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Boomerangs return with greater insights into ample uses
If you thought all boomerangs were used solely for throwing and – hopefully – returning then think again, because new research by a team of Griffith University archaeologists suggests that Aboriginal Australians employed the traditional curved wooden objects for so many more purposes.
PhD candidate Eva Martellotta at the Australian Museum.
The team from Griffith’s Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution (ARCHE) analysed microscopic traces on the surfaces of 100 boomerangs from across each state and territory curated by the Australian Museum in Sydney.
The findings constitute the first traceological identification of hardwood boomerangs being used for shaping stone tools in various Aboriginal Australian contexts and have been published in Journal of Archaeological Science – Reports.
Bone tools found in Riwi Cave in the Kimberley, WA. Credit: Michelle Langley
New research has reappraised the age of bone artefacts found in a famous Kimberley cave site as being more than 35,000 years old, making them among the oldest bone tools found in Australia.
Published in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, the team of scientists from across Australia analysed eight bone artefacts from Riwi Cave in Mimbi country in south-central Kimberley, Western Australia.
Dr Michelle Langley from ARCHE.
Four of the bone artefacts were found in layers that dating to between 35,000 and 46,000 years ago, making them some of the oldest bone tools in Australia. Previously, the oldest bone artefact from Carpenter’s Gap 1 in the Kimberley was found to have be
Ancient Bone Tools in WA Dated to Be Over 35,000 Years Old
Four bone tools discovered in Western Australia have changed how archaeologists think of ancient northern Australian indigenous societies after the tools were reevaluated to be between 35,000 and 47,000 years old making them among the oldest of their kind in Australia.
The findings published in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology in February come after a similar discovery in 2016 of a roughly 46,000-year-old nose piercing made from kangaroo bone. Prior to this, bone tools were believed by some to only have existed as early as 20,000 years ago.
Dr Michelle Langley, from Griffith’s Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution and Forensics & Archaeology, said it was once believed that bone tools did not play an important role in the ancient indigenous society’s in northern Australia.
7 April 2021 /
Bone tools from the Kimberley among oldest in Australia
A new study of bone artefacts found in the Kimberley region reveals the secrets of their deep antiquity and diverse use.
Bone tools found in the Kimberley. Credit: Michelle Langley
The rugged Kimberley region of Western Australia is home to vast tracts of land – a savannah landscape of ranges and plains, pockmarked with caves. A new study of bone tools found in one such Kimberley cave has revealed they are among the oldest in the country and carry marks that hint at their ancient uses.
The tools were found in layers dated to between 35,000 and 46,000 years ago in Riwi Cave, about 90 kilometres south-east of Fitzroy Crossing. This means their antiquity rivals the previous record holder for oldest bone artefact, a tool found at Carpenter’s Gap 1 (also in the Kimberley) that was dated to under 46,000 years old. A re-analysis of the tools by a team of archaeologists from Griffith University, the Univer