Copper Head

[RICK ASHER]

I was out of town when the discussion of a copper image was 
posted on the network.  Apparently the image was dated 5200-5710 B.P.
(Before Present) by a laboratory in Zurich.  I am an art historian
and can't imagine what tests they might have applied.  Organic material
can be dated by c-14 and other means, but unless the image had a core
that included organic material, as often they do, then it would be
impossible to assign a date on the basis of any scientific test I know.
In any event, the date would not provide proof of Aryan presence.  The
Harappans, for example, made ample copper objects, which we still have,
as did late Harappans, even in Central India, for example, some objects
found at Daimabad.  Nor do I think it's possible to provide compelling 
evidence that the head represents Vasishtha since we don't have others
representing him; a comparison with a written/oral description is just not
very persuasive.  I've not read the article and certainly plan to do so,
but for now I'm skeptical.  Rick Asher


> From THRASHER at MAIL.LOC.GOV 08 1993 Feb GMT 11:50:11
Date: 08 Feb 1993 11:50:11 GMT
From: ALLEN W THRASHER <THRASHER at MAIL.LOC.GOV>
Subject: RE: MAGIC SQUARES

Hi, 
  
I have done some research on the field of magically filled hexagons 
(i.e. that yield an equal sum in all three directions), and am very 
much interested in references to such things in Indian mythology/tradition. 
Also the other material (about magic squares and stars) has my interest. 
Can you please send me more about this subject. 
  
The Hexagons are interesting to me since there is only one way to fill 
a hexagonal grid of 19 cells with the numbers 1...19 in a 'magical' 
way. Larger hexagonal grids cannot be filled in a magical way with 
the numbers 1..n (for n = 37, 61, ...), as is easy to prove. A way out 
is using numbers from other intervals. I have made magical arrangements 
for 37-cell grids with the numbers 3...39. I wonder whether such things 
have been done in ancient India, since it costed me several days of 
computer time to get it right, and I was not able to find any pattern 
in it. 
  
(for those interesting, a publication about this is somewhere in the 
process of going to a magazine... but it has nothing to do with indology) 
  
Jeroen 
  
-- 
Jeroen Hellingman                 E-mail: <jhelling at cs.ruu.nl> 
't Zand 2                         Phone: +31-3473-73935 (home) 
4133 TB Vianen                    (18.00--21.00 GMT) 
The Netherlands                   Answer in English, German, or Dutch. 
  
  
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THIS IS A REPLY TO THE ABOVE MESSAGE
SUBJECT OF THE REPLY: REPLY                         
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          Dear Jeroen, 
           
            I  am not aware of any magic hexagons in India; I merely listed 
          them as an example of the sorts of figures that can be "magic" in 
          the mathematical sense.    Did  you  ever  see  Martin  Gardner's 
          article in  his old "Mathematical games" department of Scientific 
          American magazine on  magical hexagons?  A Philadelphia streetcar 
          conductor was the first to discover one.  If  you aren't aware of 
          it  I can hunt up  the reference, though my papers are disordered 
          from several moves.  I'll also see  if  I have any info. on magic 
          stars in India. 
           
          Alen Thrasher 
          Southern Asia Section 
          Library of Congress 
          Washington, DC 20540-4740 
          tel. 202-707-5600 
          fax 202-707-1724 
          thrasher at mail.loc.gov