World's oldest boomerang doesn't actually come back

BBC News ^ | June 25, 2025 | Helen Briggs

[SunkenCiv]

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.

...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.

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.

[SunkenCiv]

The boomerang was found near stones, animal and human bones

Maciej Biernacki

• 6,500-Year-Old Hunting Kit Recovered from Texas Cave [04/22/2025]
• 300,000-year-old double-pointed stick among oldest record of human-made wooden tools [07/23/2023]
• There's Another Way To Use Boomerangs That Most People Don't Know About [08/18/2022]
• 300,000-year-old throwing stick documents the evolution of hunting [04/26/2020]
• Aboriginal hair shows 50,000 year connection to Australia [03/08/2017]
• Captain Cook's boomerang to make a handsome return [08/21/2008]
• British Claim On Boomerang (6,000 Years Old) [05/07/2004]

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks for the link!

[Libloather]

Check the warranty.

[dfwgator]

[The Sons of Liberty]

World's oldest boomerang doesn't actually come back

Polish Boomerang.

[jimtorr]

Just another throwing stick, though perhaps the oldest one found. There are tomb paintings in Egypt of people throwing sticks at birds. I’d say it was a pretty common hunting tool.

[Paisan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_prtbj4MtDU

[catnipman]

“World’s oldest boomerang doesn’t actually come back”

i think it help if it had been made of wood, instead of stone ... :-)

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Reminds me of a popular old 1960s radio song probably would be banned today...How many remember it?

https://genius.com/Charlie-drake-my-boomerang-wont-come-back-lyrics

“My boomerang won’t come back
My boomerang won’t come back
I’ve waved the thing all over the place
Practiced till I was black in the face
I’m a big disgrace to the Aborigine race
My boomerang won’t come back”

[SunkenCiv]

Well, it’s bone.

[one guy in new jersey]

The tool, which was found in a cave in Poland in 1985, is now thought to be 40,000 years old.

... human and animal bones found at the site puts the age at between 39,000 and 42,000 years old.
________________

TWEEEEEEET!

Biblical timeline violation.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

* hunting
* cultural object
* artistic piece
* ritual object
* garbage disposal cleaner
* Mastodon toothpick

Glad they narrowed it down

[SunkenCiv]

I’m gonna pretend I didn’t laugh at that one. :^) :^D

[SunkenCiv]

Obviously not “Craftsman”.

[SunkenCiv]

:^)

[nuke_road_warrior]

Governor Lepetomane: “This thing's broke.”

[ClearCase_guy]

“Hey, I found something that people used to throw.”
“You mean, a boomerang?”
“No, this thing doesn’t come back.”
“But it’s a boomerang.”
“No, it’s a piece of bone. They just threw it.”
“So, it is a boomerang.”
“Look, if I found a rock shaped like a baseball, really handy for throwing, what would you call it?”
“I’d call it a boomerang.”

[verum ago]

Another massively ignorant journalism major (I assume).

Actual hunting boomerangs don’t come back. They’re not supposed to. They’re supposed to fly predictably to the target and kill it with a strike to the vitals (usually head or neck), then be collected at convenience from the ground adjacent to the prey animal.

The horribly curved trajectory of a boomerang that comes back to the thrower is wildly awkward for the device’s original intended use: killing food for a hunter. Would you want to shoot a rifle that somehow returned bullets to you? Ignoring the risk of having a bullet come back at you for the sake of analogy, it’d still be a sh*tty idea because the steeply curved trajectory would make the thing a nightmare to aim. The same applies to a boomerang.

Returning boomerangs are a recent novelty version of a tens of thousands of years old hunting weapon. They are to actual boomerangs as cap guns are to a Winchester Model 70: an ineffective entertainment-oriented fascimile.

So yeah, of course a super old boomerang doesn’t adopt an absurdly curved trajectory. It’s job was to fly straight and brain something, not come back in a loop and make an idiot 2025 AD ‘newswriter’ who has no idea where grocery store meat comes from clap like a trained seal in delight because it did a loop (while cleanly missing the rabbit it was thrown at).

I might be grumpy this morning lol

[one guy in new jersey]

“Radiocarbon dating has somehow avoided collapse onto its own battered foundation, and now lurches onward with feigned consistency.”

https://www.chcpublications.net/Radiocarbon_Dating.pdf

[econjack]

The Aussies actually have a name for a boomerang that doesn’t come back. They call it: “a stick”.