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Prehistoric clay disks found in northwestern Alaska
Reuters ^
| September 9, 2011
| Yereth Rosen
Posted on 09/09/2011 5:56:11 PM PDT by decimon
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Four decorated clay disks have been discovered at a prehistoric site in Alaska, apparently the first artifacts of their type discovered in the state, the University of Alaska Museum of the North said.
The disks were found during a summer expedition in Noatak National Preserve, at a site where archeologists have for decades been studying lakefront pit dwellings that date back 1,000 years, officials at the Fairbanks museum said.
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Such prehistoric rock art is extremely rare in interior and northern Alaska, though common in the southwestern part of the United States and other regions, museum and Park Service officials said.
>
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: alaska; godsgravesglyphs
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1
posted on
09/09/2011 5:56:12 PM PDT
by
decimon
To: SunkenCiv
2
posted on
09/09/2011 5:56:48 PM PDT
by
decimon
To: decimon
It is irksome to read stories like this that do not provide a photo! Asinine.
3
posted on
09/09/2011 5:59:19 PM PDT
by
maine-iac7
(ALWAYS WATCH THE OTHER HAND)
To: decimon
I bet they were playing a prehistoric version of Disk Wars like you see in the movie Tron! LOL!
4
posted on
09/09/2011 5:59:57 PM PDT
by
Jack Hydrazine
(It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
To: decimon
Prehistoric Disks?
5
posted on
09/09/2011 6:00:30 PM PDT
by
wolfpat
(Not to know what has been transacted in former times is to be always a child. -- Cicero)
To: decimon
Took some digging - but I finally found a photo
Looks like some kind of wieght - maybe for fishing nets/
6
posted on
09/09/2011 6:05:39 PM PDT
by
maine-iac7
(ALWAYS WATCH THE OTHER HAND)
To: decimon
Archaeologists theorize they were used to domesticate wolves...
7
posted on
09/09/2011 6:06:33 PM PDT
by
GreenLanternCorps
("Barack Obama" is Swahili for "Jimmy Carter".)
To: decimon
Wow! Were the disks made by the Inuits of the Behring Moors (I.B.M.) area.
8
posted on
09/09/2011 6:08:10 PM PDT
by
MIchaelTArchangel
(Duval Patrick is a coward. Explain yourself on The O'Reilly Factor, you creep!)
To: maine-iac7
9
posted on
09/09/2011 6:08:29 PM PDT
by
Jack Hydrazine
(It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
To: maine-iac7
10
posted on
09/09/2011 6:11:00 PM PDT
by
Winstons Julia
(when liberals rant, it's called free speech; when conservatives vent, it's called hate speech.)
To: maine-iac7
Thanks for the pic.
If the disks are like others in the southwestern US then I wouldn’t guess they are fishing weights. Seems like a lot of work to make one of those for a fishing weight. OTOH, they could be fishing weights for all I know.
11
posted on
09/09/2011 6:13:02 PM PDT
by
decimon
To: decimon
They should look for traces of Moo Goo Gai Pan on these plates.
12
posted on
09/09/2011 6:15:54 PM PDT
by
blueunicorn6
("A crack shot and a good dancer")
To: Winstons Julia
13
posted on
09/09/2011 6:18:23 PM PDT
by
eyedigress
((Old storm chaser from the west)?)
To: maine-iac7
Fishing would be a good bet or maybe a gaming disk of some sort. Perhaps used something like dice or perhaps the game of marbles. Who knows, the folks have gone to the other side who made it and left no instruction book. Many Indian tribes loved to gamble, actually the current ownership of casinos by some tribes seem slightly humorous in that light.
To: dog breath
Don’t be silly, it’s clearly an Inuit calendar disc. After careful study, I can read the last day...
.
.
.
.
12/21/2012!
15
posted on
09/09/2011 6:36:37 PM PDT
by
null and void
(Day 962 of America's holiday from reality...)
To: decimon
Probably Russian Frisbees. After all, they are famous about claiming to have invented everything else ;-)
16
posted on
09/09/2011 6:37:41 PM PDT
by
varon
(Allegiance to the Constitution, always. Allegiance to a party, never!)
To: decimon
Did they find a shotgun near by?
17
posted on
09/09/2011 7:10:37 PM PDT
by
Red_Devil 232
(VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
To: decimon
18
posted on
09/09/2011 7:54:40 PM PDT
by
quintr
To: decimon
78RPM
To: decimon
If it weren't for the location and the fact that only two have holes, I'd say spindle whorls. Some spindle whorls were made in that shape, and many (most?) of the old ones were decorated.
In fact, when I did some Google searches, another article about this find came up, with a reader comment suggesting they were spindle whorls.
And that article has more pics of the excavation, for the picture-lovers:
http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/09/2011/alaskan-archaeologists-find-ancient-artefacts
Here are pictures of all sorts of spindle whorls, ancient and modern:
Google Images "spindle whorls"
And here are some drop spindles, for the non-fiber arts people among us, so you can see what the entire spindle looks like and how it is used:
Google Images "drop spindle"
Apparently whorls are also used with the type of drills used to start fires, though I don't know the details and have no idea if such tools were used in northern Alaska.
20
posted on
09/09/2011 9:07:39 PM PDT
by
Tea Party Hobbit
(The RINOs lack all conviction, and the Dems are full of passionate intensity)
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