7 Ancient Technologies That Used Amazingly Advanced Science

7. Boomerangs - Gyroscopic Precession

The boomerang is one of humanity's oldest flying inventions, used by aboriginal Australians at least 10,000 years ago, and the oldest known boomerang is estimated to be as much as 23,000 years old.

With its rounded leading edge, thinner trailing edge and curved top creating lift as it moves through the air, it is - despite its age - basically a wing - something the rest of humanity didn't get to for quite some time. Although these are relatively simple aerodynamic principles now, 23,000 years ago, man was barely out of the cave painting stage, so the development of an airfoil is pretty good going.

Contrary to popular belief, not all boomerangs "come back", but the ones that do are utilising some additional principles of physics, namely, gyroscopic precession. When the boomerang is thrown in a vertical position, the lift and drag acting on the different ends creates a torque, in turn causing the angular momentum to precess and describe a curved path.

We can't be sure whether the boomerang's ancient inventors were scribbling complex mathematical formulas in the sand, but it's more likely that they perfected their design through trial and error, using techniques that wouldn't be properly understood for thousand of years.