Hey, have you heard the one about the Ancient Egyptian statue that moves by itself?
This, courtesy of an alert from a friend of mine and an io9 article. Basically, the 10-inch-tall statue of Neb-Sanu is slowly spinning around on its glass shelf over many hours – but only in daylight, and in a perfect circle. Kudos to io9 for laying out the most likely explanation, a neat process called differential friction. According to the article and well-known television physicist, explorer, and Fae lookalike Professor Brian Cox: “…Where two surfaces – the serpentine stone of the statuette and glass shelf it is on – cause a subtle vibration which is making the statuette turn.”
Not so many kudos for the museum staff, who are still hedging their bets on spookier causes. Manchester Museum’s resident Egyptologist Campbell Price suggested something more sinister, an Egyptian curse. He says: “But it has been on those surfaces since we have had it and it has never moved before. And why would it go around in a perfect circle?”
He then goes on to state: “In Ancient Egypt they believed that if the mummy is destroyed then the statuette can act as an alternative vessel for the spirit. Maybe that is what is causing the movement.”
Chalk one up to creepy science. I like how as soon as I heard it was turning by itself and saw that it was on a slick glass surface, I thought of differential friction. And I’m neither a physicist, an Egyptologist, nor a museum curator.
The spin? Vibrations are strange phenomena, but we have the math and the visuals to explain them in terms of Real Science. In the average machine shop or art studio, an observant person can witness many bizarre and wonderful aspects of vibratory patterns. The perfect circle? First off, has anyone checked to make sure it’s a perfect circle? I’m willing to entertain that the bottom of the statue might not be ground perfectly flat. That there could be a minute point of distension roughly dead-center on the bottom of the stone plinth. Or something has been added to the bottom of the statue or to the shelf, to provide that contact point. If any equipment nearby has changed (light fixtures, nearby generators, a new cleaning product on the display shelf, even floor coverings or pedestrian traffic patterns through the museum) the vibration ‘kicks’ the plinth, rotating it around that point. Like a big, very slow top.
I really hope Mr. Price is saying this as a publicity stunt to increase museum attendance. I’m insulted that anyone working there thinks they have to use ‘paranormal activity’ to attract people. Manchester has a proud old tradition of engineering, building, and citizen literacy. Because, if this is really what Mr. Price believes…
The museum staff needs to be whacked soundly about the head and shoulders with rolled-up copies of Popular Mechanics. And then told what professional archivists use: museum putty. I’m sure it’s available in the UK.
How do I know this? I’ve seen something similar happen, in a posh historical artifacts gallery. Try turning around and seeing a priceless piece of early 20th Century Hopi Blackware pottery inching slowly toward the edge of a display shelf with every passing gallery visitor. We didn’t hold a seance for the long-dead potter. We tacked the vase firmly onto the shelf with PH-neutral putty, so it couldn’t do its little Dance of Applied Entropy Just Waiting To Happen.
THIS is why we need more science and math in schools.