How to kill a wolf with a flower

a look at ancient hunting poisons

In 2015, a group of researchers from Cambridge University conducted a series of tests on several 30,000-year-old stone arrowheads and found what they believed to be a lethal plant toxin. Using a technique similar to testing drug samples, they discovered various plant residues present on the tips of the arrowheads that appear to have been put there by dipping the arrow in something, though the decomposition of the residue makes it impossible to tell what the toxin actually was.

(Even today, blowguns are preferred by many Amazon tribes over firearms. Not only can the gun and ammo be made for free, but they are almost silent and don’t scare off other game)

This is the oldest evidence of our ancestors using poison on their weapons, but this form of trying to kill something was surprisingly common in ancient times. People who foraged or lived off the land would have no choice but to learn about which plants are edible and which will kill you, knowledge which became very common amongst the general population.

Certain poisons are very difficult to make and take extensive processes to get them right, but there are many poisons that are incredibly easy to produce, or involve nothing more than consuming the raw ingredient. Here are a few of the most common and interesting poisons used by various ancient cultures around the world:

Aconite – Europe and most of Asia

This poison seems to be the one of choice for TV shows, probably due to its more interesting name Wolfs Bane. The poison has many names around the world as it’s very common across most of Europe and Asia, and just so happens to be the most poisonous flower in Europe. It was used in the British Isles for hunting wolves, which gave birth to its most common nickname of Wolfsbane, but due to its potency, it made the meat of anything it killed inedible, so it could only be used for getting rid of something and not hunting for food.

(This pretty purple flower is very common throughout dozens of European and Asian countries)

Acokanthera – Ancient Egypt

Arrowheads found in Egypt dating from approximately 2,000 BCE have shown evidence they were dipped in a thick black substance, which was most likely a poison from the plant Acokanthera. This small berry-producing bush creates a sap that comes out of its leaves and stems, which is the most commonly used part of the plant for dipping weapons in. It contains a very dangerous toxin called cardiotoxic glycoside ouabain which is so strong, that it’s often the poison of choice for elephant poachers.

(berries of the Acokanthera plant)

Vine bark – Amazon Yanomami tribe

The Amazon forest contains more types of plants and insects than anywhere else on earth. There’s a huge amount of things in this sea of green that can easily kill you, but no one other than the people who live there knows the best ones to use and how to find them. The Yanomami tribe take bark from Strychnos vines and mash them into a paste with some water, before dipping their arrows heads in them. This poison isn’t the strongest available to them and is only deadly to small creatures, which makes it perfect for hunting something larger like a tapir or monkey because it’s just strong enough to knock them out or slow them down enough to catch, but after cooking it’s far too weak to affect the person eating it.

Frogs – Various South American tribes

There are several dozen different types of poisonous frogs in South America, and they each have their own types and strengths of poison. These frogs are known by many names, but the most common of which is the Dart frog or arrow frog, mostly because these are the main things they are used for. The strongest of the frogs produces a poison that is able to kill up to 20 human adults with a single dose, with the weakest barely being able to kill anything bigger than a rat. Their poison can be used for either direct killing or hunting for something you intend to eat afterward, and because there’s so much variation in the types and potency of their toxins, you can select a poisonous frog that suits the particular task you’re going on.

(Dart frogs come in a huge range of bright colors, all of which are designed to act as a warning sign to anything that wants to eat them)

Yew tree – Europe and Asia

The Yew tree is very common across the temperate zone just north of the equator and is one of the most poisonous trees in Europe. To be fair there aren’t many poisonous trees in Europe, so that isn’t really a big claim, but its bark and berries can easily kill someone if the poison is concentrated enough. The bark contains a weaker version of the toxin and was made into a poison used for hunting, but the berries, which are much more concentrated were usually made into a poison with the sole intention of getting rid of the target and not for hunting for food.

Drugs – Various cultures worldwide

Sometimes when you eat something it just tastes good, other times it kills you, and sometimes it gives you a super magical drug-induced experience. Every country around the world has something they would have encountered that today would be classed as a hard drug. Europe mostly had mushrooms, the Middle East and India had heroin and cannabis, and South America had cocaine. In just the right amounts these substances can be used recreationally or serve various religious or medicinal purposes, but in large amounts, they can be fatal. It would be easy to make something the size of a deer overdose on a concentrated enough version of a drug, or to slow it down at the very least, making the meat safe to cook and eat afterward.