Australia: The Land Where Time Began

A biography of the Australian continent 

The swamp is a peat bog south of Millicent, South Australia. A number of wooden Aboriginal tools have been found here. The occupation site that was covered by the expanding swamp has produced a range of wooden tools that are missing from most other sites, simply because wood required the correct conditions to survive for thousands of years. Among the tools were 3 complete boomerangs made from the drooping she oak (Casuarina stricta) and a 4th incomplete boomerang made from the root of  the drooping she oak. Later finds have increased the  number of wooden tools to 25, of which 9 were boomerangs. There were also a digging stick, a stake about 40 cm long, that was probably also a digging stick, a short simple spear and 2 barbed spears. These are the oldest known barbed spears in the world.

Some of the complete boomerangs were of the returning type, as indicated by their design, the 2 ends being in different aerodynamic planes and they join at a sharp elbow.

There were also core tools and scrapers at the site that had plant residue on the working surfaces.

Cane¹

As these artefacts are more than 10,000 years old the boomerangs and barbed spears are the oldest of their kind known in the world.

Sources & Further reading

1. Flood, Josephine, 2004, Archaeology of the Dreamtime, JB Publications.
2. 1. Cane, Scott, 2013, First Footprints: The epic story of the first Australians, Allen & Unwin

   Scott Cane has included in his book, written as a companion to the ABC TV series of the same name, a number of stories from his days living among Aboriginal people in the desert and moving around with them.

Links

Wyrie Swamp