Among the most mysterious mysteries of modern science are the strange anomalies that sometimes appear in the Earth’s magnetic field. The laws of physics can seem to behave differently in some places, producing unsettling and strange results. The spacecraft malfunctions, the Hubble Space Telescope is unable to acquire observations, and satellite communications are disrupted. Some astronauts orbiting past the anomaly have reported blinding flashes and sudden silence. They call one of these large and growing anomalous phenomena the cosmic Bermuda Triangle. Now, even NASA is tracking it.
With all of our precisely tuned modern technology turning its attention to these geomagnetic oddities, some important scientific insights about them may be locked away in a 3,000-year-old Babylonian cuneiform tablet. You might not expect it to be.But that’s exactly what a recently published study Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests.
“Geomagnetism is one of the most mysterious phenomena in earth science,” said study co-author Lisa Tokes. release. “Well-dated archaeological remains of the rich Mesopotamian culture, especially bricks inscribed with the names of particular kings, can be studied at high temporal resolution to study changes in magnetic field strength over short periods of time, whether it be decades or even less.” It provides an unprecedented opportunity to track changes that have occurred over a period of time.”
This newly discovered link between ancient Mesopotamian writing and modern physics is no mere academic coincidence. This comes at a time when budget-cutting lawmakers, university administrators, and private sector investors are pouring money into the development of STEM fields while ignoring and, in some cases, actively destroying the humanities. This highlights the extent to which scientific progress is at risk.
A research team led by University College London has studied clay cuneiform script and obtained important data about an ancient anomaly believed to be very similar to the so-called cosmic Bermuda Triangle (or South Atlantic Anomaly). . NASA ). Researchers studying iron oxide particles in the clay using a method known as archaeomagnetism were able to see a snapshot of an anomaly known as the Levantine Iron Age anomaly.
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Both SAA and LIAA represent instances in which, for limited periods of time, the Earth’s magnetic field can be much weaker or stronger than it should be in certain areas, i.e. operating outside the normal magnetic north and south poles, causing anxiety. I am. phenomenon. Although there are significant differences between abnormalities, provide both Earth scientists are giving clues about how our planet’s deepest core affects its most remote adventurers. The researchers’ latest measurements also confirm that paleointensity geomagnetic spikes occurred during the LIAA, suggesting there may be further similarities beneath the surface.
However, this is not the first time LIAA has been examined through the lens of historical artifacts. 2017The researchers traced the archaeomagnetic trajectory east along a line of 30 degrees of longitude, through eastern Anatolia near the Levant, Turkmenistan to Georgia (3,000 kilometers from Lavant), and traced hundreds of ancient Fragments of fired clay and pottery were examined. In paleointensity. In another example, stalagmites in morocco Cooperated with LIAA’s map creation.
“Ancient China’s extraordinary astronomical record is rivaled only by the Babylonian astronomical diary, and it is one of the longest continuous research programs ever undertaken.”
“To figure out the age of ancient Mesopotamia, we often rely on dating methods such as radiocarbon dating. However, some of the most common cultural remains, such as bricks and pottery, Because it does not contain organic material, it typically cannot be easily dated. This research is now an important study that will allow others to benefit from absolute dating using archaeomagnetics. “It helps create a baseline for dating,” co-author Mark Altaweel said of the recent UCL study.
Still, archaeomagnetism is not a silver bullet that can completely replace linguistic analysis of such inscriptions. It’s not an easy endeavor either. Despite advances over the past five years or so, archaeomagnetism remains a methodologically complex and often tedious task that requires careful data culling to arrive at an accurate interpretation.A more accurate one can be obtained by analyzing layer upon layer of the strata.
But what if you combine it with humanities expertise, from historians and linguists to religious scholars and anthropologists? Archaeomagnetism opens up a new world of research across all disciplines.
In fact, the researchers’ results show that Mesopotamia’s magnetic field strength was stronger than that of the region today, with occasional large spikes between 604 BC and 562 BC. Masu. Archeomagnetic testing and transcription of ancient language written on the bricks allowed the researchers to confirm that the spikes likely originated during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II.
Hand in hand with science, the trajectory of LIAA has been revealed by historical accounts of descriptively similar events recorded by ancient authors from west of the Iberian Peninsula to Asia. Archaeomagnetism has enabled researchers to confirm the existence of his LIAA in ancient Mesopotamia from 1050 to 550 BC. This itself is a science first. It also provides cultural historians with new ways to examine and contextualize vast streams of early scientific information.
interdisciplinary interdependence
The symbiotic interdependence between the humanities and sciences will deepen over time. original location Among the team’s fragments are likely Sumer’s oldest known centers of astrology and mathematics, such as Nineveh, near modern-day Mosul, Iraq. The Royal Library of the Assyrian Empire in this ancient city dates back to around 650 BC, and thousands of stone tablets were unearthed in the mid-1800s that contained more accurate astronomical data than previously discovered.
