WEBVTT - Thinking Sideways: Baghdad Battery 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:03.640 Hey guys, Steve, here, you are listening to one of 0:00:03.640 --> 0:00:06.640 our original twenty six episodes. If you've listened to any 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:09.360 of our new episodes, you're gonna notice that we're sounding 0:00:09.360 --> 0:00:11.680 a little different in these ones. Yeah, there's a reason 0:00:11.720 --> 0:00:14.560 for that. There is they've been remastered. They have been 0:00:14.600 --> 0:00:18.079 remastered because they had a really annoying hum. Yeah, I 0:00:18.120 --> 0:00:21.680 mean huge thanks to listener James for doing almost all 0:00:21.720 --> 0:00:24.040 of the legwork on this thing. They'll also notice if 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:26.280 you had listened to what we're calling the lost twenty 0:00:26.280 --> 0:00:30.200 six episodes before and you're re listening now, the music 0:00:30.240 --> 0:00:33.440 and sound effects are gone. Yes, we've gone back to 0:00:33.520 --> 0:00:36.320 straight audio, so be warned. We sound a little different 0:00:36.360 --> 0:00:40.440 today than we do in what you're about to listen to. Yeah, enjoy, Bye, 0:00:40.440 --> 0:00:49.040 great Bye, Thinking Sideways. I don't understand this. I'm not 0:00:49.040 --> 0:00:57.040 going new. You never know stories of things we simply 0:00:57.120 --> 0:01:03.880 don't know the answer too. Hey, welcome, This is Thinking 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:08.280 Sideways the podcast. I'm Devin, I'm Steve, I'm Joe, and 0:01:08.480 --> 0:01:12.520 uh we're going to talk about a mystery. I know 0:01:12.560 --> 0:01:17.720 it's I love a mystery. The mystery I want to 0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:21.160 talk about is a mystery artifact mysterious artifact. Mystery. It's 0:01:21.200 --> 0:01:25.200 a mystery artifactor, it's also mysterious, also mysterious. Yeah, so 0:01:25.880 --> 0:01:31.880 let's just get started in nineteen thirty eight, because I 0:01:31.920 --> 0:01:36.640 can't say it the Bagdad Museum, the German director of 0:01:36.680 --> 0:01:40.760 the National Museum of Iraq, either unearthed this artifact during 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:45.040 an excavation near Baghdad or found it in the basement 0:01:45.120 --> 0:01:47.440 of the Bagdad Museum. That's kind of what I how 0:01:47.480 --> 0:01:49.240 I understand it is he just found it laying around 0:01:49.280 --> 0:01:52.320 the museum care He claims that he found it on 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:56.360 an excavation, but it seems like he may have just 0:01:56.360 --> 0:01:58.240 found it in the basement. I think he found it 0:01:58.240 --> 0:01:59.920 in the basement. I'll tell you. I'll tell you why 0:01:59.920 --> 0:02:03.040 I think so little later on. Right, So, this mysterious 0:02:03.120 --> 0:02:07.000 artifact is a terra cotta pot that's about five inches 0:02:07.040 --> 0:02:09.320 tall and the mouth of it is one and a 0:02:09.360 --> 0:02:14.120 half inches. It contains a copper cylinder made of like 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:17.160 a rolled up copper sheet, and it houses a single 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:21.640 iron rod isolated from the copper by an asphalt plug 0:02:22.840 --> 0:02:25.000 or a stopper. They call it a stopper two and 0:02:25.120 --> 0:02:28.240 the rod and cylinder fits snugly into the opening of 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:32.440 the jar and then and the jar is, as Joe 0:02:32.639 --> 0:02:34.280 said when we were talking about this earlier, kind of 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:36.960 shaped like a hand grenade. It bulges out at the edges. 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:41.519 It's not straight up and down or it's not cylindrical. 