World’s oldest boomerang doesn’t actually come back

4 hours ago Share Save Helen Briggs • @hbriggs BBC environment correspondent Share Save

Maciej Biernacki The boomerang was found near stones, animal and human bones

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.

Talamo et al., 2025, PLOS One, CC-BY 4.0 The ivory boomerang is curved and about the size of a baseball bat

The mammoth ivory boomerang was unearthed in Oblazowa Cave in southern Poland. It was originally thought to be about 30,000 years old. But 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. “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. It gives a “remarkable insight” into human behaviour, she said, particularly how Homo sapiens living as long as 42,000 years ago could shape “such a perfect object” with the knowledge it could be used to hunt animals. The boomerang is exceptionally well preserved, with score marks suggesting it had been polished and carved for use by a right-handed individual.

Talamo et al., 2025, PLOS One, CC-BY 4.0 The entrance to Oblazowa Cave on the southern border of Poland