Latest news with #OblazowaCave
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Science
- Yahoo
World's oldest boomerang doesn't actually come back
The world's oldest boomerang is older than previously thought, casting new light on the ingenuity of humans living at the time. The tool, which was found in a cave in Poland in 1985, is now thought to be 40,000 years old. Archaeologists say it was fashioned from a mammoth's tusk with an astonishing level of skill. Researchers worked out from its shape that it would have flown when thrown, but would not have come back to the thrower. It was probably used in hunting, though it might have had cultural or artistic value, perhaps being used in some kind of ritual. The mammoth ivory boomerang was unearthed in Oblazowa Cave in southern Poland. It was originally thought to be about 30,000 years old. But new, more reliable radiocarbon dating of human and animal bones found at the site puts the age at between 39,000 and 42,000 years old. "It's the oldest boomerang in the world, and the only one in the world made of this shape and this long to be found in Poland," said Dr Sahra Talamo of the University of Bologna, Italy. It gives a "remarkable insight" into human behaviour, she said, particularly how Homo sapiens living as long as 42,000 years ago could shape "such a perfect object" with the knowledge it could be used to hunt animals. The boomerang is exceptionally well preserved, with score marks suggesting it had been polished and carved for use by a right-handed individual. Boomerangs are generally associated with Aboriginal culture in Australia. However, rare finds in the historical record outside Australia suggest they were used across different continents. The oldest known boomerang from Australia dates to about 10,500 years ago, made from wood. But the oldest images of boomerangs in Australia are rock art paintings 20,000 years old, according to National Museum Australia. A wooden boomerang dating back 7,000 years has been found in Jutland, a peninsula between Denmark and Germany, while fragments of a 2,000-year-old oak boomerang – which does come back – has been found in The Netherlands. The research by a team of scientists from Poland, Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland and the UK is published in the journal PLOS One.
BBC News
21 hours ago
- Science
- BBC News
World's oldest boomerang older than thought, but not Australian
The world's oldest boomerang is older than previously thought, casting new light on the ingenuity of humans living at the tool, which was found in a cave in Poland in 1985, is now thought to be 40,000 years say it was fashioned from a mammoth's tusk with an astonishing level of worked out from its shape that it would have flown when thrown, but would not have come back to the was probably used in hunting, though it might have had cultural or artistic value, perhaps being used in some kind of ritual. The mammoth ivory boomerang was unearthed in Oblazowa Cave in southern Poland. It was originally thought to be about 30,000 years old. But new, more reliable radiocarbon dating of human and animal bones found at the site puts the age at between 39,000 and 42,000 years old."It's the oldest boomerang in the world, and the only one in the world made of this shape and this long to be found in Poland," said Dr Sahra Talamo of the University of Bologna, gives a "remarkable insight" into human behaviour, she said, particularly how Homo sapiens living as long as 42,000 years ago could shape "such a perfect object" with the knowledge it could be used to hunt boomerang is exceptionally well preserved, with score marks suggesting it had been polished and carved for use by a right-handed individual. Boomerangs are generally associated with Aboriginal culture in rare finds in the historical record outside Australia suggest they were used across different oldest known boomerang from Australia dates to about 10,500 years ago, made from wood. But the oldest images of boomerangs in Australia are rock art paintings 20,000 years old, according to National Museum Australia. A wooden boomerang dating back 7,000 years has been found in Jutland, a peninsula between Denmark and Germany, while fragments of a 2,000-year-old oak boomerang – which does come back – has been found in The research by a team of scientists from Poland, Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland and the UK is published in the journal PLOS One.
Telegraph
a day ago
- Science
- Telegraph
The boomerang is European, not Australian, study suggests
They are the quintessential hunting weapons of the Australian Outback, long thought to be a unique product of Aboriginal ingenuity. But now archaeologists have found that boomerangs were being wielded in prehistoric Europe thousands of years earlier than the Antipodean examples. A mammoth tusk boomerang dating from about 40,000 years ago has been discovered in Oblazowa Cave in southern Poland, the oldest ever found. The earliest Australian boomerangs found in Wyrie Swamp, South Australia, in 1973 date to about 10,000 years ago. Rock art paintings from Kimberley in Western Australia suggest the weapons were being used 20,000 years ago, but there is no evidence for their earlier use. Prof Pawel Valde-Nowak, of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, said: 'The Oblazowa specimen meets all the parameters of a Queensland-type boomerang used by the Aborigines. 'It is currently the oldest boomerang in the world. It can be cautiously assumed that the boomerang was known in different parts of the world in the past.' The researchers say the find is unusual because it was widely believed that Aboriginal hunter-gatherers invented the first boomerangs thousands of years ago as toys and weapons for survival in the challenging Australian environment For Aboriginal communities, boomerangs are as old as time itself, featuring in their 'Dreaming' creation myths when ancestral spirits roamed the Earth. According to legend, during the Dreamtime, rivers, rock formations and mountains were created when ancestral spirits threw boomerangs and spears into the ground. The boomerang's ability to return was believed to be a powerful symbol that represented the cyclical nature of time, and they were used to hunt birds, small mammals and fish. The mammoth tusk boomerang was found in a cave in the western Carpathian Mountains above the Białka river, and radiocarbon dating shows it was made about 42,290 to 39,380 years ago. No ivory fragments were found at the site, suggesting the boomerang must have been crafted elsewhere and carried to Obłazowa Cave, underscoring its special status, the researchers said. Experimental work has demonstrated its capability to fly. Prehistoric boomerangs have been found in Europe including a wooden example from Jutland dating from about 7,000 years ago, while in North Africa, hunters are depicted in rock art wielding boomerangs from about 8,500 years ago. 'Not a ubiquitous tool' Ivory boomerangs were also found in the tomb of Tutankhamun, which dates from 1,323BC. Boomerangs are thought to have developed from throwing sticks, the earliest examples of which date from about 300,000 years ago and were found in Germany. Over time, it is likely that craftsmen realised making the stick curved creates greater lift as it moves through the air, allowing it to fly for longer. Not all boomerangs are designed to return to the thrower. Although the boomerangs were developed for hunting, over time they became multi-purpose tools, used for butchering animals, digging and scraping hot ashes, and even producing music when struck together. The authors conclude: 'The dispersed nature of the evidence suggests that while the boomerang was not a ubiquitous tool, its presence across various cultures likely reflects independent innovations rather than direct transmission, demonstrating its adaptability to different environmental and cultural contexts. 'These findings offer valuable insights into early human technological innovation, revealing the creative solutions societies developed to address their needs across time and space.' The research was published in the journal Plos One.
