Schist Disk – Mysterious Piece Of Sophisticated Technology Could Rewrite History – Scientists Are Not Sure What They Are Dealing With

A. Sutherland - AncientPages.com - Researchers are still not sure what kind of extraordinary object they are dealing with.

This peculiar object created 5,000 years ago appears to be part of a component of an ancient unknown advanced mechanism. In January 1936, a strange disk was unearthed at the plateau edge of North Saqqara, approximately 1.7 km north of Djoser's Step Pyramid in Egypt.

The mysterious prehistoric artifact that many considered a device was made in the Tomb of Prince Sabu ('Mastaba of Sabu' -  c. 3100-3000 BC)  by a famous British Egyptologist Walter Bryan Emery (1902-1971).

Sabu was the son of Pharaoh Aneddzhiba (fifth ruler of the First Dynasty of ancient Egypt) and a high official or administrator of a town or province possibly called the "Star of the family of Horus."

The Schist Disk remains an unexplained mystery. Credit: Cairo Museum

The burial chamber had no stairway, and its superstructure was completely filled with sand and stone vessels, flint knives, arrows, a few copper tools, and the most interesting schist bowl in fragments.

The Schist Disk's unearthed device is approximately 61 cm in diameter (24 inches), one cm thick, and 10.6 cm (4.2 inches) in the center.

It was manufactured by unknown means from this very fragile and delicate material requiring very tedious carving--the production would confound many craftsmen even today.

Now many important questions arise.

What was the original function of the device?

Scientists do not think the object is a wheel because the wheel appeared in Egypt in 1500 BC, during the 18th Dynasty.

If the Schist Disk is a wheel, it would mean ancient Egyptians possessed knowledge of the wheel about 3000 BC during the time of the first Dynasty! This would require Egyptologists to re-write some history books.

If the Schist Disk is not a wheel nor modeled after the wheel, what is it?

The disc has a complex structure. Credit: Cairo Museum

Some scientists suggest that the fragile nature of such an intricately carved stone object significantly limits practical usage and suggests a purely ornamental function, religious or other such ritualistic purposes.

Of course, some believe that this subject served another purpose, just to be able to drive a foot oil lamp.

However, critics of this theory argue that the three-blade ceremonial lamp is hardly possible because of the shape and curvature of its petals, which seems to suggest a function, not just decoration.

Did ancient Egyptians have technology far beyond the current?

One option is even more challenging, namely that we are dealing with some kind of unknown advanced ancient technology. Is it possible ancient Egyptians had technology far beyond the current?

Egyptologist Cyril Aldred concluded that, independently of what the object was used for or what it represented, its design was, without a doubt, a copy of a previous, much older metallic object.

Why did the ancient Egyptians bother to design an object with such a complex structure more than 5,000 years ago?

How could a culture that typically used chisels to shape rock have mastered a technique to work such a delicate material to this extraordinary level?

One of the most mysterious ancient objects discovered in Egypt. Credit: Cairo Museum

Why would ancient Egyptians invest the time and skills needed to create this object unless it served a very important, specific purpose?

The Schist Disk's futuristic design continues to baffle all who have seen it. Egyptologists offer several theories trying to explain what the disc was used for, but for the moment, no-one has been able to explain the object's complex structure. Obviously, the Schist Disk is an object that played an important role 5,000 years ago.

Undoubtedly, this peculiar object constitutes one of the most perplexing Egyptian and ancient mysteries, and we are left with several unanswered questions.

The Schist Disk is currently in the Cairo Museum.

Written by – A. Sutherland  - AncientPages.com Senior Staff Writer

Updated on August 8, 2021

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