On the second floor of the Cairo Museum, in one of the stands in a small “walk-through” hall, there are 41 flat discs (inventory numbers 70152 to 70192) with a diameter of about 6 to 15 centimeters with a hole drilled in the center about one centimeter in diameter. The discs are made of different types of stone, but there are also two metal ones - of copper or bronze (it is impossible to determine by eye). Metal discs are clearly obtained by simple forging and have a workmanship incomparably worse than discs made of stone.
Stone discs are simply amazing in their perfection. Their outer circumference is perfectly maintained and the central hole is clearly aligned with the outer circumference. And this despite the fact that they date back to the time of the very first dynasties of the pharaohs.
The discs are not uniform in thickness. It is maximal in the region of the central hole (about four to five millimeters) and gradually decreases with distance to the edge of the disc. One of the stone discs has an outer edge just a millimeter thick!..
Some of the discs are mounted on rods that look like large nails of gradually changing sizes. Judging by the photograph on the stand, this is how the disks were found in some kind of burial.
The discs are surprisingly reminiscent of the well-known DVDs - about the same diameter, the same hole in the center. Although, of course, they were unlikely to be used for recording and preserving information - they do not have any "tracks". And even if you expand your imagination and assume that information can be recorded directly in crystals of natural stone, it is unlikely that these discs were used in this way - they are made of different materials that have, respectively, and different crystal structures.
Egyptologists believe that the disc was put on a rod and rotated by the bowstring, acting as a "sharpening stone", or even as a kind of cutter or circular saw. In theory, this is certainly possible. However, with manual performance, characteristic of the period of the first dynasties, one would expect noticeable deviations from the ideal circumference of the outer edge of the disc, as well as the "walking" of its surfaces. It is precisely such errors of execution that metal discs have, and stone ones are somehow "too perfect".
It is curious that, judging by the same photo on the stand, these discs were found together with the simplest wooden arrows. This further enhances the sense of dissonance when examining these finds. It’s just some unimaginable contrast between the primitive arrows and the highest quality discs lying next to each other in the same burial …
Earlier, we have already mentioned the presence of traces of circular saws on ancient artifacts. There are a lot of such traces in Egypt. The circular saw was noted, for example, on the blocks of the temple floor near the Userkaf pyramid in Sakkara and on the blocks of the walls of the Niuserra temple in Abusir. If there are traces of a circular saw even on the sarcophagus in the pyramid of Aunt in Sakkara, then the master, completely carelessly waving his hand, simply grabbed piece by piece from a block of black basalt with something like a modern grinder.
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Circular saw marks on the sarcophagus in Aunt's pyramid.
The size and shape of the stone discs in the Cairo Museum is quite the same as the disc of a small grinder. And this allows us to consider the option that at least some of these discs could be used as a working element of circular saws. But there are two problems here.
Firstly, for processing such hard rocks of stone as basalt and granite (in Egypt, traces of a circular saw are present on blocks, primarily of these rocks), the saw blade must rotate at a very high speed. Otherwise, it will simply get stuck in the stone being processed. And such a speed of rotation in any manual way - for example, with the help of a bowstring - is simply physically impossible to provide. And here, in this case, it is necessary to consider already the machinery that rotates the disk at the required speed.
And secondly, it is not clear how the material of the disks from the Cairo Museum could withstand the enormous loads that should have arisen in this case. Stone discs are too fragile for this …
So if these "grinding discs" have anything to do with the real circular saws of the ancient gods, then they are most likely just a kind of imitation and were used by the Egyptians more as "cult" items. However, it is precisely their use that is indicated by the fact that the disks were found in the burial and clearly accompanied the deceased to the Kingdom of the Dead - to where the gods continued to rule …
By the way, the neighborhood with arrows allows another version - the disks could be used as a combat throwing weapon. True, such a weapon is known to us better from Ancient Greece - a much later period. But this does not prohibit the possibility of the presence of such weapons at a much earlier time in Egypt.
In this case, the thoroughness of the execution of the discs gets a completely understandable explanation - the more symmetrical the disc, the easier it is to aim it. And the gradual reduction of the disc thickness towards the edges noticeably improves its aerodynamic qualities in flight. But why then a hole in the center?..
It is worth noting that in Ancient Greece, discus throwing competitions were included in the program of the Olympic Games, which were dedicated to the Greek gods and were very closely associated with the gods. Then, maybe these disks were imitation of some kind of weapon of the gods?..
