Ancient Technology & Clay Airplanes
Posted: December 20th, 2007, 10:50 amSo last night Journeyman ended with a bang. The guy comes on and asks about time travel and says "How do you think the Inca's built clay airplanes", or "....built atomic weapons, thousands of years ago."
Okay...(Next Morning) I'm looking it up... Sure enough. I come to this page.
Okay, here's the Inca clay airplane. Actually gold according to the site, which claims aerospace engineers during the 1960's have concluded that this is a design capable of flight. Assuming it merely represents a bird, they were classified (according to the site) as "zoomorphic". Some disagree though, as the image clearly represents a vertical stabilizer similar to modern aircraft. Birds and bugs don't have these, so what is it?
The article suggests that one only need to look at the Egytian Saqqara glider as further proof of a functional ancient airplane. Though North Carolina claims it's "First in Flight", it appear that same crazy race of people who built the great pyramids also invented the airplane.
During the late 1800's the Saqqara Bird Glider was discovered, forgotten, and then re-discovered in 1969. Made from Sycamore, and carbon dated to 200 B.C., It flies when thrown according to the article. Apparently, several of these have been found, enough so, that we've tossed a few in the air.
So obviously Orville and Wilbur weren't the first. You could argue that these were not "real" airplanes, but child's toys, but you clearly can't argue that they flew when thrown. They (The ancients) understood the concept, and the science of how to build flying objects, but these hieroglyphs such as these add even more questions.
All is well and good, until Spark Plugs start showing up. 500,000 YEAR OLD Spark Plugs!!!
Discovered in 1961, in what is modern day California, the ceramic core insulator and copper core is shockingly similar to a broke modern day spark plug found in any automobile. Look familiar?
Other examples of Ancient technology are given, such as the Baghdad Battery which most everyone is familiar with when made popular and proved "plausible" on Discovery Channel's "Myth Busters"
So that leads me to the second part of Journeyman... Ancient Atomic Power. I searched and searched, and it appears the main consensus on ancient atomic power has been explained away by asteroid impact. The whole argument revolves around "green glass" which appears to occur following a atomic explosion due to great pressure and heat. King tut had some of this atomic glass as part of a stone in the necklace he was buried with. Some have suggested along with the giant "nuclear bunkers" aka the pyramids, that Egyptian civilization had harnessed the power of Atomic energy. While it appears this argument currently lacks evidence, let's suspend our disbelief for a second and assume it's true. What if the pyramids are much older then the Egyptians? What if we've destroyed ourselves before because of a Nuclear war? What would that mean for us, as a race who are about to embark upon another nuclear war?
Okay...(Next Morning) I'm looking it up... Sure enough. I come to this page.
Was there once an advanced civilization on Earth? A civilization
that achieved a level of technology roughly equivalent to our own, perhaps even more advanced in some fields?
Why not? We as a species have existed for well over a million years. Our current civilization is
only about eight thousand years old. Of course, the first objection that comes to mind is that it is hard to believe that such a civilization could have existed and leave absolutely no evidence of its existence.
We should consider, however, that even large cities would be lost, disintegrated or covered over in just a few hundred years. After a few thousand years, there would be little left to find. But, we're not talking a few thousand years here, we are talking about tens of thousands of years. Still, you would think that SOMETHING would have survived. Well, maybe it did.
Stories may have been handed down. Technology may have been passed from generation to generation over the years and through the centuries and millennia.
Okay, here's the Inca clay airplane. Actually gold according to the site, which claims aerospace engineers during the 1960's have concluded that this is a design capable of flight. Assuming it merely represents a bird, they were classified (according to the site) as "zoomorphic". Some disagree though, as the image clearly represents a vertical stabilizer similar to modern aircraft. Birds and bugs don't have these, so what is it?
There also seems to be a windshield like protrusion at the front. Behind the "windshield" is what appears to be a cockpit with a seat. Next to the "windshield" are knobs that suggest forward facing lights.
Similar objects have been found in Colombia, Costa Rica, Venezuela and Peru. Scientists and engineers have studied the objects and concluded they seem more artificial than natural.
The article suggests that one only need to look at the Egytian Saqqara glider as further proof of a functional ancient airplane. Though North Carolina claims it's "First in Flight", it appear that same crazy race of people who built the great pyramids also invented the airplane.
- saqqara_glider_bird_of_prey.jpg (10.83 KiB) Viewed 7666 times
During the late 1800's the Saqqara Bird Glider was discovered, forgotten, and then re-discovered in 1969. Made from Sycamore, and carbon dated to 200 B.C., It flies when thrown according to the article. Apparently, several of these have been found, enough so, that we've tossed a few in the air.
So obviously Orville and Wilbur weren't the first. You could argue that these were not "real" airplanes, but child's toys, but you clearly can't argue that they flew when thrown. They (The ancients) understood the concept, and the science of how to build flying objects, but these hieroglyphs such as these add even more questions.
The above images were found on the ceiling beams of a 3000-year old New Kingdom Temple, located several hundred miles south of Cairo and the Giza Plateau, at Abydos.
All is well and good, until Spark Plugs start showing up. 500,000 YEAR OLD Spark Plugs!!!
Discovered in 1961, in what is modern day California, the ceramic core insulator and copper core is shockingly similar to a broke modern day spark plug found in any automobile. Look familiar?
- spark_plug.jpg (3.69 KiB) Viewed 6465 times
Other examples of Ancient technology are given, such as the Baghdad Battery which most everyone is familiar with when made popular and proved "plausible" on Discovery Channel's "Myth Busters"
So that leads me to the second part of Journeyman... Ancient Atomic Power. I searched and searched, and it appears the main consensus on ancient atomic power has been explained away by asteroid impact. The whole argument revolves around "green glass" which appears to occur following a atomic explosion due to great pressure and heat. King tut had some of this atomic glass as part of a stone in the necklace he was buried with. Some have suggested along with the giant "nuclear bunkers" aka the pyramids, that Egyptian civilization had harnessed the power of Atomic energy. While it appears this argument currently lacks evidence, let's suspend our disbelief for a second and assume it's true. What if the pyramids are much older then the Egyptians? What if we've destroyed ourselves before because of a Nuclear war? What would that mean for us, as a race who are about to embark upon another nuclear war?
