OOPArts: Out Of Place Artefacts & Archaeological Erratics

[Ascalon]

Depends exactly what they put into their drinking glasses!
May not have been anything to do with alcohol.

Tongue firmly in cheek.
But the Egyptians were rather fond of their alcohol, with beer being a staple for the monument labourers.
Now, exactly what the etiquette of doing shots wiht the Pharoah was, I'm not sure that has been preserved in the historical record. But they do look like a tray of shot glasses. These are the perils of amateur interpreters.

 

[Sid]

Tongue firmly in cheek.
But the Egyptians were rather fond of their alcohol, with beer being a staple for the monument labourers.
Now, exactly what the etiquette of doing shots wiht the Pharoah was, I'm not sure that has been preserved in the historical record. But they do look like a tray of shot glasses. These are the perils of amateur interpreters.

Probably some kind of brewed up Beer. (but not as we know it)

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

Claim on today's Quora that photographer and researcher Ismet Smiley (or Smalli) uncovered a mysterious artefact in the mountains in Kosovo. It's an unusually shaped stone, with an electromagnetic coil embedded in it. The site's superposition/stratigraphy suggested a highly anomalous age of 20,000 years.
Very woo video below, but with some nice clear views of the object.
One of the comments suggests it could be a 1920s vacuum cleaner motor covered with a concretion, which sounds like a possibility (rather like the Coso artefact). What do you think?

 

[maximus otter]

Claim on today's Quora that photographer and researcher Ismet Smiley (or Smalli) uncovered a mysterious artefact in the mountains in Kosovo. It's an unusually shaped stone, with an electromagnetic coil embedded in it. The site's superposition/stratigraphy suggested a highly anomalous age of 20,000 years.
Very woo video below, but with some nice clear views of the object.
One of the comments suggests it could be a 1920s vacuum cleaner motor covered with a concretion, which sounds like a possibility (rather like the Coso artefact). What do you think?

l would think that the 1998/9 Kosovo War would account for a lot of random chunks of fused “stone” surrounding copper coils littering the landscape.

The video is surprisingly (?) light on useful information, e.g. the exact location of the find. Did NATO aircraft bomb a nearby power station or transformer?

maximus otter

 

[Sid]

l would think that the 1998/9 Kosovo War would account for a lot of random chunks of fused “stone” surrounding copper coils littering the landscape.

The video is surprisingly (?) light on useful information, e.g. the exact location of the find. Did NATO aircraft bomb a nearby power station or transformer?

maximus otter

It looks like it's been sitting below a 'limestone' stalactite drip feed!

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

If you look at the depictions of ancient bikini-clad women, you can see that the bottoms appear to be shaped garments, rather like this leather one, whereas the bustenhalter portion just looks like a simple band of cloth, not necessarily matching the bottom.
The girls holding up the beach-ball and throwing the Frisbee look in danger of doing a Barbara Windsor in Carry on Camping.

View attachment 62927

Woman posing in swimwear replicating these ancient Roman bikinis:

 

[Kondoru]

They are trying to make the Classics sexy.

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

Roman women may have had the bikini, but their menfolk serving in the legions had remarkably modern-looking "Swiss" army knives.
This beautifully preserved example dates from the 2nd century AD and had a fold-out knife, spoon, fork, spatula, spike and a tool thought to be either for eating snails or removing earwax.

https://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/learn-with-us/look-think-do/roman-swiss-army-knife

 

[escargot]

a tool thought to be either for eating snails or removing earwax.

Them Roman legionaries, they were famous for there earwax problem. RENOWNED.

 

[ramonmercado]

Them Roman legionaries, they were famous for there earwax problem. RENOWNED.

They used to make Roman Candles out of 'em.

 

[maximus otter]

Them Roman legionaries, they were famous for there earwax problem. RENOWNED.

“Ear-spoons and ear picks are found dating from the post-medieval period of British history back into the Roman times.”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ear_pick#European

maximus otter

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

They are trying to make the Classics sexy.

Already done mate!

 

[Floyd]

Roman women may have had the bikini, but their menfolk serving in the legions had remarkably modern-looking "Swiss" army knives.
This beautifully preserved example dates from the 2nd century AD and had a fold-out knife, spoon, fork, spatula, spike and a tool thought to be either for eating snails or removing earwax.



https://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/learn-with-us/look-think-do/roman-swiss-army-knife

And removing stones from horses hooves.

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

And removing stones from horses hooves.

Well quite!

Pretty well every Swiss army knife has an implement or two that you're never quite sure what it's for!

