Rajaram's "horse seal"

[Steve Farmer]

Dominik Wujastyk writes:

> Incidentally, when I looked at http://www.safarmer.com/pico/delusion2.html
> what I saw was a Rorschach inkblot.  :-)
>
Actually, Dominik, the poor quality of the photo and the
Rorschach inkblot effect may not be accidental. M. Witzel has
sent me a jpeg of what we both believe is the original seal,
located by its inscription in an excellent photo in a source
*other* than Mackay. In a faithful reproduction, it is *obvious*
(as it isn't in Jha/Rajaram) that the tablet is broken in the
middle, with part of the inscription becoming what appears to the
Rorschached eye (if you use their poor reproduction) to be the
"head" of the animal in Jha/Rajaram (seen in the link above).
Comparison with numerous other broken and unbroken seals in
nearby pages demonstrates unequivocally that it belongs to the
ubiquitous "unicorn" seal variety. If you take a photo of the
original and heighten the contrast in PhotoShop, you can quickly
reproduce the Rorschach effects seen in Rajaram. As soon as all
sources are in my hands in California -- on Monday morning at the
latest -- I will post all the evidence via a link, including my
Photo-Shop variations of the original.

Rajaram now says (letter sent to a long list of people yesterday,
including me), after I questioned him about his source for the
"horse seal" that he attaches "no significance" to the horse
seal. This is obviously a big turnaround from what he says in his
book (quoted in the link above). Rajaram adds that Western
scholars are "trying to select, discard and manipulate date
[data] to preserve their beliefs. This bespeaks a teological
[sic] rather than a scientific mindset. A debate with such people
is pointless."

The full story of the genesis of the "horse seal" will be posted
via weblinks in the next few days.

Cheerfully,
Steve Farmer