Ancient Mesoamerican Sculptures Found to Intentionally Incorporate Magnetism - The Daily Grail
The earliest known evidence for ancient knowledge of magnetism is the writing of the sixth century BCE Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus, who described the attraction between a magnetite-rich lodestone
and fragments of iron.
However, there is some circumstantial evidence that an understanding of magnetism existed in Mesoamerica before even then: a magnetized bar unearthed at the Olmec site of San Lorenzo in southern Mexico has been dated to 1400-1000 BCE; a strong magnetic anomaly on the snout of an animal sculpture at Izapa has been suggested to have been a deliberate inclusion during its manufacture; and strong magnetism has been measured on the surface of a group of large sculptures at Monte Alto in Guatemala known as the “potbellies”.
The thing that first grabbed people’s attention about the potbellies’ magnetic anomalies a number of decades ago is that they seem to be consistently located in the same areas of the body on the sculptures. However, the magnetic anomalies remained largely anecdotal: previous measurements were done with everyday magnetic tools, and no complete survey of the sculptures was done scientifically.
However, a group of researchers from Harvard, Yale, MIT and other institutions recently examined the sculptures with more precise magnetic measurement equipment. And in an article in the Journal of Archaeological Science titled “Knowledge of Magnetism in Ancient Mesoamerica: Precision measurements of the potbelly sculptures from Monte Alto, Guatemala“, they announced a rather stunning result: “significant magnetic field anomalies” were discovered in close association with two particular body regions – the navel (on full body depictions) and “the right temple forward of the ear” (on head sculptures). And, that this appeared to be an intentional part of their manufacture.
We confirm the observations of Malmström (1997) that all three colossal heads that have significant anomalies exhibit the strongest signals over the right temple and cheek areas. Similarly, we find that all four magnetized full body sculptures have a strong signal overlapping the navel.
[Statistical analysis shows that] for both types of sculptures, the consistent colocation of…anomalies with specific anatomical features is inconsistent with a random distribution at the P < 0.01 level.
Full story at site
The earliest known evidence for ancient knowledge of magnetism is the writing of the sixth century BCE Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus, who described the attraction between a magnetite-rich lodestone
and fragments of iron.
However, there is some circumstantial evidence that an understanding of magnetism existed in Mesoamerica before even then: a magnetized bar unearthed at the Olmec site of San Lorenzo in southern Mexico has been dated to 1400-1000 BCE; a strong magnetic anomaly on the snout of an animal sculpture at Izapa has been suggested to have been a deliberate inclusion during its manufacture; and strong magnetism has been measured on the surface of a group of large sculptures at Monte Alto in Guatemala known as the “potbellies”.
The thing that first grabbed people’s attention about the potbellies’ magnetic anomalies a number of decades ago is that they seem to be consistently located in the same areas of the body on the sculptures. However, the magnetic anomalies remained largely anecdotal: previous measurements were done with everyday magnetic tools, and no complete survey of the sculptures was done scientifically.
However, a group of researchers from Harvard, Yale, MIT and other institutions recently examined the sculptures with more precise magnetic measurement equipment. And in an article in the Journal of Archaeological Science titled “Knowledge of Magnetism in Ancient Mesoamerica: Precision measurements of the potbelly sculptures from Monte Alto, Guatemala“, they announced a rather stunning result: “significant magnetic field anomalies” were discovered in close association with two particular body regions – the navel (on full body depictions) and “the right temple forward of the ear” (on head sculptures). And, that this appeared to be an intentional part of their manufacture.
We confirm the observations of Malmström (1997) that all three colossal heads that have significant anomalies exhibit the strongest signals over the right temple and cheek areas. Similarly, we find that all four magnetized full body sculptures have a strong signal overlapping the navel.
[Statistical analysis shows that] for both types of sculptures, the consistent colocation of…anomalies with specific anatomical features is inconsistent with a random distribution at the P < 0.01 level.
Full story at site
