Stone weapons hurled through the air 77,000 years ago have been unearthed in South Africa.

The teardrop-shaped tools were used as projectile weapons in the Middle Stone Age, according to researchers.

Archaeologists believe the serrated rocks were hand-thrown or lobbed by bows to hunt animals.

Stone weapons (pictured) hurled through the air 77,000 years ago have been unearthed in South Africa

STONE WEAPONS The teardrop-shaped tools were used as projectile weapons in the Middle Stone Age, according to researchers. The researchers found that 14 of the 25 point fragments bore evidence of impact-related damage, animal residues, and wear features. These features strongly indicate that the stone tools may have been used for hunting. Further examination of the impact-related fractures indicated that these points may have been attached to handles to form projectile weapons, and that these weapons were projected from a distance, most likely with a flexible spear-thrower or a bow. Advertisement

The South African Middle Stone Age is considered a period of major technological advancement, with hunter-gatherers introducing new manipulative techniques using heat and pressure to create stone projectile weapons.

But the timing and location of these developments is a topic of much debate.

Researchers examined 25 weapon point fragments excavated from the Sibudu Cave site in South Africa.

They analysed their technological and functional differences by comparing them with reference samples produced for the purpose by an experienced knapper.

Some of the points had two faces - a likely result of applying pressure to both sides.

Some had serrations, or jagged edges, that were likely produced by a technique known as pressure flaking.

Close-up images of the serrated edges of the stone weapons. The teardrop-shaped tools were used as projectile weapons in the Middle Stone Age, according to researchers

The researchers found that 14 of the 25 point fragments bore evidence of impact-related damage, animal residues, and wear features.

These features strongly indicate that the stone tools may have been used for hunting.

'The South African Middle Stone Age (MSA) surprises by the multiplicity of the archaeological discoveries,' the scientists from the University of Liège, Belgium, led by Dr Veerle Rots, said in a research paper.

'Technical innovations are important testimonials of the evolution of human societies since they have the potential to reflect new adaptations of societies to their environment, new social and economic organisations, as well as differences in cognitive architectures [intelligence].'

Scientific drawings of the rock weapons. Some had serrations, or jagged edges, that were likely produced by a technique known as pressure flaking

'We focus on an unpublished collection of bifacial serrated points that was discovered in the deep deposits of the site of Sibudu.'

Further examination of the impact-related fractures indicated that these points may have been attached to handles to form projectile weapons, and that these weapons were projected from a distance, most likely with a flexible spear-thrower or a bow.

The find pushes back the earliest date for pressure flaking during the South African Middle Stone Age to 77,000 years ago.

Rock weapons were found in the Sibudu Cave, a rock shelter in northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa