Poison Arrows: North American Indian Hunting and Warfare

by David E. Jones

Overview

Biological warfare is a menacing twenty-first-century issue, but its origins extend to antiquity. While the recorded use of toxins in warfare in some ancient populations is rarely disputed (the use of arsenical smoke in China, which dates to at least 1000 BC, for example) the use of "poison arrows" and other deadly substances by Native American groups has been fraught with contradiction. At last revealing clear documentation to support these theories, anthropologist David Jones transforms the realm of ethnobotany in Poison Arrows.

Examining evidence within the few extant descriptive accounts of Native American warfare, along with grooved arrowheads and clues from botanical knowledge, Jones builds a solid case to indicate widespread and very effective use of many types of toxins. He argues that various groups applied them to not only warfare but also to hunting, and even as an early form of insect extermination. Culling extensive ethnological, historical, and archaeological data, Jones provides a thoroughly comprehensive survey of the use of ethnobotanical and entomological compounds applied in wide-ranging ways, including homicide and suicide. Although many narratives from the contact period in North America deny such uses, Jones now offers conclusive documentation to prove otherwise.

A groundbreaking study of a subject that has been long overlooked, Poison Arrows imparts an extraordinary new perspective to the history of warfare, weaponry, and deadly human ingenuity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780292722293
Publisher:	University of Texas Press
Publication date:	02/01/2007
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	136
Sales rank:	663,015
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

David E. Jones is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• 1. On Plant Poisons
• 2. Nonmilitary Poisons
• 3. World Survey of Arrow Poisoning
• 4. Arrow Poisons of the North American Indians
• 5. Other Uses of Poisons in Warfare
• 6. Paleo-Indian Poison Use
• Conclusion
• Appendix: North American Indian Tribes That Used Arrow Poison and Types of Poison Used
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index

What People are Saying About This

Wayne Van Horne

A unique contribution to the field of American Indian ethnology. . . . This information has never been compiled before, and I doubt that many ethnologists in the field have ever suspected the extent to which poison was used among North American Indians. This book significantly extends our understanding.
— Wayne Van Horne, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Kennesaw State University