0:02:41.919 --> 0:02:44.880 It's not a cylinder. It had bulges, and it's not 0:02:45.240 --> 0:02:47.560 water tight. So if the jar were filled with liquid, 0:02:47.960 --> 0:02:51.680 everything would be surrounded, including the rod. Oh, everything goes 0:02:51.720 --> 0:02:55.240 into the rod and submerged. Huh. Initially they dated these 0:02:55.320 --> 0:02:58.440 objects to objects to be about two thousand years old, 0:02:58.440 --> 0:03:00.919 which would put it in like two hundred and fifty 0:03:00.960 --> 0:03:05.600 BCE to two hundred and fifty CE. Okay, common era 0:03:05.680 --> 0:03:08.840 and before common era. So okay, so anybody's wondering, and 0:03:08.880 --> 0:03:14.000 they're called the bag Dad batteries, well because they're pretty 0:03:14.000 --> 0:03:19.360 sure they're the first instance of batteries. Weird. So yeah, 0:03:19.400 --> 0:03:21.360 and so that's what they ran their iPods off of. 0:03:21.440 --> 0:03:24.640 I assume, yeah, pretty much. Yeah. No, So they did 0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:28.720 actually conduct an electrical current, which is kind of interesting. 0:03:28.720 --> 0:03:32.560 The copper and iron, they form what's called an electrochemical couple, 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:38.520 so that if any kind of electrolyte containing liquid were 0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:42.640 exposed to them, they would make an electric charge, a 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:47.640 voltage of some kind. I think they did some experiments 0:03:47.640 --> 0:03:50.720 so like reconstructing those they got one point one volts 0:03:50.720 --> 0:03:54.040 out of them. I think, yeah, they actually they reproduced these. 0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:56.480 They did a couple of reproductions of these, because obviously 0:03:56.560 --> 0:03:58.360 you don't test it in like the two thousand year 0:03:58.360 --> 0:04:01.400 old pots. Yeah, that seems like a yeah. And they 0:04:01.440 --> 0:04:05.320 filled it with grape juice, which is apparently has a 0:04:05.320 --> 0:04:08.720 lot of electrolytes in it. Well, yeah, so why not 0:04:10.360 --> 0:04:12.840 because they thought grape juice. Also, they had grape juice 0:04:12.840 --> 0:04:15.440 back then, so it'd be a pretty good representation of 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:17.960 something they might have used. And it produced two vaults 0:04:19.320 --> 0:04:21.640 with the grape juice, which is, you know, not a lot, 0:04:22.720 --> 0:04:26.039 but it's something, it's some kind of it's a charge 0:04:26.680 --> 0:04:29.320 of some kind. So, you know, one of the big 0:04:29.400 --> 0:04:32.920 questions that people have about this is how could ancient 0:04:33.000 --> 0:04:36.480 Persian science have kind of grasped the ideas of electricity? 0:04:36.720 --> 0:04:39.080 But I think really the best answer to that is 0:04:39.120 --> 0:04:40.839 you don't really have to know how something works to 0:04:40.839 --> 0:04:43.360 know that it works. Oh well, that's how a lot 0:04:43.360 --> 0:04:45.520 of things in history have discovered. Is you go, oh, 0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:48.640 look at that. I have no idea but it totally 0:04:48.680 --> 0:04:51.760 works every time, it works reliably, So I think that 0:04:51.839 --> 0:04:54.640 we can just kind of ignore that question in my 0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:57.120 mind at least. Well, that sort of begs the question. 0:04:57.160 --> 0:04:58.480 I mean, it could have been, it could have produced 0:04:58.520 --> 0:05:01.600 electric current, but is what do you do with it? 0:05:01.920 --> 0:05:04.640 That is exactly yes, yeah, well do you deal with it? 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:07.320 So there are a lot of theories on this. One 0:05:07.400 --> 0:05:11.920 suggestion was painkilling Greeks from you know again but way 0:05:11.960 --> 0:05:15.320 before this time, we talk about the pain killing attributes 0:05:15.400 --> 0:05:18.640 of electrical fish, like electrical eels, et cetera. If they 0:05:18.680 --> 0:05:21.080 were in pain, they would use those and it would 0:05:21.279 --> 0:05:24.080 help dull the pain apparently. And that's kind of like 0:05:24.120 --> 0:05:26.000 when you when you've got you know, if you've ever 0:05:26.040 --> 0:05:28.120 gone to a chiropractor and you have back problems, they'll 0:05:28.120 --> 0:05:30.560 put a little electrodes on your back and run a 0:05:30.640 --> 0:05:34.159 little current through you to help ease things off. I 0:05:34.160 --> 0:05:37.440 think it relaxes your muscles. Yeah, if you've got something 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:41.320 that's not in tense and that that extra current seems 0:05:41.360 --> 0:05:44.520 to make it let go and relax and then yeahhard 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:47.440 