The curious case of Ancient Celtic mechanical looking propellers - forgotten technology?

a reply to: smurfy

That last vid, how are they spinning that thing!
Normally we'd see a tail rotor that holds the mainframe stationary allowing the engine to spin the main rotor, but if as we see here, the entire thing is spinning, what is the engine pushing against so that it can spin the rotor?

a reply to: rickymouse

These appear to be very small though. the one I saw a picture of was about ten or eleven inches around.

That would be a prop for a boat, with some kind of crank mechanism on board… beats rowing if you want to be quiet and the water is calm.

a reply to: VoidHawk

Maybe the pitch is wrong because they were still pioneering the propeller and these are the discarded prototypes.

I honestly am not married to the idea of these being propellers, I simply just want to explore the possibility that they are.

Another thought along the lines of stirring is they could be used like a water wheel or if aligned together make some sort of gear mechanism.

We will probably never know for sure but its fun to think about what these ancient minds were up to way back then.

How on earth are these propellors? The blades are facing sideways, not twisting to the direction of propulsion. That is an excellent way to go nowhere.

a reply to: MerkabaMeditation

Perhaps these were used on model boats or toys and the idea / principle was never recognised for what it actually was (very close to being apart from pitch) and remained a childs toy or similar...there are other examples of toys made for kids that bear an uncanny resemblance to modern vehicles, and even turbines.

Wooden carved 'cars' have been found many centuries before 'horseless carts' were even an idea.

Hero's steam engine...if that idea had been developed and it's potential realised around the time it was built, the world would have had machanical steam powered societies thousands of years before the Victorian age...

Maybe, just maybe...these 'propellers' are yet another example of a missed opportunity that could have propelled (yes, intended!) our societies forwards millennia earlier than it was.

Imagine combining Hero's steam turbine and a few of these modified propellers a couple of thousand years ago?

Perhaps the know-it-alls of their day told potential tinkerers and designers that the idea was impossible, that it was ridiculous and that it broke the natural laws and was against God(s). The really sad thing is they might have listened to the naysayers and the world had to wait thousands of years until we realised what these things could do if a little tinkering was done?

There might be a valuable lesson in there somewhere!

Like a lot of archeology context is key. If there is not one single example of a "propeller" alongside a boat then clearly they are not propellers (or models of). Likewise if they for fishing then they would be found in water. If they are only found on dry land with peoples belongings or inside graves then they just look like propellers. My guess is that a bronze age person would say they look like sycamore seeds and would have no idea what a propeller is. Their use is open to speculation unless there is some other contextual information to be had.

Water wheel paddle for a toy?

My first thoughts are yes the look like propellers, but the angle of the fins is all wrong, then of course when you look at the actual size they would be useless on a boat.

Perhaps they were used in the manufacture of garments, wool and twine needs to be spun to give it strength, if you were to hang twine, or yarn and put these at the bottom it would make the spinning a lot easier, and the spinning wheel certainly had not yet been invented

Maybe knot (yes pun intended) but it is what came to mind when looking at them

Maybe it was used to churn cream into butter?

Maybe designed and built by an ancestor of Dysons.

originally posted by: Bedlam
Water wheel paddle for a toy?

Made in China?

originally posted by: MerkabaMeditation
Synopsis
Unbeknownst to many, archeologists have dug up mechanical looking marine propellers made back ancient times when such technological things should not have existed.

Some history
The first early developments of marine propellers where Archimedes about 200 AD and the Chineese in 300 CE, in the dark ages marine propellers were forgotten and then reinvented in the 18th century.

Mainstream theory
Archeologists name these discoveries "Propellers" but claim they were used as currency rather than them being actual propellers.

Pictures
Here are some briefs found online for your visual consumption. Bon apetite !...

Celtic propeller 500-200 BC Source

Celtic bronze propeller 600-200 BC Source

Celtic bronze propeller S ource

These are just a couple of example, there are many more pictures online. Could these be actual mechanical propellers - even traces of long since forgotten technology?

-MM

That is some intriguing stuff there.
In all instances that i could find on line the objects are considered to be proto money.
And they all seem to come from central/eastern europe.
They are not "propellers", unless they had model boats, as all of the examples i could find are 50mm or less in diameter and only weigh a few grams.
You know, the one of the first things that i thought of when i saw this post was bow string silencer, here is a modern example,

They are about the right size and mass.
And it seems that they have been found in association with bronze "arrowhead" proto money, and archery items can be diagnostic objects for possible celtic sites as in stone wrist guards and such.
The objects show the casting skills of the Celtic peoples.

The blades are not twisted quite right to use as propellers but I doubt they were used for money. I think they were either wind chimes or used to churn milk, maybe too small though as dont know the size.

They would make good wind chimes if put on a string they would rotate in the wind

Celts believed in magic so could be talismans to repulse evil spirits etc

a reply to: rickymouse

This is my guess as well. I saw a primitive tech video where the guy made a similar device and built a clay housing around it, then used a bow drill to turn it to force air into the forge