'The nature and expression of trauma suggests that some edged weapons from traditional Aboriginal culture had the capacity to inflict injuries similar to those produced by edged metal weapons,' the researchers wrote.

It was bigger and heavier with a more open curve than the typical returning boomerang and 'reminds one of the blade of a sabre and its inner edge is sharp and dangerous.' The case of Kaakutja could attest to the lethal power of such a weapon.

One ethnographic account from the early 20th century claims aboriginal Australians used a type of boomerang for fighting or hunting. “Multiple wounds probably led to significant blood loss and eventual death,”they wrote. The researchers added, however, that they could not say for certain whether this was the fatal blow that killed Kaakutja. In their study, which is detailed in the October issue of the journal Antiquity, the team concluded that the sharp edge of a wooden boomerang most likely caused this lengthy cut. Kaakutja's main head wound was about 6 inches (15 centimeters) long, meaning the weapon must have had a blade at least this length, the scientists reasoned. (Image credit: Antiquity Publications Ltd.) This seems to suggest there was conflict in the area, and because Kaakutja’s forearms show no signs of injury, the kind you’d expect from warding off a blow, Westaway is somewhat convinced the man was fatally hit by a boomerang designed to whip around a shield.Rock art depicting inter-tribal conflict was found at Gundabooka National Park, just east of Kaakutja's grave. Not far from Kaakutja’s burial site beside an Australian river bank, researchers found rock art depicting two different Aboriginal peoples holding shields, clubs, and boomerangs. Westaway did some research and found accounts of two possible weapons used by Kaakutja’s contemporaries: the lil-lil, which was a sharpened club, and the fighting boomerang called ‘Wonna’, which “reminds one of the blade of a sabre.” There was a long wound on Kaakutja’s face from a sharp-edged weapon, but his ribs were also broken, and a circle of bone had been hacked off his upper arm. His analysis came up with more details concerning the state of the body. Michael Westaway from Griffith University was brought in to use his anthropological expertise to help unravel the mystery. But lab tests then showed the man lived at least 600 years before the first European settlers arrived in the area, and seeing how the Aboriginals didn’t employ metal tools, the plot thickened. A long gash on his skull suggests the man died following a violent blow with a sword-like weapon. The skeleton remains of the dead man were found by a member of the Baakantji Aboriginal people who named him Kaakutja (‘older brother’). Their analysis of the skeleton remains of an adult Aboriginal man suggests he succumbed to a very violent death at the hand of a very unorthodox weapon - a boomerang with a bladed edge. Researchers at Australia’s Griffith University claim, however, that pre-colonial Australia wasn’t exactly the Garden of Eden.

Due to very scarce evidence of violence in skeleton remains prior to the arrival of the British Empire, many have posited that inter-tribal warfare might have been non-existent, despite the fact that some tensions must have surfaced. Aboriginal people were mostly hunter gathers who used spears, but also the famous boomerangs for hunting, digging, and other purposes. Scholars say Aboriginal Australians lived in tribal harmony for up to 40,000 years before the first European settlers came in the 18th century. A more lethal version might have been used against fellow humans.

Boomerang weapons