so much. Yeah. Actually, they actually make like portable versions 0:05:47.440 --> 0:05:49.800 of those two like this, Like old family friend of 0:05:49.839 --> 0:05:53.120 my parents years ago. He had serious back issues, I 0:05:53.120 --> 0:05:55.680 mean really bad, and so he actually had this this 0:05:55.720 --> 0:05:57.359 little pack that he carried around with him and it 0:05:57.400 --> 0:05:59.520 was wired into it, you know, and it was back 0:05:59.760 --> 0:06:01.720 and it was like he could just you know, I 0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:03.760 just feeling a little pain, you could just turn it 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:05.240 up a little bit, you know. And I was like, 0:06:05.920 --> 0:06:07.920 and I asked him about it. I said, is it like, 0:06:07.960 --> 0:06:09.640 would you say, kind of addictive? I mean, when you 0:06:09.800 --> 0:06:12.279 crank that thing, you know, does it really feel awesome? 0:06:12.320 --> 0:06:15.640 And he says, yeah, it kind of does. Yeah, But 0:06:15.640 --> 0:06:17.760 by any way, we're getting way up. But I mean 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:21.080 it shows that, you know, electricity does I have that 0:06:21.120 --> 0:06:24.359 effect in small doses obviously not large doses. But it 0:06:24.400 --> 0:06:26.840 could also have been used for interrogation, because imagine the 0:06:26.839 --> 0:06:30.039 intimidation effect if you know, the interrogator said, I will 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:32.760 I'll use this back to an hour on one point 0:06:32.800 --> 0:06:35.360 one vaults. So you're going at I mean that would 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:38.320 be intimidating. Well, I would be intimidating. You know. The 0:06:38.400 --> 0:06:41.080 thing is is that, like it turns out two vaults 0:06:41.200 --> 0:06:43.599 is like not a lot. I mean, so everybody's done 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:46.440 this experiment right with like a nine vault battery and 0:06:46.480 --> 0:06:48.360 you like put it on your tongue and it doesn't 0:06:48.360 --> 0:06:53.360 feel great, But it also isn't that painful, It turns 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:56.560 out is not. It's not that much. It's also a 0:06:56.560 --> 0:06:58.440 function of current, though it's not just I mean, nine 0:06:58.440 --> 0:07:01.040 holes can hurt you at a high current, but you know, sure, 0:07:01.200 --> 0:07:04.359 sure low current. Now you know current like these are producing, 0:07:04.800 --> 0:07:07.680 it's not really gonna do anything. And they also talk 0:07:07.720 --> 0:07:11.000 about there's a lot of records of ancient Persians using 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:15.200 things like cannabis and opium and wine for pain killers, 0:07:15.240 --> 0:07:20.240 which are all like way more effective, more powerful than 0:07:20.680 --> 0:07:23.960 like a two vault little like battery situation. So do 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:26.320 you think that they used to really use them for 0:07:26.400 --> 0:07:28.480 pain or do you think they would just get high? 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:35.320 There are other suggestions that they used this to power something, right, 0:07:35.560 --> 0:07:37.560 and I think this is one of the more interesting 0:07:37.640 --> 0:07:41.960 theories because two volts isn't a lot, but two volts 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:46.080 is a lot when you've got like twenty of them. 0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:50.200 But they've only found the one correct, yes, so we 0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:53.120 don't know if there's been more, if there was a 0:07:53.160 --> 0:07:56.000 bunch of them put together, okay, okay, so we don't 0:07:56.000 --> 0:07:57.560 know that, and the other the other well, then the 0:07:57.600 --> 0:07:59.920 other problem that they have is that they've never just 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:02.720 covered any wires. This is a big problem that scientists have. 0:08:02.800 --> 0:08:04.800 They say, well, we didn't discover any wires with it. 0:08:04.880 --> 0:08:06.840 It's like, okay, first of all, where did you discover 0:08:06.960 --> 0:08:10.240 this one standalone battery, right, because maybe there are a 0:08:10.280 --> 0:08:13.360 bunch of wires, maybe two. It's been two thousand years. 