Three old paintings where smartphones came from somewhere. Three old paintings where smartphones came from somewhere Springfield Settlement

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Archeology is one of the most important sciences that sheds light on our past. But what if our past is not quite the way we imagine it to be?

website collected for you unexpected finds that greatly surprised historians.

1. Central heating in the palace of the Minoans 2700-1400. BC e.

An unexpected discovery was made at Knossos, in the ruins of a palace. The ancient Minoans heated the castle with cylindrical structures with semicircular roofs, which were placed under the floor and heated with fire, as a result, heat spread throughout the palace.

2. Vending machine 100 BC e.

Surprisingly, modern vending machines had a very solid ancestor who traded holy water in ancient temples. It was invented by Heron of Alexandria, the author of many amazing inventions. The machine itself worked like this: people threw a coin, it pushed the lever, which, in turn, slightly opened the valve, allowing a small portion of holy water to flow out. Unfortunately, such a brilliant idea was forgotten and vending machines were reinvented at the end of the 19th century.

3. Venetian vampire - an artifact of the XVI century

An unusual artifact was found in Nuovo Lazzaretto (Lazzaretto Nuovo), located in the Venetian lagoon, in 2006-2007. During the excavations of the graves, a skull with a brick in the jaw was found. That is how, judging by the written sources of those times, vampires were buried (a brick in the mouth should neutralize it). Further studies of the skull showed that it belonged to a 60-70-year-old woman (and this is a very respectable age for those times), a European and a peasant woman, that is, she did not stand out in any way, except for her age, from ordinary residents. So why was she considered a vampire? Science does not give an exact answer to this question.

4. An ancient Viking settlement in North America before its discovery by Columbus. Late 11th century

L'Anse aux Meadows is an ancient Viking settlement built 500 years before Columbus discovered North America. From 1961 to 1968, Helge Ingstad and Anne Stine Ingstad, after conducting a series of archaeological excavations, determined that the site was of Norwegian origin. Such a discovery forces us to reconsider the established geographic hypotheses. The question of where the Vikings came from in North America remains open.

5. Automatic doors in Ancient Greece. Second half of the 1st century A.D. e.

The same brilliant Heron of Alexandria invented automatic doors long before the turbulent 20th century. One can imagine how amazed the ancient people were when they saw such a miracle in their temples (namely, such doors stood in them). The air heated on the altar started the mechanism, and then, as they say, it was a matter of technology.

Source 6The Controversial 1937 Mr. Pynchon and the Settlement of Springfield Mural

"Mr. Pynchon and the Springfield Settlement" is a 1937 mural by Italian artist Umberto Romano that was found to contain what appears to be a smartphone. If you look closely at the Indian on the right, it seems that he is typing a message on his phone. What it really is, no one knows. Although various theories have been put forward.

7. The first vertical shower from ancient Greece. Beginning of the 2nd century BC e.

Leonardo da Vinci was a brilliant inventor, and no one was surprised to discover in the 1950s a drawing of a robot, most likely intended for military operations. It is not known whether the scientist carried out his plan, but the robot itself looks very believable and could imitate simple human movements.

9. Ancient chemical weapons in 256 AD e.

During excavations in the Syrian city of Dura-Europos at the beginning of the 20th century, scientists discovered the remains of 19 Roman centurions and one Persian warrior in a tunnel. Initially, it was believed that they died in a collapse, but further research revealed an amazing truth. The soldiers suffocated from the gaseous mixture of burning sulfur and tar. Prior to this incident, archaeologists had not yet found evidence of the use of chemical weapons.

Dudaleva Maria

2 years ago

Photo: Painting by Umberto Romano

A mural of "Mr. Pynchon and the Settlement of Springfield" is kept at the Massachusetts Commonwealth State Building

In a 1937 painting by Italian artist Umberto Romano, Internet users saw an Indian holding an iPhone. The painting is called "Mr. Pynchon and the Settlement of Springfield." It depicts the British merchant-colonist William Pynchon, who, according to legend, founded the city of Springfield.

A user named Michael Todd Myers posted on his page in social network Facebook picture with the question "Is this guy tweeting?". Other users are already putting forward their hypotheses. For example, that the bound man is a time traveler whose smartphone was taken away by the Indians.

