An international team of archaeologists from Italy, Switzerland, Poland and other countries has found the world’s oldest boomerang during excavations in the Obrazowa Cave in southern Poland on Thursday. The artefact, made from mammoth tusk, is estimated to be 40,000 years old.
This boomerang was found in the eighth layer, a monument of the early Aurignacian period, along with a human phalanx (finger bone), jewellery (pendants made from fox teeth and shells), tools and red ochre, a mineral used in symbolism and rituals. Its shape and flat-convex cross-section are similar to the so-called “Queensland” boomerangs, which do not return to the thrower and are used for hunting or rituals.
Scientists created exact copies of the boomerang from epoxy resin so as not to damage the original. They used these copies for throwing experiments. The tests showed that the boomerang flies well, stays stable in the air, does not spin chaotically and can fly quite far. At the same time, it proved to be much more effective than a simply curved stick of the same size — it flies better and stays in the air longer. This suggests that its shape was carefully thought out and had a practical purpose, most likely for hunting.
The artefact may also have had a ritual function. This find echoes the cave art of the Upper Palaeolithic era, such as ochre on rocks and figurines found elsewhere.
“This is completely new evidence of early Homo sapiens behaviour, contrasting sharply with Neanderthal artefacts,” the researchers emphasised.
Earlier, the oldest known boomerangs dated back 20,000 years and came from Australia. The Polish find is almost twice as old and indicates the independent invention of complex throwing weapons in different regions of the world.