0:08:13.480 --> 0:08:17.400 Copper corrodes pretty quickly. I just feel like a thin 0:08:17.920 --> 0:08:20.600 copper wire isn't gonna make it two thousand years in 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:23.840 the ground. Maybe not. But well, and this gets back 0:08:23.840 --> 0:08:25.480 to what I was referring to you a little bit 0:08:25.480 --> 0:08:29.040 earlier about WILLIELM. Kunig and possibly being the person who 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:31.160 dug this up. And I don't think it was because 0:08:31.160 --> 0:08:36.040 apparently the records, generally speaking archaeologists, when they dig something up, 0:08:36.480 --> 0:08:40.760 they keep very meticulous notes about exactly where everything was 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:44.440 found in relationship to everything else. Apparently whoever dug this 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:47.240 battery up or whatever this thing is didn't really do that, 0:08:47.360 --> 0:08:49.320 so it's more of an amateur thing. Somebody, just some 0:08:49.360 --> 0:08:52.280 treasure hunter found it, maybe wound up doning it to 0:08:52.360 --> 0:08:54.959 the museum. And then Phil Helm, who was curator of 0:08:55.000 --> 0:08:56.839 the museum, just stumbled across it in the basement, in 0:08:56.920 --> 0:08:59.959 the box somewhere. But yeah, since whoever dug it up 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:03.559 didn't really document the site as carefully as he should have, 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:06.920 then who knows, maybe there were a few wires were Yeah, 0:09:06.960 --> 0:09:08.920 maybe maybe there were a few other batteries laying around. 0:09:08.920 --> 0:09:11.160 Who knows. Ye might not have even recognized him for 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:12.880 what they do. Yeah, maybe he thought they were like 0:09:13.200 --> 0:09:16.720 trails of centipedes or something. Well maybe, yeah, we know, 0:09:16.880 --> 0:09:18.720 but you know, that kind of makes the question of 0:09:18.840 --> 0:09:22.800 like what, you know, they're not charging their iPods right now? Yeah, 0:09:22.840 --> 0:09:25.440 you know, so what were they maybe trying to charge? 0:09:25.480 --> 0:09:27.880 And huh. Yeah, somebody tried to claim that they actually 0:09:27.960 --> 0:09:32.120 used these batteries to power lights. Yeah, actually, this is 0:09:32.360 --> 0:09:34.520 exactly what I was going to say. But again, no 0:09:34.559 --> 0:09:37.520 evidence has been found of anything resembling a light bulb. Well, 0:09:37.559 --> 0:09:40.000 they have the one evidence, one piece of like kind 0:09:40.000 --> 0:09:43.760 of shaky evidence they have is this relief, a hieroglyphic 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:47.920 relief inside of a pyramid. They call it the Deandra bulb, 0:09:48.160 --> 0:09:52.200 and it looks it actually looks like a bulb, like 0:09:52.240 --> 0:09:57.520 a light bulb, like a light bulb, kind of about that, right, Yes, 0:09:57.520 --> 0:09:59.720 it's the big, the big long cylinder that's in the 0:09:59.760 --> 0:10:03.679 same image that will put up. But yeah, I can 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:07.800 see that that could be interpreted as a light bulb 0:10:07.840 --> 0:10:11.560 based on our understanding of them, but we don't have 0:10:11.600 --> 0:10:15.439 an understanding of what that could have represented culturally or 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:17.840 contextually at the time. Well, I can tell you what 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:22.959 scientists like, actual scientists, Okay, yes, please, no, they think. 