Finally reached number 2000 today, I've got hundreds of items waiting to be posted so my next goal is to make it to 3000! Thanks to everyone who participates in these threads. A lot of mystery items have been solved here at the newsgroups and I still enjoy reading the guesses each week!
Northe
O.K. Designed to puncture and deflate tires? Perhaps part of a caltrops designed for tires instead of horses' hooves?
Enjoy, DoN.
Now where did I put my sidereal sundial????
:-)
*sigh* You did it *AGAIN*. Sloppy housekeeping.
You were _warned_ that you had to be careful to *always* maintain it in the same orientation as when delivered.
Those directions were apparently too complex, and you rotated it 90 degrees.
Whereupon, of course, it became a sideimaginary device, and disappeared. :)
The description in the "puzzle" part was (and still is):
"1999. 8" long, this is a replica of something that was used over 2000 years ago:"
so the "replica" and "over 2000 years ago" were present then.
When we get to the "Answer" portion:
"1999. An Egyptian Shadow Stick or Shadow Clock, the ancient Egyptians were among the first to use the the shadow cast by a stick to tell time. As the sun rises in the sky, the shadow acts like the hands on a mechanical clock, it moves along the stick and falls on the hour markers carved into the wood. At mid-day, the stick has to be turned around as the sun descends."
which tells us that it was in Egypt.
At least *he* knew that. How widely was his knowledge broadcast at the time?
It would at least give you a better approximation of the time intervals. Absolute time is a bit much to expect from something like that, with as fat a stick as is being used as the gnomen -- even ignoring the problems with the equation of time.
But at least giving workers an approximation of hours worked would be a help but not really *required* given that they were slaves then and there.
And the real thing (not this replica) was quite likely somewhat better calibrated for the time and application than this replica.
Your actual answer has now been lost in the quoting trims, and I'm not going to bother to track back-thread to see precisely what you said. (It was easier when I had my own local server -- now it takes a lot of time because the article history goes back a long ways.
I'm not objecting to the answer itself -- I think that we all can agree that it is a sort of primitive sundial -- but the complaint about the inaccuracy. If it is a "replica", it is quite likely not a good enough replica to tell how good the original was for the purpose.
Enjoy, DoN.
It is now thought that the gangs who dragged rocks to the pyramids were conscripts, much as the National Guard built the local park and rural Americans used to have to put in time maintaining public roads. In general, the slaves in Egypt worked for institutions, like nuns, soldiers, and civil servants these days. They were typically volunteers.
According to the Science Museum at Kensington, shadow clocks are still in use in Egypt.
With a mechanical clock or a sundial, the hours of sunup and sundown change. I can see why the shadow clock has remained popular.
On the web I saw a Tibetan shadow clock with lots of intricate markings.
I just finished listening to a lecture series on Ancient Egypt. The professor said that the laborers building the Pyramids were for the most part not slaves.
During the annual flood, no farming can be done, so the farmers (and associated trades) were paid in grain and beer to work on the current Pyramid, which was out in the desert to the West. So, it's more like the WPA, only it was seasonal, and continued for millennia.
Joe Gwinn
Well, its not rocket science, but if you google "shadow clock" you get some very good pictures and websites discussing them. So either everyone out there is wrong, or a couple of folks here are.
--riverman
you.http://library.thinkquest.org/C008179/historical/basichistory.html>>>> " The Egyptians were the first people who created a twenty-four hour
Wrong about what?
"J Burns" wrote
What is really wrong is that nobody in this thread over the past several posts has taken the time to trim out all the totally unnecessary previous posts. Sombody please step up, next time?
8 kb for a three word reply? Really?These are usually the ones that whine about their reader not understanding top posting.
Just plain laziness.
8 kb for a three word reply? Really?
I did not know what Riverman's remark had to do with the topic. Something about everybody with a web page agreeing on something and two unnamed people being wrong. I left the material he quoted so he could point it out.
Your trimming leaves no connection to the topic. You really should have started a new thread and marked it OT.
Congratulations. That far and away takes the cake as the stupidest post I've read all day.
...
More like plain rudeness... :( (including top-posting)
--
he
I was reading an unspoken inference that this thing wasn't really for telling time, as it would be too inaccurate to be useful.
--riverman
I like what library.thinkquest.org said, that the sundial wasn't necessarily better.
For centuries, longitudes in the New World were unknown because ships didn't know the "real time." Still, sailors turning hourglasses maintained watch schedules.
When I was a kid in Rutland VT, the fire whistle blew daily at 8:50 AM and 8:50 PM. The morning whistle told every kid it was time to get to school. The evening whistle said it was time to get home. I'd say those whistles functioned like marks on a shadow clock.
I've got lint in my belly button.
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