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OOPArts: Out Of Place Artefacts & Archaeological Erratics

Surely that's a auger for shifting grain or something like that.?
 
Mungoman said:
Surely that's a auger for shifting grain or something like that.?
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In the photo? Yes ... The pivoting linkage pieces on the blunt ends pretty much guarantee it's an Archimedean screw used for moving loose solid materials or perhaps fluids (within an enclosing casing).
 
Completely left-field, but just wanted to say that my parenting skills have been ratified: during a conversation today that began with the Teenager's GCSE Biology homework, Son No 2 referenced the Baghdad batteries, and then when I made a remark about the Antikithera mechanism, he knew what it was! Totally unprompted. I'm so proud...
 
bugmum said:
Completely left-field, but just wanted to say that my parenting skills have been ratified: during a conversation today that began with the Teenager's GCSE Biology homework, Son No 2 referenced the Baghdad batteries, and then when I made a remark about the Antikithera mechanism, he knew what it was! Totally unprompted. I'm so proud...
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Well done BugMum - well done!
 
EnolaGaia said:
Edit to Add: Here's the photo ...

index.php
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I can pretty much guess what happened with this item. I'll bet it is a very specialized piece of industrial machinery that has been custom made to solve a particular problem. Then after they had shelled out the money and had the damn thing welded up, a 100 times better solution appeared at a fraction of the cost. Annoyed, they considered selling the thing for scrap, but realised that it would cost too much to transport
so they dumped it on a nearby beach and hoped the tide would carry it out.
 
AlchoPwn said:
I can pretty much guess what happened with this item. I'll bet it is a very specialized piece of industrial machinery that has been custom made to solve a particular problem. Then after they had shelled out the money and had the damn thing welded up, a 100 times better solution appeared at a fraction of the cost. Annoyed, they considered selling the thing for scrap, but realised that it would cost too much to transport
so they dumped it on a nearby beach and hoped the tide would carry it out.
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This unit isn't anything special - except in its size Al. It's what a farmer would call an auger (engineers would possibly term it an Archimede's screw), and is used for moving a bulk product. The steel involved would be worth something though.
 
Today's Quora had a feature about vitrum flexile or flexible glass.
This legendary substance supposedly dates from the time of Tiberius Caesar (14-37 AD).
One glassmaker who demonstrated its qualities of denting or bruising, rather than shattering when dropped or struck, was allegedly executed by Caesar, out of jealousy of the man's arcane skill and knowledge.
Pliny, however, cast doubt on the veracity of such a substance.
If there is even a kernel of truth behind ancient flexible glass, it would predate its reinvention, under the name "Willow Glass" by almost 2,000 years.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexible_glass
 
Maybe not glass...but a plastic?

I have seen horn sheets that you could read print through.

If you didn't know better, you would think it a sheet of yellow plastic.
 
Muscovite can also be fairly flexible, at least when thin.
 
Sheets of mica? That stuff used to be everywhere.
 
In today's Quora, someone quoted an ancient Indian Sanskrit text - Agastya Samhita, allegedly describing something very similar to the Baghdad batteries.

pot1.JPG
pot2.JPG

https://www.booksfact.com/technolog...-for-electric-battery-in-agastya-samhita.html

I'd almost given up on the Baghdad batteries, as the alternative explanation of storage containers for scrolls seemed more likely.
If this earlier Indian text can be verified as describing what is given in the translation above, that would possibly validate the electrical hypothesis for the Baghdad batteries.
 
The problem with horn is the Romans did use it, so would be familiar with it.

(But maybe theirs was translucent rather than actual transparent??)
 
blessmycottonsocks said:
A further account of the Agastya Samhita texts here, including the battery and an alleged journey in a hot-air balloon - circa 1,800 BC!

https://www.sanskritimagazine.com/v...emist-discovers-secrets-agastya-samhita-1927/
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Thank you BMCS.

I went through a stage in my teens, where aspects of subcontinent culture were either copied, or further investigated, and one aspect was the Vimana.