But we will talk about the weapons of the gods a little later. Now let's fast forward to the other side of the globe.
Painting on a Mayan vessel.
Something similar to the hand-held circular saws of the Bulgarian type can be seen in the painting of one of the ceramic vessels that belongs to the Mayan culture. Here such saws are held in their hands by some creatures who are dressed in strange "motorcycle" helmets.
Specialists in Mesoamerica will most likely be inclined to believe that these are not circular saws at all, but just sea shells. Well - and this is also possible. Shells that look like this from a certain side are actually found in nature. But we also have the right to our point of view.
Moreover, the exposition of the Mexican Museum of Anthropology and History, also related to the Maya period, has its analogues to the Cairo disks. Only "sharpening" they can no longer be called, because they are made of obsidian - a very fragile material on which it is simply impossible to sharpen anything. There are two such disks, although it would be more accurate to say that there are one and a half of them - one disk is whole, and from the other, alas, the damaged part is lost.
While Egyptian discs are only vaguely reminiscent of modern DVDs, discs from the Museum of Anthropology and History in Mexico City are much more similar to them. Their size is about 10-12 centimeters, and their thickness is several millimeters. The hole in the center, however, is much larger. But on the surface of the disc, two circles are drawn (rather carelessly), which seem to outline the recording area on both sides.
Disc at the Museum of Anthropology and History (Mexico City).
If you do not pay attention to these crookedly scratched circles, the quality of the discs is simply amazing - their planes are perfectly maintained. And this is especially noticeable due to the fact that these planes are not just aligned, but also polished to a mirror shine!..
Unfortunately, all exhibits of this size are behind glass, and there was no opportunity to check the accuracy with which the plane was made with tools. But the human eye is itself a very good measuring instrument. He notices irregularities on a flat surface with excellent accuracy, if any. Right there - on the disc - there are no irregularities!..
Obsidian is volcanic glass. Very handy material for easy processing due to its fragility. Even with a moderate impact, obsidian splits so that very sharp edges are formed. They can easily cut soft materials - for example, leather, meat, some types of vegetation. If carefully, you can cut materials and harder - such as wood. And with advanced dexterity, not only knives can be made from obsidian, but also thinner tools that can be used on a kind of thin blade, awl or even a coarse needle.
Sheela made of obsidian (Mexico City).
However, glass is glass. It pricks easily. But it is pricked so that even planes - such as on a disc - are not formed!.. It is simply physically impossible to obtain such a plane by simply splitting a piece of obsidian. This requires completely different processing technologies - obsidian must first be sawed or cut. And then also polish - after all, the surface of the disc is polished!.. And this is where very serious problems begin for the version accepted by historians that these discs were made by Indians who had only primitive technologies.
The fact is that obsidian is easy to work with when a simple shearing of the material is used. But cutting or sawing it is a very difficult task. The hardness of obsidian is very, very high. For example, steel knives and not the hardest files have such hardness. But for processing, harder materials are required - a tool from a softer material will grind itself, and not process obsidian.
We stopped in Teotihuacan - near the famous archaeological complex - to the obsidian processing workshop. This workshop is located at the gift shop, and tourists are specially brought there. Of course, not at all to improve the level of education in the processing of materials, but so that they do not quite look up at the level of prices for the souvenirs offered here. Be that as it may, anyone here has the opportunity to see with their own eyes the process of modern production of obsidian products.
Processing obsidian in a modern workshop.
For its processing, hard abrasive discs are used, which rotate at high speed either with special equipment, or (with the so-called "manual" processing) with something like an electric drill. If desired, if you take an abrasive disc of sufficient size and rigidly fix the tool that rotates it, you can make such a flat plane as on the "DVD" from the museum. But in any case, you cannot do without machinery.
So how exactly (and by whom -!) Such flat planes were obtained in antiquity remains a mystery. And in my opinion, these discs could have been made directly by representatives of the civilization of the gods, and only then get to the Indians.
The complexity and laboriousness of creating such a form from obsidian practically excludes the version of using discs as a weapon. No one will spend so much time and effort on the manufacture of essentially disposable weapons. After all, after the first throw, the disc will immediately split when it falls or hits the target.
There remains only a variant of the very "cult" use of these discs by the Indians. This is all the more to be expected if they fell into the hands of the Indians from the gods themselves …
A. Sklyarov