Hand
methods can produce extremely fine work and the desire always exists. Add the fact that hard grit is a river run
product, and it is easy to determine strength by mere comparison, we have a
natural Stone Age technology that moves easily to maturity with diamond grit
against Corundum.
It is
more interesting to determine the natural trade routes that brought this all
together.
Even
crystal skulls can theoretically be produced this way. Never presume that the appropriate grit is
not available. Here it could have passed
out of India to find its end user(s). a
dedicated carver has a whole lifetime to secure the rewards available and will
naturally pursue perfection.
Chinese
Axes Polished Better in 4,500 B.C. Than Today
Many people think
modern technology is very advanced, but according to Dr. Peter J. Lu,
post-doctoral research fellow at Harvard University, Chinese people in 4,500
B.C. did a better job making flat and smooth surfaces than we can nowadays with
our best polishing technologies.
Dr. Lu, who worked
with his team in the study of four ancient Chinese axes discovered in the
1990s, knows well what he’s talking about when he mentions polishing. The
researcher submitted the Neolithic artifacts to a number of scientific tests,
determined to come to the conclusion that the axes only could have been made
using advanced techniques involving diamond.
Belonging to the
Sanxingcun and Liangzhu cultures, the four ceremonial axes were dated between
2,500 and 4,500 B.C. Although in the beginning it was believed that the
material used for the polishing was quartz, Lu’s team demonstrated that this is
an erroneous idea.
The axes were
submitted to electronic ultrasound examination, radio-graphical diffraction,
and examination by electron microscope. It was determined that 40 percent of
the axes was composed of corundum, a rock also known as ruby when it is red.
Corundum is well known for being the second hardest material on the planet. The
fine polishing work exhibited on these artifacts could have only been achieved
by employing the one material harder than corundum—diamond—which had previously
been believed to be first used in 500 B.C. in India.
To confirm the
hypothesis, Lu took samples of the oldest axe and used a modern machine with
diamond, albumin, and silica to polish them.
To the amazement
of the scientists, the electron microscope confirmed that the polishing that
resembled the ancient axes most closely was the one done with diamond. In fact,
the craft that was carried out on the axes centuries before our era was more
exquisite than the work done with modern precision instruments.
Through the study
of these ceremonial Chinese axes, scientists now possess a more solid knowledge
about the polishing techniques of antiquity, enabling them to explain the
abundance of finely carved objects like jade. Nevertheless, many questions
still exist in regard to how Chinese “cavemen” could have made the finest and
smoothest axes history has ever known.
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