The object represents the earliest known evidence of spiritual or symbolic behavior by Homo sapiens in this part of Europe, the naukawpolsce.pl website has reported.
Scholars agree that the object reflects the growing complexity of human culture during the Upper Paleolithic.
More than just a tool, it may represent a moment when early humans in Central Europe began to externalize their emotions, honor their dead and engage with the world in ways that still resonate today.
The revised dating was announced following a comprehensive study led by radiocarbon expert Sahra Talamo of the University of Bologna in Italy.
Published in PLoS One, the research used advanced genetic and isotopic methods to reexamine the archaeological context of the object without disturbing the boomerang itself.
Instead, researchers dated nearby bones including a human finger bone, believed to be the oldest Homo sapiens fossil ever found on Polish soil.
The boomerang, made from a polished and curved section of mammoth ivory measuring over 70 centimeters, was unearthed in 1985 by a Polish team led by Professor Paweł Valde-Nowak.
At the time, the artifact was tentatively dated to between 30,000 and 23,000 years ago and attributed to the Pavlovian culture that flourished in what is now the Czech Republic and Austria.
The new data pushes the date back to between 42,290 and 39,280 years before present time, suggesting it may be the oldest known boomerang in Europe, or anywhere in the world.
“This discovery places us right at the beginning of what archaeologists call the symbolic explosion of Homo sapiens,” said Valde-Nowak. "We begin to see evidence across Europe of people reacting emotionally, expressing themselves through art, and engaging in ritual practices."
He pointed to contemporaneous cave paintings in France and Spain, and figurines and musical instruments found in southern Germany, as part of this wider cultural development.
Although boomerangs are usually associated with Aboriginal Australians, similar throwing tools have been found elsewhere, including in Europe.
Returning boomerangs are typically asymmetrical and aerodynamically shaped to curve back to the thrower, while non-returning types are often heavier, more symmetrical, and designed for stability and impact rather than flight path curvature.
Both can be used in hunting, while the non-returning ones have been also used for butchering animals to digging fire pits, and sometimes featured used in rituals.
The archaeologists believe, the Obłazowa specimen was likely more than a utilitarian tool.
According to Valde-Nowak, it was found intact, carefully placed in a prominent location inside the cave, surrounded by large stones weighing over 60 kilograms, alongside a human bone and several other valuable items.
The entire area had been dusted with red ochre, a mineral pigment often associated with symbolic or funerary use in prehistoric burials.
"These are all signs that suggest a ritual function," he said.
Located in the Małopolska region of southern Poland, Obłazowa Cave is one of the richest Ice Age archaeological sites in the country. Its proximity to a river gorge made it an ideal hunting and settlement area, first for Neanderthals and later for Homo sapiens.
The site has yielded numerous artifacts, including tools and ritual items, as well as both human and animal teeth and bones.
Until now, scholars believed Homo sapiens only reached southern Poland around 35,000 years ago, long after the disappearance of Neanderthals.
The new findings suggest humans may have been present in this peripheral glacial zone far earlier than previously assumed.
The data also challenge the notion that early humans only settled in Europe’s warmer regions, such as the Danube basin or the Mediterranean.
"Obłazowa Cave tells a different story," said Valde-Nowak. "It shows that early Homo sapiens were more flexible and resilient than we thought, capable of adapting to harsh and changeable environments."
To avoid damaging the fragile artifact, researchers refrained from directly dating the boomerang.
The item had already undergone conservation costing over EUR 100,000 when it was loaned to the Musée de l’Homme in Paris. Instead, they used a statistical analysis approach known as Bayesian modeling to date 13 animal bones and the human finger bone found in the same layer.
The research has been part of a wider project funded by the European Research Council and conducted in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany and Polish institutions supported by the National Science Centre.
(rt/gs)
Source: naukawpolsce.pl