The True Story Of How Boomerangs Came Into Being
When talking about boomerangs, the first thing that comes up is Australia or Aboriginal. As a result, the general public assumes that the origin originated there. To get to the point, this is definitely WRONG. Various finds clearly demonstrate intensive use of boomerangs in almost all parts of the world. A “cultural appropriation” on the basis of this is absolutely absurd and impossible. If you deal with the historical background, you will be able to gain a lot of impressive facts and knowledge that will put the “truth” in a completely new light. With this contribution we would like to help prevent the spreading of wrong views and create an incentive to do our own research. In any case, many facts speak very clearly against the claim that the boomerang was invented exclusively in Australia and was only part of the culture there. Let’s just start from scratch.
Homo sapiens
If you observe monkeys from today’s perspective, you will occasionally see approaches with sticks as a weapon to throw themselves at. For example, to defend against predators, or to take smaller depths for food. Intelligence then increased with homo sapiens, which began its triumphal march 400,000 years ago. For comparison, the Aboriginal ancestors only came to Australia 40,000 years ago. So in Europe, America, Asia and Africa you would have had significantly more time to develop throwing sticks and boomerangs. However, this is only evidence or assumptions that could be drawn from logical considerations. Throwing something is as old as mankind itself. Experts assume that throwing sticks only emerged and that boomerangs (returnees) were developed from them over time.
The oldest boomerang finds
The fact is that the oldest throwing wood ever found (a non-returning model) comes from Europe, more precisely Poland. The specimen in the Oblazowa cave in the Polish Carpathians https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtefactPorn/comments/2dmb0x/the_oldest_boomerang_in_the_world_found_in/ was dated exactly to 23,000 years and is made from the tusk of a woolly mammoth. In contrast, the first wooden boomerangs in Australia were dated to 10,000 years ago (shape and size are more like a throwing wood https://twitter.com/bigjsl/status/1020845859473272832). In caves, however, drawings with throwing sticks were found, which are around 20,000 years old. The Australian Museum also describes boomerang finds in other parts of the world https://australianmuseum.net.au/learn/cultures/atsi-collection/boomerangs/ (Find out more about Boomerangs around the world) Here, for example, from a 9000 year old Boomerang spoken in the US, etc.
A returning specimen was found on the Elbe in Germany, which was determined to be 800-400 BC. The size, for example, also speaks for this, because it is therefore not particularly suitable for hunting larger animals. https://st.museum-digital.de/index.php?t=object&oges=16879 The museum speaks of “great manufacturer routine”, which is why one can speak of many specimens and precise knowledge of necessary requirements. This boomerang was even arched and hollowed out to improve flight characteristics. Archaeologist Dietrich Evers found another boomerang with return qualities, which can be seen on Rediboom. https://rediboom.de/europa/
A boomerang from 550 BC (Iron Age) was found in the Netherlands. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Velsen_afgietsel_boemerang.JPG or https://www.geheugenvannederland.nl/nl/geheugen/view?coll=ngvn&identifier=RMO01%3A008803 A total of 2 boomerangs were found in Velsen and one in Vlaardingen. Boomerangs were discovered in Denmark between 5000 and 4000 BC. Christ. Even in the burial chamber of Tut Ench Ammun, special throwing sticks and boomerangs were found http://www.joanannlansberry.com/fotoart/tut/4boomers.html. Ultimately, people around the world have developed and used boomerangs. Some, however, are more intense and longer than others, which also has a good reason.
There were further finds in France, where a throwing wood was discovered, which had no return characteristics, but was at least similar in shape to a boomerang. https://exarc.net/issue-2015-3/ea/gaulish-throwing-stick-discovery-normandy-study-and-throwing-experimentations (ca.120 – 80 BC)
This list could certainly be continued as desired. It is therefore a mystery to us how, given the mass of finds in Europe, America, Africa and Asia, we can even begin to speak of Aboriginal cultural appropriation. There is only one case where this is actually the case. But more on that later.
Why the boomerang became less important outside of Australia
Boomerangs were primarily used as a weapon for killing animals. But once a better and more effective technique was developed, older methods were neglected. In Europe, Asia, Africa and America these were, for example, bows and arrows, throwing spears, throwing knives, etc.
The “shielded” continent of Australia, on the other hand, did not follow the rapid development due to a lack of necessity (isolated location, peacefulness). That is why boomerangs are still used there as a hunting weapon, play equipment, digging tool, religious aspects, etc. However, there are also Indian peoples isolated in parts of America who still use boomerangs to this day.
In many parts of the world, boomerangs were of great importance at times because there were no alternatives. In the course of development, they were forgotten. In 1770 James Cook brought the first Australian boomerang to Europe. Nevertheless, it should still be a long time before the boomerang gained a certain popularity as sports equipment. The Australian boomerangs thus had a certain share in the fact that a renewed spread took place. But that doesn’t change the fact that in many other parts of the world there was a separate boomerang culture much earlier.