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:26.000 So the squiggly line right here in the middle of it, Yeah, 0:10:26.080 --> 0:10:29.160 is the nile slash a snake. And then this is 0:10:29.200 --> 0:10:32.480 a little lotus flower, So it's talking about fertility and 0:10:32.600 --> 0:10:37.640 like continue. So it's a really different representation than people 0:10:37.640 --> 0:10:40.320 have ascribed to it. It does look like a light bulb, 0:10:40.480 --> 0:10:45.520 let's be fair. It does, but no, no, no, I mean, 0:10:45.559 --> 0:10:47.400 you know, it's a one instance, and it can it 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:49.719 can be explained in other ways. It could be a 0:10:49.760 --> 0:10:53.640 giant hot dog for all we know. It could be right, So, 0:10:54.320 --> 0:10:56.520 you know, the thing they talk about with those though, 0:10:56.679 --> 0:11:00.319 is that, according to some people, you can't actually take 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:04.080 a torch, a lit torch into the deepest parts of 0:11:04.400 --> 0:11:07.559 a pyramid because there's not enough oxygen for the fire 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:11.360 to keep going. So the big problem is how did 0:11:11.360 --> 0:11:14.000 they light the inside of that? If a torch won't 0:11:14.040 --> 0:11:19.680 keep burning. True, that's good point. And they've said they've 0:11:19.720 --> 0:11:24.920 done some experiments where people tried to use like mirrors 0:11:24.960 --> 0:11:27.559 to light the way, but the light diffuses too quickly 0:11:27.600 --> 0:11:29.720 for them to actually get it into any kind of 0:11:29.720 --> 0:11:33.400 depth of significance. So you know, that's kind of the 0:11:34.640 --> 0:11:38.560 idea behind needing a light bulb. And I guess, yeah, okay, 0:11:38.600 --> 0:11:42.400 I understand that, But I just don't think this is 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:47.640 the only place we've found this specific illustration or relief 0:11:47.800 --> 0:11:50.640 of it. You would think that if somebody did this 0:11:50.760 --> 0:11:54.079 kind of stuff, that idea would have been documented more 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:57.000 than one drawing. I agree, yeah, And I think you 0:11:57.000 --> 0:12:01.560 would have found more, Especially inside of a pyramid, right, 0:12:01.600 --> 0:12:04.400 if you're excavating a pyramid, there would be these things 0:12:04.600 --> 0:12:08.480 in the innermost chambers, you would assume, right, you would think, 0:12:08.520 --> 0:12:10.280 and there'd be wires and stuff like that. You would 0:12:10.440 --> 0:12:12.400 you would leave it there. Plus, I mean there there 0:12:12.559 --> 0:12:15.200 are always to ventilate your pyramid, even back in those days. 0:12:15.360 --> 0:12:18.760 I mean they were probably were ventilator shafts that probably 0:12:18.920 --> 0:12:23.320 over the years got filled in and plugged. Probably you 0:12:23.400 --> 0:12:26.440 know you can you can you can build a ventilator shaft, 0:12:26.440 --> 0:12:28.640 build a fire underneath it, and it'll center draft up 0:12:28.679 --> 0:12:31.079 that it will suck out. It'll basically create a nice 0:12:31.160 --> 0:12:32.920 draft and bring a nice fresh air for you, so 0:12:32.920 --> 0:12:35.559 your torchies will stay lit. Yeah, you know, so it's 0:12:35.720 --> 0:12:38.720 entirely possible. They they probably had something like that going on, 0:12:38.800 --> 0:12:41.120 I would guess yea. And probably when they're all done 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:42.560 and they had it all filled in and you know, 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:44.920 perils all put to rest and everything like that, they 0:12:44.960 --> 0:12:46.720 might have just gone ahead and plugged up the vent 0:12:46.760 --> 0:12:50.360 hole just for security. Yeah, that would make sense. Yeah, yeah, 0:12:50.480 --> 0:12:53.280 I think, you know, there are definitely ways to explain away. 0:12:54.640 --> 0:12:57.520 Or they just you know, ancient aliens and flashlights. Yeah, 0:12:57.559 --> 0:13:02.240 they had flashlights, ancient LEDs. Yeah. So another theory is 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:06.240 that they use these batteries for electroplating. Oh yeah, I 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:09.320 read about this, and yeah, this was a kind of 0:13:09.320 --> 0:13:11.400 a weird one. To figure out. I had to do 0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:15.040 a bunch of research on exactly how electroplating works. Yeah, 0:13:15.040 --> 0:13:17.960 that's really that's kind of a tough one. How would 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:20.680 you find out? Well, the way I understand electroplating is 0:13:20.679 --> 0:13:24.360 that if you've got let's say gold and silver in 0:13:24.440 --> 0:13:27.840 a substrate, let's just use vinegar, because that's an easy 0:13:27.840 --> 0:13:31.920 one for us. All it works relatively well. If I 0:13:32.000 --> 0:13:36.439 understand how it's working is that it's and correct me 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:38.200 if I'm wrong. If you know, if either of you 0:13:38.280 --> 0:13:40.920 know better, is that it's kind of at the molecular level. 