“We know that the Babylonians, Greeks and Romans used plant-based poisons both for hunting animals and in war. In fact, the word ‘toxic’ come from toxon, the Greek word for bow. Taxus is a genus of the yew tree with a springy timber traditionally used to make bows.” says Dr. Valentina Borgia, a specialist in Palaeolithic hunting weapons and Marie Curie Fellow at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research. She believes that she is on the brink of being able to prove that our ancestors used poisons as far back as 30,000 years ago.
By using a highly specialist technique called “liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry“, invisible traces of drugs can be detected on objects.
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Marius Hoppe
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