Australia: The Land Where Time Began
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.
Josephine Flood, Archaeology of the Dreamtime, J. B. Publishing
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