OBLAZOWA CAVE, POLAND—Boomerangs are today typically associated with the Aboriginal Australian culture and the oldest examples found on the continent there date back 10,000 years. However, according to Courthouse News Service, the world’s oldest boomerang might actually come from Poland. In 1985, archaeologists discovered a crescent-shaped artifact deep in the Oblazowa Cave in southern Poland. Researchers believe that it was fashioned from mammoth tusk, and although it would have flown when tossed, it would not have returned to the thrower like typical boomerangs. New radiocarbon dating and DNA analysis of human and animal bones found alongside the object indicate that it was made 40,000 years ago, making it not only the oldest boomerang of its kind, but one of the oldest known complex tools ever found in Europe. The researchers are unsure, though, whether the boomerang would have been used for hunting. Instead they suggest that it might have been part of a Paleolithic shamanistic ritual. Read the original scholarly article about this research in PLOS ONE. To read about trauma caused by a boomerang in prehistoric Australia, go to "Death by Boomerang."
