Obłazowa Cave in Podkarpacie, Poland – that is the place, where the oldest boomerang in the world was found. It was dated to 33 000 years BP. The Obłazowa Cave probably was a paleolithic shrine.
Location GPS of Obłazowa Cave:
49°25'43.1"N 20°07'33.2"E
(49.428635, 20.125878)
(49.428635, 20.125878)
The soundtrack of the video
Hi. Today I’m taking you to the Obłazowa Cave, which, apart from its undoubtedly beautiful location, is also a very interesting archaeological site. Obłazowa Cave is located in Obłazowa Rock a very characteristic element of the landscape. Limestone, domed Obłazowa Rock is and was visible from a distance. In addition, 30 000 – 33 000 years ago it wasn’t overgrown with forest. Due to its location, it could be a landmark on the trail from Pavlovské Wierchy to for example, Świętokrzyskie region. Or, because of its expressive appearance and the cave inside, it might have been a ceremonial site long way from the inhabited area in the south.
See the view from the top of Obłazowa Rock towards the south. These mountains in the distance are the Tatras.
It is worth mentioning that no traces of human habitation were found between the Obłazowa Cave until the Czech Dolni Vestonice, Pavlov and Lower Austria but in the Obłazowa Cave are artifacts from these regions.
Obłazowa Cave is accompanied by the "Przełom Białki pod Krempachami" nature reserve. It is a beautiful area and therefore popular through the local people as a place to rest and walk. The surrounding rocks are also an attractive climbing area.
The rushing stream of Białka is located 100 m from the entrance to the cave, and the entrance is 7 m above the river level. A clear path leading to the river passes by the entrance, so it is easy to find this cave, or rather a small grotto. The grotto is made up of a small chamber approximately 9 by 5 m in size, accessed through a short corridor. Research has been conducted here for many years, led by prof. Valde-Nowak from the Jagiellonian University.
An entrance to Obłazowa Cave
Obłazowa Cave, the main entrance. But before the excavation it was under the ground. Researchers only saw this threshold and above it – this triangular opening and people used it to enter to the cave. During the excavations it turned out that under this opening, which was dug in modern times, was the main entrance. And there were very interesting artifacts.
The first people who inhabited the cave… who visited the cave were Neanderthals. The first time they were here it was 100 000 years ago. They returned several times. We found after them some stone tools, some reindeer antlers and a piece of mammoth or rhinoceros rib. You could say - such typical things. As in many conveniently located caves, people stayed here (with some breaks) until the Middle Ages.
This is what the inside of the grotto looks like today. You can see some things left for protection when the excavations were over.
But the most interesting findings are from 30 000 years ago and they are the reason we show this cave to you. Those artifacts are found in a very humic layer. And in this dark brown, strongly humic cave silt was placed a consistent set of items – it will be best to show the featured group in this book. "The Older and Middle Stone Age in the Polish Carpathians", chapter "Research results in the Obłazowa Cave" Authors: Teresa Madeyska, Adam Nadachowski, Paweł Valde-Nowak. Look at this drawing – firstly, some big stones that form a kind of a circle are visible. Inside the circle of pebbles there was a sandstone tablet, and next to it and in the immediate vicinity of the 3 largest boulders was the oldest boomerang in the world! Look at this interesting sketch for a moment. Next to the boomerang you can see a human finger bone and perforated tooth of an arctic fox. Second human finger bone, a core of jurassic flint, Świeciechów flint pre-core, Conus snail shells, two more perforated teeth of an arctic fox, a bone bead, a bone perforator, hammers and grinders, a rock crystal scraper, mining tools made of horns.
Here is a reconstruction of the described assemblage. I show the photo according to how the whole group was arranged in relation to the entrance. The entrance is there.
The excavations have shown that the circle was laid on an earthen platform, which was created after digging the space in the cave silt. This platform was dug more or less at the level of the head of the person entering the cave at that time, which made the deposit additionally exposed.
The described, impressive kind of stone circle was built of granite and quartzite pebbles brought to the cave from pre-Białka. The boulders measured up to 60 cm each and weighed about 60 kg.
Here is the Białka River and this is, I think… I think it’s granite. Pebbles like this granite formed a circle in Obłazowa Cave.