0:13:41.440 --> 0:13:45.200 It breaks some of the gold on the exterior down 0:13:45.800 --> 0:13:49.360 that's in the solution, and it's attracted to the piece 0:13:49.400 --> 0:13:52.480 of silver and then it bonds to that and that 0:13:52.520 --> 0:13:56.280 process continues so that you're shuttling at a very very 0:13:56.360 --> 0:13:59.080 thin level, little bits at a time. So it's not 0:13:59.120 --> 0:14:03.240 a fast profit, especially in something as small as that is, 0:14:03.400 --> 0:14:05.679 or if you were using grape juice or whatever it is, 0:14:06.080 --> 0:14:09.800 because it's the pH isn't that high, and it's it's 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:12.600 just what it is. It doesn't do a good job. 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:16.160 But electroplating is kind of a it's just such a 0:14:16.160 --> 0:14:18.880 scientific process we figured out with the eighteen hundreds. I 0:14:18.880 --> 0:14:21.320 think we've finally got a good beat on how to 0:14:21.360 --> 0:14:24.200 electroplate things. Yeah, I'm not sure exactly one that we 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:25.960 developed that kind of technology. I know it was in 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:27.840 the eighteen hundreds. I mean that certainly to me, is 0:14:27.840 --> 0:14:31.760 a more believable theory than powering electrical devices like leg bulbs, 0:14:31.800 --> 0:14:35.000 you know. But yeah, so I you know, I also 0:14:35.040 --> 0:14:37.560 did a lot of research on electroplating, because it is 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:39.240 it's kind of like a weird thing to get your 0:14:39.240 --> 0:14:41.360 head around. And what I came up with in my 0:14:41.480 --> 0:14:44.800 research was that while yes, something like this could be 0:14:44.840 --> 0:14:49.160 potentially used for electroplating, there's no actual evidence of anything 0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:53.560 from this time being electroplated. Everything from this time has 0:14:53.720 --> 0:14:57.320 very visible signs of more conventional ways of you know, 0:14:57.400 --> 0:15:00.640 plating things, hammering them together. I think that's what they 0:15:00.720 --> 0:15:02.640 usually do it. They would they'd hammered it into a 0:15:02.680 --> 0:15:06.600 thin sheet and then hammer the two together in bondom 0:15:06.920 --> 0:15:10.840 gilt plating. They call it guilt plating or doing mercury guilding, 0:15:10.880 --> 0:15:13.520 which is basically just like putting, like putting them both 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:16.320 in mercury and melting them together without any kind of 0:15:16.320 --> 0:15:18.600 electric current or anything like that. Right, sounds a lot 0:15:18.600 --> 0:15:21.200 more basic than simple and easy. Yeah, they totally are. 0:15:21.240 --> 0:15:23.520 And you know that's those are the only ways we've 0:15:23.560 --> 0:15:26.640 ever found anything from this time period. But I did. 0:15:26.680 --> 0:15:29.400 I did find it funny. One of the articles, and 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:31.720 that I don't remember exactly where I found it, was 0:15:31.720 --> 0:15:37.080 saying that if this thing was used to electroplate gold 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:40.480 onto other objects. So it's a cheaper way of making 0:15:40.520 --> 0:15:43.440 all of your gold effigies and everything like that, or 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:47.680 your gold trinkets that the pharaoh whoever has that there 0:15:47.680 --> 0:15:52.440 could be all of this supposed pure gold in museums. 