Ancient Egyption science

[Nebankh]

The AE were smart enough to use boomerangs when bird hunting, so I see no reason why those who carved the throwing sticks would not also carve birds. We know they carved them in stone, but not for flight


The article says:

''Moreover, they found, the glider worked. More than two millennia after its construction, it still sailed easily through the air at only the slightest flick of the hand.''

Later we read:

''The model makes a perfect glider as it is. Even though over 2,000 years old, it will soar a considerable distance with only a slight jerk of the hand''

Later still, we read

'' It is also possible that the artifact served as a child's toy, though its design would not allow it to glide like a bird if hurled through the air.''

A little biased then? If it's a model airplane, it glides perfectly for a considerable distance, but if it's a model bird, it would (erm obviously to the author) be ''hurled through the air'' and would not glide? Hmm



Replicas of the throw sticks found in Tutankhamun's tomb were found to return like boomerangs, so the AE knew something of designing objects for flight of sorts.

Here's a couple of examples.


I would expect the standard of workmanship to be higher if this was carved by a craftsman, as they were highly skilled, so this artifact looks like either an unskilled adult's attempt, or a child's version IMHO.

I haven't read enough about the subject matter really though, and hopefully readers here would not be satisfied with that article linked to above, in isolation.

Nebankh

[Nebankh]

Forum Monk wrote re the pyramids

You don't spend thousands of manhours to design and build secret messages. You put it right up front where people can see it.

Not necessarily. The only people who were meant to understand the deep symbolism were the royalty and the priesthood. The common people did not read hieroglyphs. It was reserved as a sacred language, and by sacred you could also interpret this as secret - between the gods and the priesthood (as intermediaries) and by some of the royalty. You could interpret hieroglyphs as the sacred language of the gods. Common people could see them, right up front, same as the pyramids, but they couldn't 'read' the hieroglyphs and this does not take away the power they held as imposing images (same as pyramids). A pyramid can also be seen as one huge hieroglyph.

Jaq

[Minimalist]

Once you know how!

How did they know how?

[kbs2244]

What if they were symbols of not trying to fly, but just make use of wind power?
This brings me back to the use of kites to move heavy stuff, like stone blocks and obelisks, around.
That bird could never fly, but sure looks like a good kite to me.

And do not forget, the pyramids are not unique to their period in history, New Grange and Tara in Ireland and Stonehenge are the same time period.

And all this within a couple hundred years of the flood and the resulting confusing of language. (2500 BC) That event, of course, made people with the same basic sun and stars religion, scatter all around the Earth, and build their temples when they settled down.

Has anyone ever done a list of the mega projects that are dated to the 2500 BC time frame?

[Minimalist]

And all this within a couple hundred years of the flood

There is no geological evidence of any massive "flood" in that time period.

[Forum Monk]

Not necessarily. The only people who were meant to understand the deep symbolism were the royalty and the priesthood. The common people did not read hieroglyphs. It was reserved as a sacred language, and by sacred you could also interpret this as secret - between the gods and the priesthood (as intermediaries) and by some of the royalty. You could interpret hieroglyphs as the sacred language of the gods. Common people could see them, right up front, same as the pyramids, but they couldn't 'read' the hieroglyphs and this does not take away the power they held as imposing images (same as pyramids). A pyramid can also be seen as one huge hieroglyph.

Jaq

This is one of things that bothers me about egyptian culture, Jaq. It was far too complex. Or was it?

I understand, that majority of everyday egyptians could not read the hieroglyphs. This was common throughout much of church history as well. People couldn't read the bible and so it was left to the priests to interpret scripture for them. This continued until relatively modern translation became available. I know, Italian but am no good reading Latin, for example.

The other part of this is what you call, "deep symbolism". It seems unnecessarily deep at least as interpreted by the Egyptologists and none of them agree, which tells me that perhaps they can't see the forest for the trees. Every little nuance and detail is studied ad infinitum and put under the microscope of complex interpretation until eventually, people are seeing significance and importance in every minutea imaginable. As if nothing in egypt was chance, happenstance, or accidental, or just 'because".

