Thanks for sharing. My history of technology professor at the University of Minnesota used to speak of the "precocious technology" of Medieval Europe, in which

Thanks for sharing. My history of technology professor at the University of Minnesota used to speak of the "precocious technology" of Medieval Europe, in which artisans often invented devices that could not be fully explained by the science of the time. Precocious technology is, of course, a worldwide phenomenon and a phenomenon from all eras (including our own). The astonishing artifact reported on here has very unclear provenance--it's not clear how it passed into the hands of the collector from whose collection it came into the Smithsonian museums. Moreover, the lack of writing in the culture of origin at the time the artifact is thought to have been made means there is no history (written records) to supplement archaeology for inferences about the cultural role of the artifact. But it is a thought-provoking find all the same, and an example of what else might be missing from the archaeological record.