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"Boomerang" made from mammoth tusk is likely one of the oldest known in Europe at around 40,000 years old, per analysis of this artifact from a Polish Upper Paleolithic cave

2025-06-25
(Press-News.org) "Boomerang" made from mammoth tusk is likely one of the oldest known in Europe at around 40,000 years old, per analysis of this artifact from a Polish Upper Paleolithic cave

Article URL: https://plos.io/43ScZex

Article title: Boomerang and bones: Refining the chronology of the Early Upper Paleolithic at Obłazowa Cave, Poland

Author countries: Italy, Canada, Switzerland, Poland, U.K., Germany.

Funding: This research was supported by the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (grant agreement No. 803147 RESOLUTION, awarded to Sahra Talamo). A.P. collaborates in the Italian grant PRIN20209LLK8S_001 DYNASTY: “Neanderthals dynamic pathway and resilience in central Europe through the chronometric sustainability” funded by the Ministry of University and Research (awarded to Sahra Talamo). The contribution of S.B., A.V. and M.R., was funded by the European Union - Next Generation EU PRIN 2022 TRACE project (awarded to Stefano Benazzi and Adriana Moroni) and by CHANGES, SPOKE 5 “Science and Technologies for Sustainable Diagnostics of Cultural Heritage,” PE 0000020, CUP B53C22003890006, NRP M4C2 Investment 1.3, funded by the European Union—NextGenerationEU. The work of C.F. is supported by the European’s Union Horizon Europe research and innovation program - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-GF (grant agreement: n.101108385 – RISEN). P.V.N.'s participation in preparing this work was supported and financed by the National Science Center, project no. 2021/41/B/HS3/03217: “The Stone Age Man in the Caves of the Tatra Mountains”. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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[Press-News.org] "Boomerang" made from mammoth tusk is likely one of the oldest known in Europe at around 40,000 years old, per analysis of this artifact from a Polish Upper Paleolithic cave