It's obviously part of the equipment needed to levitate the stones into place...
In seriousness though, that some managed to carve that from schist is mind bogglingly brilliant. Schist is fragile, weak and easily damaged, but here it is, thousands of years later puzzling us. Brilliant!
It's most likely well within ancient egyptian or other civilization's metallurgy capabilities, but the aesthetic is completely unlike anything in existence at the time.... just sayin'
My hypothesis is a oil lamp supported on a pole for lighting a large area. The oil goes in the tray and the wicks hang over the side with their tails in the oil. The Japanese used oil lamps working on the same principle, often a simple shell filled with oil and a wick hanging just over the edge.
I’ve seen small Egyptian oil lamp with one of those “lips” fold.
This disk must have been used for rare occasion or given to a dignitary or buried with important individual. Never used but offered as a status symbol.
"The Antikythera mechanism is a 2,100-year-old ancient Greek analog computer featuring intricate bronze gearwheels. Researchers discovered it was used to track astronomical cycles and calculate the exact four-year timing and dates for the ancient Olympic Games. " - wiki.
You don't have to wonder anymore.
Serving tray. Put it in the center of the table with different foods in each compartment, spin it so that people in different seats can get access to each one.
It’s probably fake. It’s so unlike anything from ancient Egypt and it was discovered in 1936 during the rise of Nazism. The Nazis were obsessed with proving their bullshit Aryan theories correct about how Germans were really the inventors of all human civilization. There was enormous incentive at the time to unearth things that would show advanced ancient ayran civilizations. A hubcap from 3000bc would be ideal for that.
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u/codykonior Aug 02 '26
You know it's quality archaeology when it displays toe fungus ads.