New research by Griffith University and scientists from the University of Cape Town provides the first sporeological evidence of the multipurpose nature of Australian hardwood boomerangs.
Australian Luritja man demonstrating the method of attack with boomerang under the shield, c. 1920. Image Credit: National Museum of Australia.
“Australian lithic compositions contain a large number of retouched tools,” said lead author Eva Martellott of the Australian Research Center for Human Evolution at Griffith University and her colleagues.
“Despite this fact, however, there is little evidence for and studies on the retouching tools used to create these technologies, particularly with respect to their use in percussion retouching.”
“Indirect evidence found in ethnographic literature suggests that wood items – specifically boomerangs – were frequently used as retouchers.”
In the study, the researchers analyzed microscopic traces on the surfaces of 100 ancient boomerangs from across every Australian state and territory.
Using a traceological method, they were able to see more clearly for what tasks the boomerangs had been used by the native Australians in the past.
Retouching-induced marks were identified on 26% of the boomerangs examined by Martellotta et al. and was comparable to the traces observed on the surfaces of ancient European bone retouchers. Image credit: Martellotta et al., doi: 10.1016 / j.jasrep.2021.102967.
“Not all boomerangs come back. “Most are used for hunting and fighting purposes, while the return is often a child’s toy or used for games and learning purposes,” said Martellotta.
“We found specific marks associated with the formation of stone tools.”
“These marks are not new in archeology; they are also identified on bone fragments at archeological sites in Europe.”
“Here the Neanderthals used them to change the shape of stone tools, 500,000 years ago.”
“Our findings are the first traceological identification of hardwood boomerangs used to form stone tools in various Aboriginal Australian contexts and highlight the multipurpose nature of everyday tools such as boomerangs in Aboriginal culture.”
The findings are in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.
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Eva Francesca Martellotta et al. 2021. New data from old collections: retouching-induced marks on Australian hardwood boomerangs. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 37: 102967; doi: 10.1016 / j.jasrep.2021.102967