About 42 thousand yearsthe Homo sapiens European created a kind of Rebirth prehistoriccalled Aurignanian. At this time, artistic creations and refined tools emerged when the theme is aesthetic. Among them is what would be The first boomerang in the world.
He was very well sculpted from a prey of mammoth and was located in a cave in Polandwhere archaeologists believe it received a ritual in which the piece was used.
“This discovery is unusual In the European Paleolithic Registry, as it is widely believed that the hunters-Aboriginal attackers invented the first bomeranges for thousands of years as toys and weapons for survival in the challenging Australian environment, ”wrote the authors in the article that talks about the find, published in PLOS ONE.
However, while older bolimeranges in Australia have about ten thousand yearsthe researchers estimate that the artifact has between 39,280 thousand and 42,290 years.
Polish boomerang details
- The Polish boomerang was discovered in CAVEN OB’AZOWA in 1985 And it resembles a lot to Queensland boomerang (what does not return after being released);
- Simulations point out that artifact Has similar behavior;
- Before, he was dated as being 18 thousand yearsbut it was confirmed that he came from Aurignacian. Thus, it is considered now The oldest boomerang in the world;
- Another point observed by archaeologists is that while much of these artifacts of the stone age is made of woodthe Polish piece is unique, as it is composed only by ivory.
Read more:
And the human finger? What are his details?
Close to the object, the researchers found a human finger bone and typical Aurignacian artifacts. “It was suggested that human fossils and boomerang may have been part of a shamanic ritual“They explained, adding that such an interpretation is based on the rock art old throughout Europe, portraying Human hands without fingers.
To the Iflscienceone of the study’s authors, Sahra Talamo, said that “we know of Aboriginal cultures [australianas] Nowadays that there is a kind of ritual to cut your fingers […] And that led the archaeologist who digs the place to think that this is a ritual instead of a hunting weapon. ”
Talamo’s argument is supported by the fact that No other ivory piece has been found in Ob’Azowa, which suggests that the Polish boomerang It was not done in the cavehaving been transported from other locations, indicating to be an item highly valued at the time.
Also IflsciencePaweee Valde-Newak, another author of the study, explained that the boomerang was in a dispersion of boulderand each weighed about 60 kg. They were brought to the cave of a next river bed.
“In this arrangement of boulders, there were also objects of exceptional importance for paleolithic people – ornaments made of Arrested Arcticalleged fossil shell whistles of Conus (which were cut), rock stone artifacts that occur to 300 kilometers away And ocher, ”said Valde-Newak.
“Such a combination of elements in this cluster should be treated as evidence of Homo’s rituals primitive sapiens, not just In terms of knowledge of a throwing weapon, like a boomerang, ”he continued.
However, as observed by Talamo, such conclusions raise several questions about the nature of the practices of sapiens that lived there. “If there was a ritual, We should have found such bomeranges all over Europe… but no other place with a boomerang like this was found. So why don’t we have other objects like this in this period? The only answer we have at the moment is that We do not excavate enough places“He concluded.