Look at the described grotto once more – in this way. We remember that the person who entered the cave had this group at the level of the head but for our comfort we try to find it on the ground. So, drawing in the book. Here were three big stones. Three big stones. Two big stones. And inside was a boomerang, phalanx of the thumb, a tooth of an arctic fox and here was another phalanx of the finger. It was the phalanx of a little finger. Other artifacts were around this, this group.
Reconstruction of a boomerang arrangement in a cave. Photo from "Starsza i środkowa epoka kamienia w Karpatach polskich".
This assemblage was dated several times in laboratory in Gliwice, Poland and in Oxford and radiocarbon dating gave the date between 30 – 33 thousand years ago and with one exception. It was the boomerang. The dating for boomerang was surprisingly young, reaching the last cold maximum. And for professor Valde-Nowak it wasn’t a surprise because the sample of the boomerang hadn’t enough collagen. So, because the group was consistent and came from one layer it was dated to 30 – 33 000 years ago.
So a boomerang. It was cut from a mammoth tusk and polished. Experts say it is a Quensland type. Non-returning, with good aerodynamic properties, like many operational australian boomerangs.
The world champion in boomerang sport, F. Forst, was throwing a replica of the boomerang from Obłazowa. It flew faster and farther then ordinary stick of similar dimensions. There was a publication in “Nature” with this information in 1995.
You're looking at an excerpt from Professor Valde-Nowak's online lecture. Here he is showing an article in Nature about the boomerang from the Obłazowa Cave. Look at some pictures showing Mr. Forst throwing a replica of this boomerang. And this is a drawing showing the flight line of this boomerang. Here is shown how a stick with similar dimensions and weight is flying.
The finding is so unique that it is difficult to find something similar in other places in Europe. Until this time. Until the finding from Obłazowa we had only two boomerangs in Europe. One was from Brabrand Sø in Denmark. This boomerang was found in a peat bog. It was from the Mesolithic period. Another boomerang from Europe was wooden, from Velsem in Belgium. This boomerang was from the Iron Age. But is one interesting thing. We had, we have also another one artifact. The artifact dated to about 33 000 years ago. This artifact, this thing was found in a brickyard in Stillfried – Stillfried in Austria. The place was famous from findings dated to Gravettian culture. Oswald Menghin from the University of Vienna studied the artifact from Stillfried in Austria and he thought that it was a boomerang. Unfortunately this finding haven’t got both endings so the sensation didn’t go around the world. But if you have a photo of this artifact or maybe you know something about it please write to me, because I dug the internet and I haven’t found anything, any additional information about it and any photo of it. So please, please, if you know something about it and maybe you have the photo of this artifact please write to me.
Returning to Podkarpacie. Świeciechów flint pre-core is also noteworthy. It comes from the Annopol area, it’s about 250 km from the Obłazowa Cave. Interestingly, chocolate flint was found in this layer - Świecieciechów and Jurassic near Krakow but the participation of local radiolarite is small.
Another finding - the rock crystal scraper. It is interesting because in Poland it is very rare. It is typical for the pavlovian sites. Interestingly professor Kozłowski in 1986 wrote that he found 76% of Polish flints in the Moravian inventories from that time.
It is worth to say a few words about conus snail shells. They were Miocene shells, fossils gouged out of sediments. These shells were drilled and additionally slightly ground on the side, creating a kind of whistle - ocarina. The shells probably come from the border of Austria and the south of Moravia - from the foot of Pavlovské Wierchy. There, in the place of sediments with these shells, a settlement and a workshop were discovered. In this workshop shells were prepared from the sediments and people made from them, among others. whistles - ocarinas and maybe pendants.
It is worth to say a few words about conus snail shells. They were Miocene shells, fossils gouged out of sediments.These are the shells I'm talking about. I show them using an excerpt from the already mentioned lecture by professor Valde-Nowak. These shells were drilled and additionally slightly ground on the side, creating a kind of whistle - ocarina. And these are similar shells from Dolni Vestonice in the Czech Republic. These shells, from Obłazowa Cave and Dolni Vestonice probably come from the border of Austria and the south of Moravia - from the foot of Pavlovské Wierchy. There, in the place of sediments with these shells, a settlement and a workshop were discovered. In this workshop shells were prepared from the sediments and people made from them, among others, whistles - ocarinas and maybe pendants.
And very interesting are also horn wedges. Here and I think… Here and here. Horn wedges. They are mining tools which are known from later times, from the end of Stone Age, for example Krzemionki Opatowskie. Those tools were used to help to remove lumps of raw flint from the surrounding rock.
