Since the European invasion in the late 1700s, however, the multipurpose nature of the boomerang has received little attention from archaeologists or ethnographic researchers.Įarlier this year, some of the same researchers published a systematic review of the scientific literature on boomerangs. The findings support the hypothesis that Australia's First Nations peoples regularly used hardwood boomerangs for retouching purposes. "While our results for the first time scientifically quantify the multipurpose nature of daily tools like boomerangs, this is something that Aboriginal people have known from a very long time," Martellotta adds. Our results are the first scientific proof of the multipurpose nature of these iconic objects."
"Traditionally handcrafted experimental replicas of boomerangs proved very functional to shape stone tools. "In our article, we put together traditional knowledge and experimental archaeology to investigate a forgotten use of boomerangs: modifying the edges of stone tools," says archaeologist Eva Francesca Martellotta from Griffith University in Australia. Researchers previously suspected these markings were the product of wood tapping against stone or bone, and the new experiments show that is very much a possibility. This left scratches on the wooden tool that closely match those seen on older boomerang artifacts held in museums. When expert knappers were given these hardwood boomerangs to use, they were able to flake away the edges of bone instruments. Members of the Milan Dhiiyaan mob also shared their Traditional knowledge and some bubarra / garrbaa / biyarr (boomerangs) with the authors.
One of the authors is a Birrunburra / Bundjalung / Yugambeh / Yuggera / Turrbal man, and he contributed two of the four hardwood boomerangs used in the experiments. Frameborder="0″ allow="accelerometer autoplay clipboard-write encrypted-media gyroscope picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen>
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