0:15:52.480 --> 0:15:56.400 It's actually electroplated stuff and it's not actually gold. It's silver, 0:15:56.880 --> 0:15:59.600 copper or whatever that then has the gold on top 0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:03.800 of Yeah, that would be micron sheet. Yeah, as all 0:16:03.880 --> 0:16:05.960 of those things are. I don't buy it. Yeah, no, 0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:07.600 I would have worn off by now, but all at 0:16:07.680 --> 0:16:11.440 least in places. But also it'd be quite obvious if 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:13.640 something was like say silver, played it with gold, because 0:16:13.640 --> 0:16:16.440 it wouldn't weigh nearly enough. Yeah. Yeah, because gold's a 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:19.960 lot denser. Yeah. Yeah, I thought he stressed about that. 0:16:20.040 --> 0:16:22.080 I don't think. I don't really accept it. Yeah, I 0:16:22.400 --> 0:16:24.560 don't buy that one. I'm going to skip the next 0:16:24.560 --> 0:16:26.280 theory because it's my favorite one and go on to 0:16:26.440 --> 0:16:33.640 like the more mundane science y boring mcboor bull. So 0:16:33.680 --> 0:16:38.200 there's two boring mcbors. One is that these jars were 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:43.120 containers to hold papyrus scrolls. Okay, actually I think that 0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:46.240 that's the most believable. One it is. I mean, it's 0:16:46.240 --> 0:16:50.960 pretty believable. Yeah, I'm In March of twenty twelve, this 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:56.920 Iraq archaeologist named Professor Elizabeth Stone, she's a professor at 0:16:56.920 --> 0:17:00.360 the stony Brook University, went on the first archael logical 0:17:00.400 --> 0:17:04.439 expedition in Iraq for twenty years. And she did. She 0:17:04.520 --> 0:17:07.840 was doing an interview on NPR during which they were 0:17:07.840 --> 0:17:10.399 taking phone callers and somebody called in and was like, well, 0:17:10.400 --> 0:17:12.440 what about the bag dad batteries? Tell us about those, 0:17:12.720 --> 0:17:14.679 and her response was to say that she didn't know 0:17:14.720 --> 0:17:18.000 anybody who believed a single archaeologist who believed that they 0:17:18.000 --> 0:17:22.320 were actually batteries. Okay, So I think that we've we've 0:17:22.359 --> 0:17:24.920 missed a bit of information that that everybody's going to 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:27.240 want to know, which is we were saying that they 0:17:27.320 --> 0:17:30.040 put grape juice or whatever it is. Now when they 0:17:30.119 --> 0:17:32.840 found them, they said they had traces of some kind 0:17:32.880 --> 0:17:36.720 of acidic code. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, grape juice in them. Right. 0:17:36.880 --> 0:17:39.400 So the theory is that it was the papyrus that 0:17:39.640 --> 0:17:43.840 disintegrated and coated the walls, okay, and that it could 0:17:43.840 --> 0:17:45.560 have been the same kind of residue, you know, it 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:48.919 was the thirties and forties. Okay, so the uh so, 0:17:49.000 --> 0:17:52.400 obviously whoever whoever excavated this jar was a little careless 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:55.280 because they they just popped it, you know, and all 0:17:55.320 --> 0:17:58.159 this papyrus stuff sort of flaked flaked away now and 0:17:58.600 --> 0:18:01.040 they went, oh look it's yeah, they just turned the 0:18:01.119 --> 0:18:02.840 jar outside down and shook it out and put it 0:18:02.880 --> 0:18:05.520 back together. Yeah, you know, you expect that stuff to 0:18:05.520 --> 0:18:07.480 be in there. You know, somebody was a little sloppy. 0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:10.160 So that's you know, that's the theory. There's another theory 0:18:10.200 --> 0:18:12.800 that it's a hoax that is just totally flat out 0:18:12.840 --> 0:18:16.359 a hoax. Well yeah, so like there's to start with, 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:19.359 there's the red flag of the inconsistent stories of how 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:23.760 you found it, right, and then there's the problem of 0:18:23.800 --> 0:18:28.840 age where they say that it was from two hundred 0:18:28.880 --> 0:18:33.119 and fifty BCE and after a common era, but apparently 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:37.359 if you look at the kind of artistic qualities of it, 0:18:37.359 --> 0:18:41.600 it's more in line with like what happened in two 0:18:41.680 --> 0:18:45.240 hundred and fifty a CE to like six hundred and 0:18:45.280 --> 0:18:48.960 fifty CE, which was like style of jar that they 0:18:49.000 --> 0:18:51.359 made at that time. So it's like a nine hundred 0:18:51.440 --> 0:18:55.199 year difference. Yeah, that's a bit of an