmaiskaya Cave, where obsidian artifacts from Zayukovsky — about 200 to 250 kilometers in a straight line, ignoring terrain — were discovered.
Bone analysis from slaughtered remains indicates that hunting activity was tied to mountain expeditions and goat herding in these communities. The assemblage also included bones from other large mammals, such as fallow deer and wild boar, alongside smaller mammals like rabbits and badgers, giving a broader picture of the prey spectrum exploited by these groups.
A historical note traces back to earlier archaeologists who asked questions about the purpose behind ancient nomadic mound construction, suggesting a long-standing scholarly interest in how past nomadic lifeways organized and marked their landscapes.