If the writing was on the wall and no one could read except the priviledged, then why go to the trouble of encoding knowledge of PI, or show knowldge of planetary orbits in ratios of the size of objects in egyptian art or why encode knowledge of precession in the physical design of the pyramods or any of the other mystical and often ridiculous claims made by people?

[Minimalist]

Some of the mathematical findings strain credulity but the PI idea was that they couldn't have built the damn thing without knowing the ratio and the Greeks were generally given credit for that.

Of course, the Greeks were given credit for detecting precession, too, and that seems to be a questionable attribution.

Who knows?

[Digit]

On the subject of 'once you know how' Min, that was my point. Till you know how flight is a mystery and copying birds is not the way forward.
No mention is made on the 'model' of any mountings, but the vertical tail would make it into a good weather vane, or if suspended, a bird scarer.
Perhaps the experts are getting too complicated again.

[Forum Monk]

...but the PI idea was that they couldn't have built the damn thing without knowing the ratio and the Greeks were generally given credit for that.

Of course, the Greeks were given credit for detecting precession, too, and that seems to be a questionable attribution.

Who knows?

You have, no doubt, watched kids play with blocks and build towers, pyramids, and structures without evening knowing how to count to ten. Why on earth do you need to know PI in order to erect the gizamids?

[kbs2244]

I do not want to get into an argument on the occurrence or non-occurrence of a Biblical Flood.

What I am noticing, though, is that there seems to be a lot of big stuff built all around the Earth soon after the general time frame given for the Biblical Flood of 2500 to 2800 BC.

And these structures all seem to have some kind of sun, moon, and star alignments.

The Bible story of the Tower of Babel, which takes place soon after the Flood, does give one reason why a lot of observant, intelligent, math and engineering capable people would leave Mesopotamia and go their separate ways. Taking their religion and technical abilities with them.

I still cannot understand what the allure of the North Hebrides was, though. Unless, of course, it was a jumping off place for those heading to North America. But then, that begs the question, how did they know it was there?

Maybe more math? They seem to have had some concept of precession so maybe they thought something had to be there to balance the sphere?

This would make a good Washington Post story.
Headline “Who knew what, when did they know it, and how did they learn it??”

[Charlie Hatchett]

“Who knew what, when did they know it, and how did they learn it??”

We certainly have had some good discussions concerning those very issues.

[Minimalist]

You have, no doubt, watched kids play with blocks and build towers, pyramids, and structures without evening knowing how to count to ten

And they usually fall down by the fourth level of blocks, too.

[Minimalist]

The Bible story of the Tower of Babel, which takes place soon after the Flood, does give one reason why a lot of observant, intelligent, math and engineering capable people would leave Mesopotamia and go their separate ways. Taking their religion and technical abilities with them.

Except that they were all supposed to be dead.

[Forum Monk]

What I am noticing, though, is that there seems to be a lot of big stuff built all around the Earth soon after the general time frame given for the Biblical Flood of 2500 to 2800 BC.

And these structures all seem to have some kind of sun, moon, and star alignments.

The Bible story of the Tower of Babel, which takes place soon after the Flood, does give one reason why a lot of observant, intelligent, math and engineering capable people would leave Mesopotamia and go their separate ways. Taking their religion and technical abilities with them.

I still cannot understand what the allure of the North Hebrides was, though. Unless, of course, it was a jumping off place for those heading to North America. But then, that begs the question, how did they know it was there?

Maybe more math? They seem to have had some concept of precession so maybe they thought something had to be there to balance the sphere?

This would make a good Washington Post story.
Headline “Who knew what, when did they know it, and how did they learn it??”

Ok, KB I see your point and agree, whether it is connected to the flood or not, there is the surge of megalith erection around 3000-2000bc. So, I curious. What's your take on it?

[Cognito]

What I am noticing, though, is that there seems to be a lot of big stuff built all around the Earth soon after the general time frame given for the Biblical Flood of 2500 to 2800 BC.

Charcoal from the Newgrange and Knowth tombs in Ireland yield dates ranging from 2800 to 3250bce. By the way, what flood?