Everyone knows that the boomerang eventually returns after being thrown. Though this ancient weapon itself cannot return to the past, it can bring a remarkable history to modern times. Ironically, this tool, inextricably linked to Australia, was one of the artifacts excavated during an archaeological dig in Poland in 1985. Not long after the 1985 find, Pawel Valde-Nowak, Professor of Archaeology at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, theorized that the boomerang was from the Pavlovian culture that existed in the area between 23,000 and 30,000 years ago. If his theory were true, the Polish boomerang would be the world’s oldest known boomerang.
The boomerang was discovered in Oblasowa Cave in southern Poland. The researchers later estimated its age at approximately 30,000 years old. However, a new study by a group of international researchers, published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE, has found the Polish boomerang to be far older. Archaeologists working on the excavation data say it was fashioned from a mammoth’s tusk, a precise level of skill. The researchers deduce from its shape that it flew when thrown but failed to return to the thrower, unlike its famous rival in Australia. This specific tool was likely intended for hunting or even for a ritual.
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The most unusual aspect of the Polish boomerang is that it exemplifies the widespread use of this ancient weapon, though it is generally associated with Aboriginal culture in Australia. However, rare finds in the historical record from outside Australia suggest boomerangs were used across continents worldwide. The oldest known example of the Australian boomerang dates to 10,500 years ago and is made of wood. The oldest known images of boomerangs in Australia are rock art paintings estimated at up to 20,000 years old, according to the National Museum of Australia. A wooden boomerang, dated at 7,000 years old, has been found in Jutland, a peninsula in the waters adjacent to Germany and Denmark. Fragments of a 2,000-year-old oak boomerang, which does come back, have also been found in the Netherlands.
Location, entrance, and stratigraphy of Obłazowa Cave, Poland. Panel A shows the geographic location of the cave; Panel B shows the western and main cave entrances; Panel C illustrates the site's archaeological stratigraphy. (Talamo et al., PLOS ONE/CC BY 4.0.)
The Redating
Recently, new, more reliable radiocarbon dating of human and animal bones found at the Polish site puts the age range between 39,000 and 42,000 years. “It’s the oldest boomerang in the world, and the only one in the world made of this shape and this long to be found in Poland,” said Dr. Sahra Talamo of the University of Bologna, Italy. Talano believes the finding demonstrates a “remarkable insight” into human behavior.
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These researchers noted that this was a period when humans first began to “demonstrate an enhanced symbolic capacity, including expanding artistic manifestations.”
Left distal phalanx of an early modern human (Homo sapiens) from Layer VIII of Obłazowa Cave, Poland. The bone was directly radiocarbon dated and helped establish the age of the associated mammoth-ivory boomerang. (Talamo et al., PLOS ONE/CC BY 4.0)
A Boomerang That Doesn’t Return
Researchers determined from its shape that it would have flown when thrown but would not have come back to the thrower. It was probably used for hunting, though it might also have had cultural or artistic value. One question that interests Professor Talamo is how Homo sapiens living around 42,000 years ago could shape “such a perfect object” with the intention of using it to hunt animals. The Polish boomerang is exceptionally well-preserved, with score marks suggesting that it was once polished and even carved for use by a right-handed individual. The world's oldest boomerang returns due credit to the ingenuity of the mammoth hunters of its time.
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The Bigger Picture
Professor Nowak notes that the boomerang was found exposed, surrounded by boulders weighing over 60 kilograms that someone had rolled into the cave. Around the find were the oldest human bones ever discovered in Polish lands, along with several other valuable objects. The entire area in the cave was also coated with red ochre dust. “These are all signals that make us think about the boomerang more in terms of ritual than everyday life. On the other hand, boomerangs that don’t return to the thrower, like the one from Oblazowa Cave, are also known to have been used as combat tools, implements for butchering carcasses, digging wells or kitchen pits, scraping hot ashes from roasted meat, or as part of percussion instruments. Valde-Nowak believes that the boomerang was placed in an exposed position because of its ritual value to those who used it for hunting.
Woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) reconstruction. Mammoths supplied the ivory used by Upper Paleolithic peoples to carve tools, ornaments, artwork, and the approximately 40,000-year-old boomerang discovered at Obłazowa Cave in Poland. (Tracey O/CC BY-SA 2.0.)
While similar cultural developments have been documented in France, Spain, and Germany, researchers aren’t entirely certain whether the boomerang once held ritual meaning or was simply a practical tool. This study, funded by the European Research Council and Poland’s National Science Center, highlights how early humans adapted to glacial conditions and affirms the critical role of Oblazowa Cave in tracing the origins of human cultures in this region.
Top Image: Mammoth ivory boomerang from Obłazowa Cave, Poland. Source: Talamo et al., PLOS ONE/CC BY 4.0
By Ramsey Hardin
References
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Talamo, Sahra, et al. “Boomerang and Bones: Refining the Chronology of the Early Upper Paleolithic at Obłazowa Cave, Poland.” PLOS ONE 20, no. 6 (2025). Accessed June 30, 2026.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0324911
Valde-Nowak, Paweł, Adam Nadachowski, and Teresa Madeyska. Obłazowa Cave: Human Activity, Stratigraphy and Palaeoenvironment. Warsaw: Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences, 2003.
Valde-Nowak, Paweł. “Obłazowa and Hłomcza: Two Paleolithic Sites in the North Carpathian Province of Southern Poland.” In Lithic Materials and Paleolithic Societies, edited by Brian Adams and Brooke S. Blades, 196–207. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009.
Whiddington, Richard. “40,000-Year-Old Boomerang Doesn't Boomerang at All.” Artnet News, July 1, 2025. Accessed June 30, 2026.https://news.artnet.com/art-world/mammoth-tusk-boomerang-worlds-oldest-2663430.
