Ivory boomerang
Bumerán de marfil
- Date
- c. 40-42 ka · confidence high
- Place
- Obłazowa Cave, Nowa Biała, Poland
- Credited to
- Homo sapiens (Pavlovian)
- Field
- Conflict
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A curved 70 cm piece of mammoth tusk with an aerodynamic profile, interpreted as a non-returning boomerang. The oldest thrown weapon in Eurasia with an aerodynamic design.
Redated to c. 40 ka in 2025. Preserved Australian boomerangs are more recent (c. 10 ka) but the tradition is independent.
What it led to
- Empirical understanding of aerodynamics
- Hunting of birds and smaller prey on open plains
- A prestige object ritually deposited with a human thumb
Built on
- Wooden spear (Schöningen)c. 300 ka
- Blade technology (Mode 4)c. 50 ka
- Wooden spear (Schöningen)
- Blade technology (Mode 4)
Made possible
Links
Sources✓ verified 2026-09-25
- https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/40-000-year-old-mammoth-tusk-boomerang-is-oldest-in-europe-and-possibly-the-world
- https://popular-archaeology.com/article/boomerang-made-from-mammoth-tusk-is-likely-one-of-the-oldest-known-in-europe-at-around-40000-years-old-per-analysis-of-this-artifact-from-a-polish-upper-paleolithic-cave/