The use of olive and reed wood and birch bark pitch in the making of arrows reveals an unprecedented degree of precision and technical mastery, as highlighted in the study, published in Scientific Reports.

In an outdoor trial to test performance under real life conditions, they attached the sensor to birch leaves to track changes in leaf color during autumn, leaf fall, and aging over two weeks.

There, archaeologists found two pieces of flint encased in birch tar residue, indicating the flint pieces were once hafted to other objects.

The scientists tested birch, cherry, and a kind of Japanese magnolia called honoki.

Caroline Leafe, 70, was walking in Ashdown Forest with her husband Kenneth and their dog on 25 January last year, when the pair were hit by a silver birch as it was being felled.