Among them, the Star of the Plow tablet has an inscription dating back to 687 BC, marking the first time humans are known to have traced the orbits of the moon and planets through both the solar ecliptic and the 17 constellations. This is an example. The same hoard produced an awe-inspiring collection known as the Astronomical Diaries, now housed in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and whose origins were near modern-day Baghdad. The oldest date back to 652 BC. The most recent date is 61 BC.
When U.S. war proponents plundered 17,000 Mesopotamian antiquities after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, it wasn’t just about “arts and culture.”
The excavation’s leading experts, Hermann Hunger and David Pingree, said nothing about its value to modern science.
“It’s really amazing that someone devised such a scientific project in the mid-eighth century B.C. and got support for it. It’s incredible that it was so well designed. It is miraculous that it has been faithfully carried out over the years,” they wrote.
Data scientist Alexander Boxer, in his 2021 book The Plans of Heaven, quotes two historians and says, “The enormity of this accomplishment” is due to the astronomical data of the time paired with records. He states that diaries preserve snapshots of knowledge. Weather patterns, river water tables, grain prices, and even political news can pinpoint historical events thousands of years ago in a narrow time frame of just a day or two.
“The extraordinary astronomical record of ancient China is rivaled by the Babylonian astronomical diary, one of the longest continuous research programs ever undertaken,” Boxer wrote.
The cuneiform tablets studied by the UCL team not only make it possible to read data related to the celestial bodies of geomagnetic history, but also contribute to the science and humanities by reaffirming the importance of early cultural studies. It brilliantly extends our interdisciplinary heritage. one fragment, for example, consecrated in the temple of Larsa by Nebuchadnezzar II. This site is dedicated to practicing the fortune-telling tradition of astrology, and is where we get our first clues about the author of the Astronomical Diary.
Interestingly, the clue is court testimony The story of a temple employee who was scolded for raising a false alarm about a solar eclipse and embarrassing temple scholars in front of the entire city.
From the legends of clay stars to solar magnetic storms
But these Neo-Assyrian and Old Babylonian astrologers have given us more than just a joke. Further records from Nineveh indicate that they were eventually discovered some 2,700 years later by researchers at the University of Tsukuba, possibly still occurring in the area, made possible by geomagnetic disturbances that may be associated with LIAA. It will help track large solar magnetic storms.
In faithfully recording his daily observations, one astrologer records “red clouds,” and another tablet writer observes that “the sky was covered with red” in Babylon.
“These are probably manifestations of what we today call stable auroral red arcs, which consist of light emitted by electrons in oxygen atoms in the atmosphere after being excited by a strong magnetic field.” the authors said. “These discoveries allow us to reconstruct the history of solar activity a century earlier than previously available records. This research could potentially damage satellites and other spacecraft in the future. ‘s ability to predict solar magnetic storms.”
So when state legislatures give tax breaks and incentives to industry-friendly science departments with corporate-funded research teams, but exclude budget items that fund ancient pottery classes; Speaking up is just as important as it is in the interests of the science sector. It is the same as being tormented by the chair of art. And when short-sighted administrators eviscerate ethics and philosophy classes from the required curriculum for computer science and biochemistry majors, it’s not just cultural studies professors who are at fault.
Just as it wasn’t just a matter of “arts and culture” when America’s war vultures plundered 17,000 Mesopotamian antiquities left in disgusting storage after the 2003 invasion of Iraq hobby lobby Warehouse — or when hundreds of thousands of people The cuneiform clay tablets finally ended up in the hands of dealers after 1991. gulf war — or when a gutless third-rate jackal from Oklahoma tried to knock over an actual engraved stone. epic of gilgamesh. The plunder, destruction, and loss of cultural history is also a scientific problem.
When universities sell arts and humanities short, we humanities students may lose poetry, but we can write more. Meanwhile, scientists believe that trying to reinvent the Babylonian Wheel would require another 75 years of research and $70 billion in grants, as destroying the Babylonian Wheel’s historical blueprint was an “artistic problem.” you might end up spending.
An earlier version of this article was first published salon lab notebooka weekly newsletter from the health science team.
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