Why are there so few surviving boomerangs?
This is usually due to the climate, because over thousands of years, if not tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of years, no wood is really well preserved. There must be special circumstances before you can find a really old boomerang. This includes good luck, especially in America, Europe, Africa and Asia. Australia, on the other hand, is a dry continent, where wood is eaten by termites and ants, if at all, than to fall victim to the climate. The boomerangs of the pharaoh were protected by the pyramids, the boomerangs in Germany were so deep in the water where there was no more oxygen. In addition, there is the fact that hardly anyone (an accidental finder) could even identify such old wood as a boomerang.
Boomerangs and throwing sticks (kylies)
One does not like to distinguish boomerangs and throwing sticks at all, but both variants have completely different flight characteristics. Throwing sticks only fly straight, but boomerangs return to the thrower. One then speaks of returnees.
Throwing sticks or kylies are typical hunting weapons with a straight trajectory. Due to their size and weight, they are also suitable for killing larger animals. Egyptian throwing sticks https://www.wikiwand.com/de/Bumerang Smaller returnees, however, were used more for bird hunting, to learn throwing techniques and just for fun. Returnees worldwide also appeared completely separately from Australia. The exact origin cannot be ascertained beyond doubt, but is more likely to be assumed in India and the old Orient, and proven evidence has been given to Old Europe.
The worldwide misconception with Australia!
For decades, the use of boomerang has been very intensive for decades, which is why the rest of the world solidified the impression that the origin should be in Australia. However, this has not been proven and because of the many finds all over the world, it is not really so. However, it is undisputed that the boomerangs from Australia are among the oldest in the world. However, this does not in any way lead to a claim to the sole commercial utility of this technology.
As we now know, of course, there was a boomerang culture far and wide. Therefore, an accusation of cultural appropriation would not be tenable. But even if it were, here is another example.
Football actually had its origins in Asia until it reached England and then Germany and the whole world. Hardly any other sport is used so commercially. If you follow the “boomerang views”, you shouldn’t be playing football in Europe because you have acquired foreign culture. So ban football? And that’s just an example. If you want, you could cut out much of our progress and civilization for these reasons. No more jeans (cowboys), no more pizza (Italy), you shouldn’t even speak English anymore, etc.
If achievements, inventions, further developments, etc. should not spread worldwide due to cultural appropriation, then people would probably still live in caves and go hunting as in the Stone Age.
Grotesque reasoning of the idea clause
The fact that boomerang producers are sometimes exposed to the accusation of cultural appropriation is due to ignorance and a completely wrong interpretation. According to the wrong understanding and with 23,000 years oldest find in Poland, the Aborigines in Australia are more likely to have acquired foreign cultural property. This is of course nonsense due to the completely independent development of boomerangs and throwing sticks worldwide, but it shows the grotesque features of the accusations. One reason may be that such a topic is always about money and power. Sensitive articles with falsehoods have a greater reach than factual reporting. Often, however, you simply have neither time nor desire to do your own research. This is how fakenews often emerge.
Cultural appropriation only correct in exceptional cases
The claim of sole use cannot be maintained for Australian Aborigines. Otherwise, all boomerang manufacturers worldwide would have had to stop production. Due to the true history of the boomerang, which we (and also many others) have made clear with this contribution, this will never happen. In our opinion, however, the unjustified cultural appropriation looks different if one uses typical features for Australia in the boomerangs. These can be Australian rock paintings, signs, painted kangaroos, Australian wood like eucalyptus, etc. Company names and product names that suggest Australian origin are at least problematic. This would actually suggest an origin of the product from Australia and possibly confuse buyers. However, none of these cases apply to our boomerangs. We expressly distance ourselves from it.
Royal in the company name means royal and is more reminiscent of Europe and England today. However, there were of course kings or emperors in German history. Accordingly, the logo is based more on an eagle, the “king of the air”. Are there eagles in Australia? No. A crown also appears in the logo, which also speaks more for other countries.
Even the design with precious metals, jewels, etc. has absolutely nothing to do with cultural cave painting and Aboriginal symbols. Here you can see a connection to the Baroque in Italy, where everything was ornate and refined. This style is also very popular in Germany.
Our legitimation and that of other manufacturers is the then worldwide boomerang culture. We at Royal Wing Boomerangs want to revive European history in particular.
Conclusion: The biologists call this convergent evolution. Similar life forms develop under similar conditions, similar requirements lead to similar problem solutions and devices. Based on this, throwing sticks and boomerangs have developed worldwide and completely independently. No matter who or where someone makes boomerangs and sells for whatever amount, there is no reason for illegal cultural appropriation.
We have created also a special video to the origin and history of boomerangs. Its nice not only to read tons of text, its interesting to see something visible for the eyes. In the video section you can find also a lot of other cool films.