The British newspaper The Daily Mail cites one of the most sensible assumptions: the Indian does not have a smartphone in his hand, but a mirror. In those days, pocket mirrors were fashionable and rare accessories. A similar subject could be of interest to a native inhabitant of the American continent.

The mural "Mr. Pynchon and the Settlement of Springfield" is kept at the Massachusetts Commonwealth State Building in the United States.

"There's so much wrong with this image that it's not clear where to start."

Lower right corner. Seated Indian. Holds a small, black, rectangular object at eye level.
See him?
It's not entirely clear who the man is, but he seems to be peering into the handheld device, and holding it in an all-too-familiar gesture, like he's just reading some bad tweets or sick of being reminded of Trump.

It's a big mural called "Mr. Pynchon and the Springfield Settlement" and it looks like it has an iPhone written on it.

Completed in 1937 by Italian artist Umberto Romano, "The Settlement" is based on real events that took place during the pre-revolutionary war - between members of two tribes and English settlers in the village of Agawam in modern-day Massachusetts in the 1630s.
That is, 200 years before the advent of electricity.

We know for a fact that cellular's birthday is April 3, 1973 - and in 2007 Steve Jobs invented the so-called "one device", now arguably the best-selling product in history.
In other words, the person in the mural simply can't be with an iPhone.

So what is it?

This mural still hangs at the Massachusetts Commonwealth State Building (formerly the Central Post Office) in Springfield.

"There's a lot wrong with this image."

Dr. Margaret Bruchats, assistant professor of anthropology and coordinator of the University of Pennsylvania's Indigenous and First Nations Initiative, proposed the theory. According to her, the object is an iron blade, the sharp edge of which rested on the palm of a person.

"There are so many things wrong with this image that it's hard to know where to start," she said. “This artist has obviously painted something unknown. He never saw the objects he depicted."

Another option was put forward by the writer and historian Daniel Crown: this is a mirror.
For Native Americans, mirrors were symbols of wealth and prestige. They were usually installed in dance batons, because of their reflective properties, and not for self-admiration.

So, Romano, who painted this fresco in 1937, asked his descendants a riddle. What is the Indian holding in his hand? The artist himself died in 1987, and took the secret of this image with him to the grave. I think that during his lifetime no one asked him, people were puzzled by this subject only recently, when Android was invented.

A rather strange resemblance to modern times is the way an Indian focuses his attention on an object - like on a smartphone,” said Dr. Margaret Bruchats.

So what is it?
Here are the guesses:
This is a blade. Prayer book. Mirror. IPhone in the hands of a time traveler.
Any other ideas?
Or does one of these seem more convincing?

Recently, in the 1937 painting "Mr. Pynchon and the Settlement of Springfield", an object suspiciously similar to a smartphone was noticed, and someone even believed in time travel. BigPiccha suggested what this thing really was, and remembered two more canvases where you can see the “gadgets”.

The painting by Italian artist Umberto Romano depicts a scene from the 17th century - 400 years before the invention of smartphones. The protagonist of the canvas is the Englishman William Pynchon, a prosperous fur trader and founder of the settlement of Springfield. He is surrounded by Indians, one of whom is holding a mysterious object in the same way that we now hold smartphones.

Fragment of the painting "Mr. Pynchon and the settlement of Springfield"

Umberto Romano died in 1982 and during his lifetime did not comment on the figure of an Indian, so it is not clear what exactly he is holding in his hands. Dr. Margaret Bruczak of the University of Pennsylvania thinks it's an iron plate or a wide blade.

Historian Daniel Crone, in an essay on William Pynchon, suggested that the mysterious object could be a hand mirror: they were invented and became popular in the 17th century, and for Native Americans they became a symbol of wealth and prestige. In addition, it can be assumed that the Indian is holding a prayer book.

The work of Umberto Romano is not the first old painting in which our contemporaries saw a smartphone. In 2016, Apple CEO Tim Cook found an iPhone on a painting by Dutch artist Pieter de Hooch. "It was hard to see, but I swear it's there," Cooke joked.

Pieter de Hooch, Man Handing a Letter to a Woman in an Entrance Hall, 1670

Another painting by Peter de Hooch - "A Young Woman Receives a Letter" - makes you finally believe that the artist knew more about future inventions than was necessary in the 17th century.