Having an interest in mechanics of all kinds I was stunned to read varying descriptions of these flying crafts and their engines.

I'm not sure if it was the Mahabharata that I was reading, but the idea and the actual application of various metals and alloys needed to create an engine really blew me away - but then discovering that the book was 5,000 years old held me aloft for days...

My further thoughts at that time involved the combination of our spoken language, the north west travel of town planning(Rome, Egypt, Catal Huyuk, Mohenjo Daro, Harrapa), and the complex evolution of the spiritual aspect of their society fixed the idea in my head that was it possible that civilisation...as we know it, had a subcontinental origin, however so tenuous - and that the India evident today, has been repeated before.

Opinions, obviously, will vary.
 
Mungoman said:
Thank you BMCS.

I went through a stage in my teens, where aspects of subcontinent culture were either copied, or further investigated, and one aspect was the Vimana.

Having an interest in mechanics of all kinds I was stunned to read varying descriptions of these flying crafts and their engines.

I'm not sure if it was the Mahabharata that I was reading, but the idea and the actual application of various metals and alloys needed to create an engine really blew me away - but then discovering that the book was 5,000 years old held me aloft for days...

My further thoughts at that time involved the combination of our spoken language, the north west travel of town planning(Rome, Egypt, Catal Huyuk, Mohenjo Daro, Harrapa), and the complex evolution of the spiritual aspect of their society fixed the idea in my head that was it possible that civilisation...as we know it, had a subcontinental origin, however so tenuous - and that the India evident today, has been repeated before.

Opinions, obviously, will vary.
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I had similar sentiments in my younger days too!
Despite the odds being against it, wouldn't it be wonderful if the archaeologists discovered the verifiable remains of a Vimana?
That would prove that these ancient texts were genuine accounts of technology, rather than just the sci-fi of their time.
Archaeology can still surprise us, with Göbekli Tepe and Lapinski Vir forcing us to reconsider how far back human civilisation started. I am sure there are plenty of surprises still to be dug out of the ground!
 
Maybe these batteries weren't OOP? Just stuff people used? capt obvious strikes again.
 
But it is the idea of an engine, and it's wonderful description that drew me in - that let my mind fly to places undiscovered...complicated, composed of many parts, of different metals and alloys, desired, due to their specific heats and other properties - and then there is the fuel itself, which describes the processing of matter to energy, and that energy applied to a powertrain of some sorts to lift and power a heavier than air vehicle...

And then, in other parts of this wondrous Tome, they speak of lighter than air balloons, powered by tethered swans...

It's done it again!

Maybe those 'swans' were a measurement of applied energy, similar to our horse power...or an engine in itself like the Merlin of the Spitfire...who knows.
 
Maybe its not real but the writers of these epics certainly knew sf.

A lot of ancient stories, such as the Greek myths are grasping after sf, but they don't have the technical knowledge to do their imagination justice.
 
Kondoru said:
Maybe its not real but the writers of these epics certainly knew sf.

A lot of ancient stories, such as the Greek myths are grasping after sf, but they don't have the technical knowledge to do their imagination justice.
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SF - as in science fiction?
 
AlchoPwn said:
I can pretty much guess what happened with this item. I'll bet it is a very specialized piece of industrial machinery that has been custom made to solve a particular problem. Then after they had shelled out the money and had the damn thing welded up, a 100 times better solution appeared at a fraction of the cost. Annoyed, they considered selling the thing for scrap, but realised that it would cost too much to transport
so they dumped it on a nearby beach and hoped the tide would carry it out.
Click to expand...
That size of Archimedean screw is common in water treatment and sewage treatment plants. See:
https://www.wateronline.com/doc/new...w-pumps-boost-local-water-infrastructure-0001
 

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The talk of ancient myths and the great flood stories reminded me of a book i read a while ago called 'Atlantis' by David Gibbins, although it is a novel he does come up with some interesting theories around the Gilgamesh/biblical flood story, i found it to be an entertaining read.
 
He followed it up with Gods of Atlantis, which also has nazis.
 
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