issue. So 0:18:55.560 --> 0:18:58.399 those are two really big issues. How did they how 0:18:58.400 --> 0:19:02.320 did they data the data actually using scientific instrumentation or 0:19:02.400 --> 0:19:04.520 just by looking at the style of the jar and saying, wow, 0:19:04.560 --> 0:19:06.719 the people that built this kind of jar with this 0:19:06.760 --> 0:19:11.040 particular time, Yeah, I think you know, initially he just said, oh, 0:19:11.119 --> 0:19:15.159 it's probably from this time. So I remember reading about this, 0:19:15.200 --> 0:19:18.320 and the way that I understand it is as Devin said, 0:19:18.600 --> 0:19:22.840 is that the two hundred and fifty CE to eight 0:19:22.920 --> 0:19:28.800 hundred or whatever side that was all based on the 0:19:28.960 --> 0:19:33.239 style of the construction of it in the shape and 0:19:33.640 --> 0:19:36.119 however they quote unquote would have decorated on the outside 0:19:36.160 --> 0:19:39.080 because it's it's got grooved lines on the outside. I'm 0:19:39.240 --> 0:19:41.360 almost as if somebody had taken a wire brush. It's 0:19:41.400 --> 0:19:45.400 not smooth. Now. Granted, when they found it it was outside. 0:19:45.520 --> 0:19:48.200 It was really kind of eroded, so nobody knows exactly 0:19:48.240 --> 0:19:52.879 what it was adorned with. But if I remember correctly, 0:19:53.560 --> 0:19:58.760 Koonig William is his name, right, Okay, Williem If I 0:19:58.800 --> 0:20:02.400 remember right, he was dating it to the time frame 0:20:02.560 --> 0:20:07.440 he had, and I'm pretty sure that he did some 0:20:07.520 --> 0:20:12.040 kind of analysis that was what was available at the time. 0:20:12.320 --> 0:20:14.639 You know, they didn't have good radio dating like we 0:20:14.720 --> 0:20:16.919 have now. Radio dating is the wrong word, what is it? 0:20:19.119 --> 0:20:21.239 But I think it was based on something to do 0:20:21.320 --> 0:20:24.760 with the metal is how he was dating it, which 0:20:24.760 --> 0:20:27.480 could be two different things if you think about it. Logically, 0:20:28.280 --> 0:20:32.320 somebody could have taken a chunk of metal that had 0:20:32.359 --> 0:20:36.040 been worked years and years prior and been sitting around 0:20:36.080 --> 0:20:40.080 and just repurposed it into this jar, So they could 0:20:40.200 --> 0:20:43.480 be from separate time frames, or the dating just could 0:20:43.560 --> 0:20:46.680 just be completely off. Yeah, yeah, I mean that's from 0:20:46.720 --> 0:20:49.040 I don't think that any it's it's never been released 0:20:49.480 --> 0:20:52.200 to be carbon dated. Yeah, so that's the problem. It's problem. 0:20:52.320 --> 0:20:54.639 Is this thing still around by the way, Yeah, it 0:20:55.040 --> 0:20:59.360 supposedly in them is anybody? Oh? Is it in the museum? Apparently? 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:09.119 I mean it's you know, it's not enough. Who knows. 0:21:09.440 --> 0:21:12.480 So let's go to my absolute favorite theory about this, 0:21:12.920 --> 0:21:15.800 because I think that it's probably was a battery of 0:21:15.840 --> 0:21:18.040 some kind. It had a little bit of electric charge 0:21:18.080 --> 0:21:22.680 to it, very enough to like kind of you would 0:21:22.720 --> 0:21:27.680 feel it. There's this guy and he's a metallurgy expert 0:21:28.359 --> 0:21:32.160 of ancient Near East for the British Museum. His name 0:21:32.200 --> 0:21:36.120 is doctor kratick, and he has this theory, which is 0:21:36.359 --> 0:21:42.600 that like a cluster of these batteries connected behind some 0:21:42.680 --> 0:21:47.920 kind of metal statue or idol could have been connected 0:21:48.080 --> 0:21:51.800 to the idol as a sort of temple trick. So 0:21:53.200 --> 0:21:56.639 you go, so you go, like and you're it's like 0:21:56.720 --> 0:22:00.280 a proof of religion sort of situation, a proof well, 0:22:00.280 --> 0:22:02.280 I'm not a proof of faith, a proof of religion. Right. 0:22:02.359 --> 0:22:05.120 So an unbeliever comes to a synagogue or a church 0:22:05.200 --> 0:22:09.560 or whatever and says, okay, prove to me that your 0:22:09.600 --> 0:22:13.480 God exists. And the preacher says, okay, if you answer 0:22:13.560 --> 0:22:17.120 this question correctly, when you touch the statue, it will 0:22:17.160 --> 0:22:20.000 shock you, and if you answer wrongly, it will not 0:22:20.119 --> 0:22:23.480 shock you. And they are like standing right next to it. Right, 0:22:23.680 --> 0:22:26.280