Saqqara Bird
by Autumn Studnicka
What is the Saqqara Bird
The Saqqara Bird is a bird-shaped artifact made of sycamore wood, it was discovered during the excavation of the Pa-di-Imen tomb in 1898 in Saqqara, Egypt. [1] It has been dated to approximately 200 BC, and is now housed in the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo. The Saqqara Bird has a wingspan of 7.1 inches and weighs 1.380 oz. It is shaped like what we’d recognize as a modern day airplane with the head of a bird.
Discovery
The tomb of Pan-di-Imen was discovered in 1898 by a group of French archeologists. [1] The tomb was filled with artifacts, painted walls, mummies and all of their belongings that were left behind to aid them in the afterlife. In the heaps of artifacts of tools, arts, pottery, statues, and more, the archaeologists found a small wooden carved bird. It was found on a table laid there by some unknown human 2,200 years ago in approximately 200 BC. The little wooden bird was nearly perfectly symmetrical. In the museum records it states that it was found by a French archaeologist named “Lauret." At that time the model was labeled as a bird object and stored in the basement of the Cairo Museum in Egypt. [1] Seventy years later Dr. Kahlil Messiha, an Egyptologist, re-discovered the model among other bird figurines. And made them recognize that the bird figurine did not look much like a bird, but resembled more of an airplane.
Victor Loret
As stated in the discovery section the Saqqara bird was discovered my a French archeologist named "Lauret" This could be a misspelling of Victor Loret, who excavated at Saqqara in 1898 and uncovered the tomb of Khuit, one of the many wives of the Pharaoh Teti. [2] Victor Loret was the head of the Egyptian Antiquities Service. He also discovered many other tombs like tombs KV32, KV33, KV36, KV38, KV40, KV41 and KV42. [2]
Dr.Khalil Messiha
Dr. Khalil Messiha was a Professor of Anatomy for the Artists at Helwan University in Egypt.[3] He brought the idea that the Saqqara bird resembled more of an airplane rather than a bird. Also as a member of the Royal Aeromodellers Club and Egyptian Aeronautical Club, he saw the Saqqara bird as something different than the other bird models that were displayed. Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag.
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References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedflight - ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Piacentini, P. (2003, July). 'Wonderful things' on paper: the Egyptologist Victor Loret in the Valley of the Kings. Gale Academic onefile. Retrieved December 6, 2021, from https://go.gale.com/ps/i.doid=GALE%7CA106732097&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=00036536&p=AONE&sw=w&userGroupName=msu_main.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Aamoth, D. (2010, June 9). Cryptids: The Saqqara Bird. Time. Retrieved December 7, 2021, from https://techland.time.com/2010/06/09/cryptids-the-saqqara-bird/.
- ↑ Saqqara bird. Academic Dictionaries and Encyclopedias. (n.d.). Retrieved December 6, 2021, from https://en-academic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/3558093.
- ↑ Saqqara plane. (n.d.). Retrieved December 7, 2021, from https://www.ancient-hebrew.org/ancientman/1027.html.
- ↑ R, R. (2019, August 15). Saqqara bird elixir of knowledge. Medium. Retrieved December 7, 2021, from https://medium.com/@rajkumarrr/saqqara-bird-elixir-of-knowledge-855a8324ae0e.
- ↑ Coumes, J. (n.d.). "ancient aliens" is everything that's wrong with america. The Awl. Retrieved December 7, 2021, from https://www.theawl.com/2017/09/ancient-aliens-is-everything-thats-wrong-with-america/.