So WTF is this?

[Rokcet Scientist]

In the category "OOPA" (Out Of Place Artifacts):

The Mysterious Egyptian Tri-Lobed Disc

Making excavations in 1936, in the archaeological zone of Sakkara, Brian Walter Emery, one of the most important Egyptologists of 20th Century, discovered the Tomb of Prince Sabu. He was the son of Adjuib Pharaoh, governor of the I Dynasty (3,000 B.C.).

Between utensils of funeral objects that were extracted, Emery’s attention was powerfully drawn by an object that he initially defined in his report on the Great Tombs of the I Dynasty as: "... a container in the form of schist bowl...".

Years later, in his previously mentioned work, Archaic Egypt, he commented on the object with a word that perfectly summarizes the reality of the situation and the discomfort the object causes; "cachibache" (a small hole that threatens to become a much larger hole)"...

A satisfactory explanation has not yet been obtained on the peculiar design of this object...".

This object is approximately 61 centimeters in diameter, and 10.6 centimeters in height in the center. It is made of schist, a very fragile and delicate rock, which requires very laborious carving.

Its form resembles that of a plate or a concave steering wheel of a car, with a series of three cuts or curved "shovels" that resemble the helix of a boat, and in the center, an orifice with a rim that acts as the outside receiver of some axis of a wheel or some other unknown mechanism, arranged to turn.

As it is well known by all, the official position maintained by Egyptology with respect to the appearance and use of the wheel on the part of the Egyptians, is very clear and leaves no room for doubt. The introduction of the wheel in Egypt they assure us, coincided with the invasion of the Hicsos at the end of the Medium Empire, in 1640 B.C.,

They used it, on among other things, their military chariots.

The question then is inevitable: if it is not a wheel, what is the strange object that appeared in the Tomb of Prince Sabu, 1,400 years before the invasion of the Hicsos? [...]

http://s8int.com/phile/page52.html

[Johnny]

I second your whiskey tango foxtrot. Even the real deal under glass looks too well wrought to be of the time period it was found associated with. That's a great weld on the central tube. Despite the workmanship, the engineering doesn't look up to the task of heavy carting or charioteering. So if it's a wheel, it's from a device of fairly light use. Maybe something agricultural or a dish that could be rotated to serve multiple items to guests?

[Minimalist]

Oddly, two biographies of Emery fail to mention this "find."

http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information ... alter.html


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Bryan_Emery


Seems odd.....especially for Wiki.

[Tiompan]

Maybe I'm missing something but none of the pics are of an arefact made from schist .

George

[Rokcet Scientist]

It looks like a part I would expect in a (sc)ramjet engine, or something even more outlandish and exotic. No 2010 motorcar – or any other machine afaik – has anything even remotely resembling this. But if 'schist' is a type of stone, this thing looks very brittle, for whatever purpose it may have been intended.

[Tiompan]

Yep schists are rocks , not ideal for working though . Stone wheels ??? Lol
George

[dannan14]

It looks like a part I would expect in a (sc)ramjet engine, or something even more outlandish and exotic. No 2010 motorcar – or any other machine afaik – has anything even remotely resembling this. But if 'schist' is a type of stone, this thing looks very brittle, for whatever purpose it may have been intended.

i dunno, looks like a hubcap to me.

[Minimalist]

Did chariots use hubcaps?

Were they bronze?

[Sam Salmon]

i dunno, looks like a hubcap to me.

X2

[dannan14]

Did chariots use hubcaps?

Were they bronze?

i'm saying it does not look at all ancient to me. If i had to guess i would say it is actually plastic. Obviously, i don't know that, but it just looks too modern.

[kbs2244]

The workmanship is superb.
It would take a CNC mill to duplicate it today.

But if it was found in 1936 it wasn’t done with that technology.
So that, along with the reputation of the finder, minimizes the hoax theory.

The “leaves” are not angled, so I doubt it has any turbine type function.
Purely decorative.

So, it becomes a true OOPA.

[Digit]

There must be a conspiracy theory fan club for this one!

Roy.

[circumspice]

Hmmm...
I was a bit put off by the non-standard spellings used in the article, till I clicked on the link and went to the webpage.
Apparently this is an Italian article. (translated) That would explain the spelling of the word Hyksos, for instance. (Hicsos)
The photo included is a restoration type photo. There are also two pics of the actual artifact, showing that is indeed
carved from schist and also was broken and repaired. I wonder what it really is...

As far as two biographies not mentioning the artifact... *shrug*. There were artifacts from Tutankhamen's tomb
that were in the possession of the estates of both Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter that were never catalogued in any
publication concerning the tomb. Back then they had a lot more latitude and a lot less oversight than now.

[uniface]

There is some seriously neat stuff to be found via that link : )

[Johnny]

Maybe it's archaeological proof that the Egyptians invented "Spinners". Makes sense as they're pretty good candidates for having invented "bling", too. Yep, OG just got pushed back to BC.

They spinnin, Pharaoh! They spinnin!