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http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,9495111%255E1702,00.html
British claim on boomerang
By Paul Mulvey in London
May 7, 2004
A BRITISH historian has claimed to have uncovered the world's oldest evidence of the returning boomerang – in Yorkshire.
Terry Deary says his research indicates a rock carving on Ilkley Moor in West Yorkshire is of a four-armed boomerang which dates back as far as 4000BC.
The carving on what is known as the Swastika Stone was first discovered in the 1870s and has long been considered by experts to be a swastika motif which was common in ancient Greek and Roman art.
But Deary believes ancient Britons developed sophisticated boomerangs and the age of the rock, which archaeologists estimate dates back to 3000-4000BC, coincides with the emergence of art in the Yorkshire region.
Deary considers the 10,000-year-old preserved boomerangs found at Wyrie Swamp in South Australia were throwing sticks which did not return.
"I compared the image of the stone from photographs with today's four-bladed boomerangs. The similarity was obvious," Deary said.
"I checked back on the Wyrie Swamp boomerang and it has no aerodynamic qualities. It's a throwing stick.
"Boomerangs come back, throwing sticks don't. Wyrie doesn't have the aerodynamic qualities to come back. So that keeps my bid in the pot.
"My real interest is to challenge the establishment and to stop people saying `if an expert says this, it must be true'.
"I want to stimulate discussion, I'm quite prepared to say I'm wrong.
"But I want to provoke debate, to get people to look at it and get people in Australia to look at it and ask questions."
Deary's claims have been disputed by the West Yorkshire District Archaeologist Gavin Edwards who says the flowing four-pronged carving had always been considered a swastika motif which has also been found in Italy, Sweden and Portugal.
As the only carving of its type in England, Edwards said it was unlikely to be that of a popular weapon.
He also said it was impossible to date rock carvings.
"It is that sort of shape but it's the first I've ever heard of anyone linking it to a boomerang," Edwards said.
"The slightly more extreme ideas tend to come forward when people are dealing with carved rocks.
"There are certain individuals who have set themselves up as being experts. I would not support their interpretations in any shape or form."
He also believed the carving could have been tampered with during the 19th century.
"It seems it is possible it was modified to make it appear more important and unusual," Edward said.
"But it's all guess work. That's the trouble with carved rocks, you just cannot date them.
"There is a lot of speculation and zany ideas which may be right because at this point in time, none of us know for definite what it is really all about."