That ancient Roman one, made from silver or zinc, except for the knife blade, which was iron and has almost rusted away, looks eminently practical.
Knife, fork and spoon are obviously handy things to have. The flat scraper/spatula would also be primarily of culinary use - maybe for scraping Garum out of a jar. A general purpose spike/awl is perfect for making holes in leather or wood. It's just the long attachment with what looks like a miniature spoon on the end that is a bit of a mystery. The presence of snail shells in Roman middens suggests they were eaten frequently. Modern snail eating cutlery usually comprises a tiny fork, sometimes combined with a spoon, so I reckon the snail suggestion is on the denarius.

 

[Floyd]

Well quite!

Pretty well every Swiss army knife has an implement or two that you're never quite sure what it's for!

View attachment 70409

That ancient Roman one, made from silver or zinc, except for the knife blade, which was iron and has almost rusted away, looks eminently practical.
Knife, fork and spoon are obviously handy things to have. The flat scraper/spatula would also be primarily of culinary use - maybe for scraping Garum out of a jar. A general purpose spike/awl is perfect for making holes in leather or wood. It's just the long attachment with what looks like a miniature spoon on the end that is a bit of a mystery. The presence of snail shells in Roman middens suggests they were eaten frequently. Modern snail eating cutlery usually comprises a tiny fork, sometimes combined with a spoon, so I reckon the snail suggestion is on the denarius.

View attachment 70410

It's a beautiful object.

What are we calling this part- the spatula/scraper?

With the hole in it, it reminds me of the cheese knives used for cutting soft cheese - the hole(s) stop the cheese sticking to the knife.

I think it would be too small for this use, but that's what it reminds me of.

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

It's a beautiful object.

What are we calling this part- the spatula/scraper?

With the hole in it, it reminds me of the cheese knives used for cutting soft cheese - the hole(s) stop the cheese sticking to the knife.

I think it would be too small for this use, but that's what it reminds me of.

We know that Romans were fond of strong sauces and pastes, such as Garum (think of Marmite mixed with putrescent fish).
It would be served in little jars, probably a bit like this and that curved implement would be perfect to extract a glob of the stinking stuff and spread it on some Roman bread.

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

This story was on today's Quora.

The rather graphic depiction of Min (Egyptian god of fertility) in the temple of Luxor appears to show him ejaculating, with an image of a large-scale spermatozoa superimposed.

View attachment 67393

View attachment 67394

Without access to a microscope (thought to have been invented around 1600 AD) it would seem highly anomalous that this Bronze Age civilisation would know how to depict a spermatozoa.
A couple of suggestions proffer the explanation that it could be a deformed, elongated ankh symbol or even some sort of lasso, but the symbolism behind lassoing your ejaculate does seem pretty odd.
Could it be a palimpsest-like effect of overlapping hieroglyphs, similar to the infamous helicopter image from the Temple of Seti I at Abydos?
Any ideas?

Somewhat reminiscent of that Egyptian image is an evocative carving in the Sri Vadaranyeswarar Temple in Tamil Nadu, India.
There are depictions of pregnant women, foetal development and what some have described as a representation of a spermatozoon and ovum.
The current temple building is around 1,000 years old though (with parts of the interior being vastly older) - well before the invention of microscopes.
What do you reckon? Could architects of an ancient temple dedicated to fertility and birth know about spermatozoa and ova, or did they just coincidentally include a snake and circle carving as decoration?

https://www.myindiamyglory.com/2018...f-fertilization-without-microscope-wow-facts/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Vadaranyeswarar_Temple

 

[Kondoru]

They certainly had lenses in ancient times.

Why not microscopes or telescopes?

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

They certainly had lenses in ancient times.

Why not microscopes or telescopes?

I agree that they had some basic lenses, such as the famous Nimrud lens - comparable to a x3 modern magnifying glass but, to be able to observe spermatozoa, requires around 400x magnification.

 

[Cochise]

We get so obsessed with the idea that civilization always progresses forward that we struggle to get our heads round ideas like the Romans inventing stuff that we didn't re-invent until the last couple of hundred years. I doubt any of our roads or viaducts will still be here in two thousand years.

For me, real OOParts are things like the spark plug embedded in coal, that is not a millennia or two out of place but geological ages.

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

We get so obsessed with the idea that civilization always progresses forward that we struggle to get our heads round ideas like the Romans inventing stuff that we didn't re-invent until the last couple of hundred years. I doubt any of our roads or viaducts will still be here in two thousand years.

For me, real OOParts are things like the spark plug embedded in coal, that is not a millennia or two out of place but geological ages.

