Boomerang found in Poland may be oldest ever reported
Bob Yirka
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Lisa Lock
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Andrew Zinin
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An international team of scientists with a variety of backgrounds has found evidence that a boomerang found in a cave in Poland decades ago may be the oldest one ever reported. In their published on the open-access site PLOS One, the group analyzed artifacts found near the boomerang to learn more about its age.
In 1985, a team of archaeologists working at a dig site inside Obłazowa Cave in Poland found, among other things, a 72-cm-long boomerang. An earlier attempt to directly radiocarbon date the artifact produced an age of approximately 18,000 years, but this result is now believed to be unreliable due to contamination from conservation materials. In the same area, a human thumb bone was also found and dated to about 31,000 years ago. In the new study, researchers used advanced statistical modeling of radiocarbon dates from animal bones found in the same archaeological layer to indirectly estimate the boomerang's age, since the artifact itself was too fragile for further direct testing.
Because the boomerang itself had been deemed too fragile to use for direct testing, the team looked for circumstantial evidence. They noted that an earlier inspection of the boomerang showed it had been carved from a mammoth's ivory tusk. The boomerang had all the features of boomerangs used by Australian Aboriginals—its arched shape, flat cross section and size suggested it could have been used as a weapon to fell prey.
The team next looked at a human finger fossil found at the same soil depth as the boomerang—DNA testing showed it to be from a modern human who had lived approximately 31,000 years ago. They also tested a host of other animal bones unearthed at the same soil level and found their ages averaged to approximately 41,500 years ago. They then created a statistical data model and used it to estimate the age of the boomerang at between 39,280 and 42,290 years old.
The testing methods and procedures strongly suggest that the boomerang is likely the oldest ever found. The researchers note that the age of the boomerang sheds new light on the intelligence level and technical skills of people living in Europe as far back as 40,000 years ago.
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More information: Sahra Talamo et al, Boomerang and bones: Refining the chronology of the Early Upper Paleolithic at Obłazowa Cave, Poland, PLOS One (2025).
Journal information: PLoS ONE
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