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World's oldest boomerang doesn't actually come back
BBC News ^ | June 25, 2025 | Helen Briggs

Posted on 06/28/2025 7:54:02 AM PDT by 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.

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: boomerang; boomerangs; dietandcuisine; fauxiantroll; fauxiantrolls; godsgravesglyphs; huntergatherers; mammoth; mammoths; paleolithic; poland; youngearthdelusion; youngearthdelusions
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To: one guy in new jersey

That’s more of your troll nonsense, and not surprisingly, not from a scientific source.


21 posted on 06/28/2025 8:36:43 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Politics do not make strange bedfellows, and the enemy of your enemy may still be your enemy.)
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To: econjack

LOL. Or “factory second”.


22 posted on 06/28/2025 8:37:33 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Politics do not make strange bedfellows, and the enemy of your enemy may still be your enemy.)
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To: verum ago

Good ones will circle back *a bit* if they miss the target. The alternative is, a hunting tool that took time to craft has to be hunted *for*.


23 posted on 06/28/2025 8:39:29 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Politics do not make strange bedfellows, and the enemy of your enemy may still be your enemy.)
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To: SunkenCiv
Thrown rock was probably our first distance weapon but thrown stick was probably close behind.

People still hunt with throwing clubs quite successfully.

24 posted on 06/28/2025 8:43:27 AM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear ( Not my circus. Not my monkeys. But I can pick out the clowns at 100 yards.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Suit yourself.

By any chance, do you also subscribe to the theory of (macro) evolution?

On biblical guidance, all humans descended from one man: Adam, with another bottleneck at Noah. Are you down with this? Or no.


25 posted on 06/28/2025 8:51:52 AM PDT by one guy in new jersey
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To: SunkenCiv

What do you call a boomerang that doesn’t come back?


26 posted on 06/28/2025 8:54:09 AM PDT by null and void (Democrats: fake news, fake presidents, fake beliefs, fake policies, fake protesters & fake voters!)
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To: null and void

Gnaremoob?


27 posted on 06/28/2025 9:05:19 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Politics do not make strange bedfellows, and the enemy of your enemy may still be your enemy.)
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To: one guy in new jersey

As I’ve said to you before, under one of your many other nicks, try chopping up your meds and snorting them, they’ll be more potent that way.


28 posted on 06/28/2025 9:06:27 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Politics do not make strange bedfellows, and the enemy of your enemy may still be your enemy.)
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To: SunkenCiv

I’m stealing that.


29 posted on 06/28/2025 9:20:23 AM PDT by null and void (Democrats: fake news, fake presidents, fake beliefs, fake policies, fake protesters & fake voters!)
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To: Ruy Dias de Bivar

I remember hearing that on the radio back then. First thing I thought of when I saw the headline on this story, in fact.


30 posted on 06/28/2025 9:46:16 AM PDT by HartleyMBaldwin
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To: nuke_road_warrior

“Why do I always get a warped one?”


31 posted on 06/28/2025 9:59:48 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: verum ago
Would you want to shoot a rifle that somehow returned bullets to you?

Well, it it was shaped like a boomerang, I suppose you could shoot around corners....

32 posted on 06/28/2025 10:06:09 AM PDT by Hot Tabasco
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To: SunkenCiv

Sometimes a pointy curved stick is just a pointy curved stick..


33 posted on 06/28/2025 11:28:35 AM PDT by drSteve78 ( Older Je suis Deplorable. Even more so”)
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To: The Sons of Liberty

Don’t tell Charlie Drake; he tried to warn us.


34 posted on 06/28/2025 11:54:27 AM PDT by DPMD
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To: SunkenCiv

My brother and I like “boomerang jokes.” Jokes you throw out there and people scratch their heads over. …Until it hits ‘em later!


35 posted on 06/28/2025 11:55:26 AM PDT by BradyLS (DO NOT FEED THE BEARS!)
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To: SunkenCiv

My luddite friend throwing a replica he made:

https://youtu.be/XK-cAcCIkUo?feature=shared

Bad to the broken bone.


36 posted on 06/28/2025 12:03:02 PM PDT by KingLudd
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To: SunkenCiv

Thor threw it away. That’s why you found it. “P.O.S. is now a museum piece, lol” said Thor.

He alsi is quoted saying “Yea, all my clay pots are crap too, that’s why the dump is full of clay shards. Si tired of eating and drinking from my hands.”


37 posted on 06/28/2025 2:13:17 PM PDT by If You Want It Fixed - Fix It
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To: SunkenCiv

List proves a lot of the posts here are about throwbacks to an earlier era.

Laugh In joke:

“I’m worried that I’m starting to forget things lately.”

“Just write notes on a boomerang. It will all come back to you.”


38 posted on 06/28/2025 4:17:05 PM PDT by frank ballenger (There's a battle outside and it's raging. It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls. )
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To: SunkenCiv

what “other nicks”

being that there aren’t any


39 posted on 06/28/2025 8:43:18 PM PDT by one guy in new jersey
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

* hunting
* cultural object
* artistic piece
* ritual object
* garbage disposal cleaner
* Mastodon toothpickhat *hat rack *back scratcher


40 posted on 06/28/2025 8:51:59 PM PDT by timestax
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