Did you mean the Coso Artifact?
It was a Champion spark plug from a Ford (probably model T) that had become encrusted in an iron-oxide concretion.
I would say that only existed as an OOPART until the rational scientific explanation emerged.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coso_artifact

 

[Cochise]

Did you mean the Coso Artifact?
It was a Champion spark plug from a Ford (probably model T) that had become encrusted in an iron-oxide concretion.
I would say that only existed as an OOPART until the rational scientific explanation emerged.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coso_artifact

It was an example, that's all. Finding out that the Romans could make an army knife isn't (IMO) an example of an OOPart.

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

No problem Cochise!
Personally I feel that 2,000 year-old mosaics of bikini-clad beach beauties, ancient Roman "Swiss Army" knives or carvings of microscopic spermatozoa from times long before the microscope had been invented, are more valid OOPARTS than a 1920s spark-plug covered in a concretion.
But surely the entire topic of OOPARTS is a broad enough church to include both your preferences and mine?

 

[Mungoman]

Somewhat reminiscent of that Egyptian image is an evocative carving in the Sri Vadaranyeswarar Temple in Tamil Nadu, India.
There are depictions of pregnant women, foetal development and what some have described as a representation of a spermatozoon and ovum.
The current temple building is around 1,000 years old though (with parts of the interior being vastly older) - well before the invention of microscopes.
What do you reckon? Could architects of an ancient temple dedicated to fertility and birth know about spermatozoa and ova, or did they just coincidentally include a snake and circle carving as decoration?

View attachment 71349View attachment 71351

View attachment 71352


https://www.myindiamyglory.com/2018...f-fertilization-without-microscope-wow-facts/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Vadaranyeswarar_Temple

I reckon that the Snake and the globular thing is representative of an eclipse, similar to the Serpent Mound of Peebles Ohio, and the Dragon Dance of the Chinese.

 

[Shadowsot]

I read a write up by an Indian researcher some while back when these pictures were showing up. Unfortunately it's been so long I don't remember the actual story behind them.
Just that the pictures are severely cut out of context, hence why they're so zoomed in you can't see what's around them.

 

[Xanatic*]

Years ago I was at an exhibit of old chinese artifacts and art. That included this jade piece, which to my eyes looks rather mesoamerican:

 

[Steven]

Tintern Abbey excavation suggests poor people were later buried alongside lords
Archaeologists surprised to find graves of ordinary locals in place known as final resting place of rich and powerful

https://www.theguardian.com/science...poor-people-were-later-buried-alongside-lords

 

[Swifty]

There's something that's been bugging me for years. I visited the remains of the temple of Knossos in the early 2000's as a tourist. At the end of the visit, we did the tourist shop visit and I bought what would have been a replica on an ancient coin from the site. Cheap tat souvenir.

It wasn't until we got back to the hotel that I looked at it more closely and there was what appeared to me to be a trilobite on one side of the coin. As a 70's kid, I owned a few fossilised remains of trilobites so I knew what they looked like so then it occurred to me: what was a long extinct trilobite doing on a comparatively for the era Knossos coin which was built in modern times?. Were trilobites still swimming around in Crete then? ..

As bad luck has it, I've since lost that coin/reproduction. I've just Google image searched Knossos coins assuming that, because I bought it in the tourist shop, loads of them must have been made but I haven't been able to find an image of that same coin yet. I might have been a cast of a real coin or it might have have a local's idea of a joke to sell to gullible tourists?.

 

[Steven]

A helluva stretch but this circular maze thing very vaguely resembles a trilobite fossil, mate:

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

There's something that's been bugging me for years. I visited the remains of the temple of Knossos in the early 2000's as a tourist. At the end of the visit, we did the tourist shop visit and I bought what would have been a replica on an ancient coin from the site. Cheap tat souvenir.

It wasn't until we got back to the hotel that I looked at it more closely and there was what appeared to me to be a trilobite on one side of the coin. As a 70's kid, I owned a few fossilised remains of trilobites so I knew what they looked like so then it occurred to me: what was a long extinct trilobite doing on a comparatively for the era Knossos coin which was built in modern times?. Were trilobites still swimming around in Crete then? ..

As bad luck has it, I've since lost that coin/reproduction. I've just Google image searched Knossos coins assuming that, because I bought it in the tourist shop, loads of them must have been made but I haven't been able to find an image of that same coin yet. I might have been a cast of a real coin or it might have have a local's idea of a joke to sell to gullible tourists?.

Or possibly the ear of corn motif could look a bit like a Trilobite?