The Saqqara Bird Article
Found in a vast burial site near Egypt’s oldest step pyramid this simple curving is known as the saqqara bird, it is believed to hold the key to an incredible enigma.what is surprising about the saqqara bird is it’s aerodynamic precision, the shape of the wing and the fuselage seem to have similarities to modern day aircraft engineering, could the ancient Egyptians really have possessed the technology of flight over 4000 years ago ?! if so.. How !!
In room 22 of the Egyptian Museum – Cairo, lays the small wooden bird and underneath it the inscription I want to Fly, Simon Sanderson is an aerodynamics expert who has long been fascinated by the Saqqara bird, he used the latest techniques to unravel whether the ancient Egyptians developed a model for a full size gliding machine.
using cutting edge technology developed by the university of Liverpool – England, he conducted the ultimate flying test, he said he noticed that the top of the wing is curved and it’s unusual and doesn’t look like modern time designs but it has aerodynamic properties.
the Saqqara bird provoked this fascinating discussion as whether the ancient Egyptians did actually know how to fly it was a very long series of tests. but after a 3D analysis Simon and his team, at Liverpool constructed a model of the Saqqara bird 5 times bigger than the original size, Simon claims that constructing this model is actually the first step of understanding the Egyptians aerodynamic techniques .
At one of the world’s leading aeronautic research institutes in Manchester England, Simon tested his constructed model and through long series of scientific tests he learned a lot about the flight characteristics of the bird and the computer seem to confirm that the Saqqara bird is definitely capable of flight, and Simon findings suggest that over 4000 years ago the Saqqara bird may have sword high above the Egyptian Desert!!
Simon took the model back to Liverpool university where it faced the same series of tests as a modern fighter jet , using data obtained from the wind tunnel experiments the ancient Saqqara bird passed all the scientific analysis that 21st century technology can deliver. he simulated a virtual 3D landscape model on the ancient Giza plateau, and as Simon took control of the simulated 3D of the Saqqara bird he managed to fly towards the heavens.the Saqqara bird glides effortlessly high above the Egyptian desert riding the air streams like an eagle.
Over 4000 years after the ancient Egyptian carved this mysterious bird, modern technology has proved beyond doubts that it could have flown!!
it was incredible the ancient Egyptians has very sophisticated knowledge in other areas so why not in aerodynamic.
