Saqqara bird
The Bird of Saqqara is an artifact made of sycamore wood that was found in 1898 during excavations at a tomb in Saqqara , Egypt . It is estimated to date from 200 BC. BC and is now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo . There are claims that this is a model of an aircraft .
description
The object is reminiscent of a bird, which however has noticeably straight wings. The bird's body has a length of 14 cm. The wingspan is 18 cm. The thickness of the material is up to 8 mm thick in the center and tapers towards the front and towards the wing tips. The weight is 39.12 g. There is a hole on the bottom. The hieroglyphs on the artifact say "Gift from Amun ".
Alleged flight attempts and speculation
In 1969, the Egyptian doctor Khalil Messiha became aware of the artifact. Together with his brother, an aviation engineer, he speculated that this was a model of an ancient glider . According to him, the straight wings attached to the top and the tail, which is vertical , unlike other bird models, gave him this idea. In addition, a crack in the rear part of the object would indicate a previous stabilization surface . There is no evidence to support this speculation. In 1993, Khalil Messiha published an article on this in the borderline book Blacks in Science: Ancient and Modern, "African Experimental Aeronautics: A 2,000-Year-Old Model Glider ."
Messiha then constructed a model of the bird with a horizontal tail fin that allegedly flew a few yards by hand throw . The flight tests of a motorized model by Peter Belting and Algund Eenboom were also very successful according to their own statements. This was to prove that the object was basically capable of sailing in a strong air current. In 2002, Martin Gregorie, a glider designer, carried out tests with the result that the construction was completely unable to fly without an elevator and due to its slightly inclined tail fin.
function
The function of the artifact cannot be clarified beyond doubt today. In addition to the thesis that it is an airplane model, it could be a toy, the top of the mast on sacred boats, a boomerang or a weather vane .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Time Magazine - Cryptids: The Saqqara Bird (English), accessed on April 19, 2017
- ^ Pre Astronautics Wiki: The Dove of Saqqara . On: palaeoseti.de , last accessed on October 17, 2014.
- ↑ a b c Mysteria3000 / André Kramer: Lexicon: The dove of Sakkara . On: mysteria3000.de of November 20, 2005, last accessed on October 17, 2014.
- ↑ Ivan Van Sertima: Blacks in Science: Ancient and Modern . In: Journal of African civilizations . tape 5 , no. 1-2 . Transaction Books, New Brunswick, USA 1983.
- ^ Martin Gregorie: Flying the Saqqara Bird. April 20, 2017. Retrieved April 20, 2017 .