Unbowed: Raiding and Hunting with Paracas Spearthrowers and Slings and the Conspicuous Absence of the Bow in Western South America

Abstract

Abstract New weapons such as the bow and arrow often emerge alongside rising population densities and interpersonal conflict. We test this generalization in southern Peru during the violent Final Formative (400–1 BCE ) with measurements of 200 obsidian projectile points anchored to precise Bayesian chronologies from Paracas sites in the Palpa valleys. Based on Bayesian regressions against hafted archaeological projectile points, we conclude all Paracas points were spearthrower darts. This agrees with the lack of bows in Paracas burials and in imagery on ceramics and textiles. Conflict was limited to small-scale raids, based on a compilation of sites with slingstones, mace heads, skeletal trauma, and walls. Hunting and herding were focused in the highlands, mapped with a MaxEnt predictive surface of modern prey location. Based on spatial correlations, conflict did not drive settlement patterns; the key factors were hunting grounds, herding pastures, and agricultural suitability. Pending future research, the notable lack of the bow in the region may include later Nasca, Moche, and Chimú populations. This invites us to rethink the conditions that drive and limit the adoption and invention of bows, a uniquely human and purportedly superior projectile technology that no one bothered with during these violent centuries.