Mortar and pestle from Table Mountain, Tuolomne (California, USA)
In 1877, a Mr J H Neale, superintendent of the Montezuma Tunnel Company, was engaged in building a tunnel through Table Mountain, Tuolumne County (California, USA). The tunnel was running through gravel, sealed by lava. Between about 425 and 457 m (1400-1500 feet) from the mouth of the tunnel and between 61 and 91 m (200-300 feet) from the edge of the solid lava, a number of dark stone objects about 300 mm (one foot) long were reported to Mr Neale. Close by, he found a small bowl-like object between 75 and 101 mm (3-4 inches) in diameter; further exploration revealed a larger bowl-like object and a pestle-like object. They were all found in the gravel within 300 mm of the underlying solid bedrock. Some years earlier, in 1857, a fragment of human skull was found close to mastodon remains, while a complete human skeleton discovered even earlier had been associated with similar material; they were thought to be evidence for Miocene humans.
The gravels through which the tunnel was built were estimated as being between 33 and 55 million years old, so objects found in situ within them ought to have been contemporaneous. The objects do resemble stone bowls and a pestle, but it is not clear how closely associated with each other the objects had been. The accounts do not give any indication that the objects had been examined for traces of working; without evidence for an artificial origin, it is probably safe to conclude that they are simulacra, natural objects that happen to resemble something meaningful to the observer.
it’s all a simulacrum! or a fake! or it’s the antikythera mechanism, which you don’t know much about, except to say “well, calling it a computer just makes it sound mysterious.” It is a computer, and it is mysterious. Too much bias in your writing here.
Well, unfortunately that’s what most of these so-called “out-of-place artefacts” are. They are largely misidentifications by people who wouldn’t know a human product from bovine excrement. The Antikythera mechanism is not a computer: it’s a geared mechanism of a type we already knew to have existed (similar machines are mentioned by Classical authors).
The only bias in my writing is to show up stupidity and willful misrepresentation for what it is. Deal with it.
And your point was?
Scholars DID make a mistake on the Antikythera mechanism.
Although written references and descriptions of similar devices where indeed known, it was assumed that they shouldn’t be taken literal. And then one of those devices turned up.
He, it can happen.