Humans hurled massive mammoth tusk boomerangs 40,000 years ago

Boomerangs are some of humanity’s oldest tools. In the northernmost region of Australia, 50,000-year-old cave art appears to depict Indigenous hunters throwing the weapons at prey, including kangaroos. While most associated with Australia, boomerangs are also documented around the world. One famous example was discovered in an ancient cave in southern Poland in 1985. Instead of using wood, these Early Upper Paleolithic ancestors crafted their tool from a mammoth tusk. And according to recent radiocarbon reevaluations and Bayseian probability modeling, researchers now believe the ivory weapon is even older than previously estimated. Their findings are detailed in a study published in the journal PLOS One.

The conclusion comes after an international research team reviewed artifacts recovered from Obłazowa Cave, one of Poland’s most important Paleolithic sites. Originally identified in 1985, Obłazowa Cave contains evidence of both Neanderthal and human activity spanning at least ten eras. Some of the most important finds relate to Homo sapiens who occupied the cave roughly 30,000 years ago. These included animal bone pendants, a potential whistle made from a snail shell, and human remains. Archaeologists at the time also unearthed a mammoth tusk boomerang estimated to date back to the same era. For nearly three decades, that specimen offered the tool’s oldest known example in Europe. But after careful reexamination using more accurate radiocarbon dating methods, the boomerang’s origin is likely closer to 40,000 years ago.

As Interesting Engineering explains, the revised age can help researchers better contextualize an important time during the Upper Paleolithic known as the Early Aurignacian, when humans began migrating across Europe in large numbers. Even that long ago, archaeological evidence clearly shows Homo sapiens already engaging in creative, complex, and symbolic projects. These included the manufacturing of refined tools, decorative adornments and jewelry, as well as participating in elaborate ritualistic burials.

At about 2.36 feet wide, the ivory boomerang wasn’t designed to arc through the air and return to its user. Instead, hunters almost certainly intended the hefty weapon to accurately smack into their prey and kill it—or at least stun a creature long enough for them to close in on the target.

“From an economic perspective, creating and transporting a sizable object like the boomerang represents a unique commitment,” they wrote. “The intentional thinning of the mammoth tusk to achieve symmetry reflects a notable investment in a context where mobility was essential. Since no ivory fragments were found at the site, the boomerang must have been crafted elsewhere and carried to Obłazowa Cave, underscoring its special status.”

According to archaeologists, their latest research not only furthers their understanding of early human adaptive strategies, but highlights “the nuanced interplay of technology, symbolism, and environmental interaction during the earliest phases of human dispersals in Central Europe.”
While experts have previously confirmed the use of boomerangs at various locations including Australia, Central Europe, North Africa, and ancient Egypt, the tools were by no means ubiquitous across all cultures. This means that evidence of the weapons—let alone those carved from mammoth tusks—can serve as vital sources of information on human societal evolution.

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