In the discussed layer, there is no household waste and leftover from, for example, flint production or quartering of hunted animals. The assortment of these objects gives the impression that they have been selected, and most of them can be assessed as of considerable value for their contemporary users - which was emphasized many times by prof. Valde-Nowak.
Maybe I haven’t mentioned - due to cultural features, the group of discussed finds is linked to the Pavlovian culture.
A few more words about the phalanges of the fingers of the hands found here. For one thing, the find doesn't mean that someone's finger fragments were cut off on the spot. Prof. Valde-Nowak said in a radio interview a few years ago that, according to him, these bones were brought to the cave. The bones can be associated with, for example, a symbolic or partial burial. They can also be a kind of amulet. Maybe they belonged to a powerful shaman?
When interpreting the discussed group of finds, it will be interesting to quote excerpts from the book "The Older and Middle Stone Age in the Polish Carpathians", chapter "Research results in the Obłazowa Cave" Authors: Teresa Madeyska, Adam Nadachowski, Paweł Valde-Nowak. Unfortunately, it is only in Polish, but I translated it for you:
„We should give serious consideration to the possibility of the layer VIII assemblage being a manifestation of practices with ceremonial features such as initiation, sacrifices, funerary rituals or shamanistic practices. There are many indications that Obłazowa at that time could have been a ritual place far from the permanently inhabited area. "
About found palm bones the autors write: „We should recall more and more frequent discoveries of drawings which depict the human hands in various western European caves such as Gargas, which were already recognized in 1910. In many depicted hands parts of the fingers are missing (…). It seems that the finding from Obłazowa tips the balance in the discussion going on for several years now, in favour of recently less numerous supporters of the hypothesis about sacrificial amputations of finger parts, which are so widely described in ethnology, for example Szyjewski in 2001 and archeology also provides clear evidence for them."
In this place the authors indicate the discovery in the Murzak-Koba grotto in Crimea, about which Bibikov wrote in 1940. In this cave, the skeleton of a woman and a man from the end of the Paleolithic was found. According to an anthropological study, the woman lost the tips of both little fingers on both hands as a child.
A left hand without two falanges of the little finger. These falanges.
This is where we leave people from over thirty thousand years ago and move closer to our times.
We stop about halfway, about 15,000 years ago. This is the age of a stylized figurine, the so-called Venus from Obłazowa. This artifact was discovered in 2016 by prof. Valde-Nowak. It is a sandstone, stylized plaquette. Qualified as belonging to the Magdalenien or Epigravetian culture. It is interesting to find it in a cave that was a site associated with religious rituals 15,000 years before the figurine was carved. Has the cave retained this function for so long?
The „Venus” is 53 mm long, 32 mm wide and 7 mm thick. This figurine was made of a flat pebble of flysch sandstone. Its characteristic feature is oversized buttocks, which resemble the backside of a waterbird. On the other side of the plaquette, in the medium part of it one can see a belly of pregnant woman or faintly silhouetted breasts. On both faces of the figurine there are some calcite lines that make the artifact even more attractive.
This figurine, and other similar ones from other regions, don’t have marked head, but have a long body-neck. Of course, it is a symbolic form. Only most important features are emphasized.
This find is especially valuable because only two other places where figures of a similar type have been found are known from Poland. These places are Wilczyce and Dzierżysław.
That’s all for today. Thanks for watching. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe. And for me it’s motivating. So – see you in the next episode. Bye.
Bibliography:
Paweł Valde-Nowak "Człowiek pierwotny w Jaskini w Obłazowej" w Pieniny – Przyroda i Człowiek 10: 133–146 (2008)
Paweł Valde-Nowak, Teresa Madeyska, Adam Nadachowski "Jaskinia w Obłazowej. Osadnictwo, sedymentacja, fauna kopalna." w Pieniny – Przyroda i Człowiek 4: 5–23 (1995)
Teresa Madeyska, Adam Nadachowski, Paweł Valde-Nowak "Wyniki badań jaskini w Obłazowej" w "Starsza i środkowa epoka kamienia w Karpatach polskich".
Paweł Valde-Nowak, Anna Kraszewska, Magda Cieśla "Magdalenian Figurine from Obłazowa Cave" w Acta Archeologica Carpathica VOL. LII, 2017
Komisja Prehistorii Karpat PAU – 29 lipca 2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ox-wbgR2qOw&t=13s
