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Tibetan statue recovered by Nazis; Carved from rare meteorite, 15,000 years old...

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S

SUPREME1

Banned
Dat belly swastika.


Matt McGrath said:
An ancient Buddhist statue that was recovered by a Nazi expedition in the 1930s was originally carved from a highly valuable meteorite.

Researchers say the 1,000-year-old object with a swastika on its stomach is made from a rare form of iron with a high content of nickel.

They believe it is part of the Chinga meteorite, which crashed about 15,000 years ago.

The findings appear in the Journal, Meteoritics and Planetary Science.

The 24cm (9-inch) tall statue is 10kg (22lb) and is called the Iron Man.

Origins unknown

The story of this priceless object owes more perhaps to an Indiana Jones film script than sober scientific research.

It was discovered in Tibet in 1938 by German scientist Ernst Schafer. His expedition was supported by the Nazis, in particular by Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS. Himmler was said to believe the Aryan race originated in Tibet and was keen to recover objects from the area.

Brought back to Germany, the statue became part of a private collection and disappeared from view until 2007. A new owner then sought scientific advice on the origins. He turned to Dr Elmar Buchner from the University of Stuttgart.

"I was absolutely sure it was a meteorite when I saw it first, even at 10 metres" said Dr Buchner.

He said that the clue was in small, thumb like impressions caused by the melting of the surface. Further analysis showed that it was a rare ataxite class, a type of meteorite not often found on Earth.

"It is rich in nickel, it is rich in cobalt. Less than 0.1% of all meteorites and less than 1% of iron meteorites are ataxites, so it is the rarest type of meteorites you can find."

Meteorites have been seen as a sign of divine activity across many cultures since the dawn of time. Knifes and jewellery were made from iron meteorites by ancient Inuit. But tracing their exact origins is often extremely difficult.

The German and Austrian scientists who worked on the Iron Man with Dr Buchner were surprised to be able to trace the statue to a specific event in meteorite history.

Absolutely priceless

The researchers believe it was carved from a piece of the Chinga meteorite that fell in the border region of eastern Siberia and Mongolia about 15,000 years ago.

The debris from the crash was only discovered in 1913 by gold prospectors, but the individual fragment from which the statue was carved was collected many centuries before.

"We were quite astonished by the results," said Dr Buchner.

"OK, it's a meteorite but what amazed me was that we could also say it was from Chinga, that we could find the provenance, that was really astonishing for me."

The statue is believed to portray the god Vaisravana. The researchers think it belongs to the pre-Buddhist Bon culture that existed in Asia about 1,000 years ago.

"If we are right that it was made in the Bon culture in the 11th Century, it is absolutely priceless and absolutely unique worldwide," observed Dr Buchner.

Neither the person who carved it or the Nazis had any idea it was made from such a rare substance, he said.

In keeping with the Hollywood element in the story, Dr Buchner said the statue had a certain aura.

"It is extremely impressive, it was formerly almost completely gilded - there is a great mystery represented by it."
Click to expand...


_63138662_buddha1creditelmarbuchner.jpg
 
Z

zomaha

Member
So Himmler thinks Aryan race comes from Tibet, sends expeditions to gather stuff from the area and happens to find this amazing statue created centuries earlier that just also happens to have his party's symbol on its belly....that's creepy.
 
S

SUPREME1

Banned
zomaha said:
So Himmler thinks Aryan race comes from Tibet, sends expeditions to gather stuff from the area and happens to find this amazing statue that just also happens to have his party's symbol on its belly....that's creepy.
Click to expand...

More like, swastikas have appeared a long time in that part of asia and the Nazis (who have since adoptedhijacked the symbol) send a party to recover whatever they can to further their propaganda/mythos.


Also,

The typical Nazi version of the swastika has the number 4 in it. The one on the belly is reversed.
 
D

Dreams-Visions

Member
SUPREME1 said:
More like, swastikas have appeared a long time in that part of asia and the Nazis (who have since adoptedhijacked the symbol) send a party to recover whatever they can to further their propaganda/mythos.


Also,

The typical Nazi version of the swastika has the number 4 in it. The one on the belly is reversed.
Click to expand...

CLOSE ENOUGH!
 
O

orientalNoodle

Banned
Fron newscientist..com

"In Tibet, though, meteoritic iron was long known as namchag, or "sky iron", says Buchner's team, suggesting the locals were aware of the origins of the unusual material."

So the mystery is how did the Tibetan knew that it came from the sky when it is crashed down long before there were people around?
 
I

IceCold

Member
orientalNoodle said:
Fron newscientist..com

"In Tibet, though, meteoritic iron was long known as namchag, or "sky iron", says Buchner's team, suggesting the locals were aware of the origins of the unusual material."

So the mystery is how did the Tibetan knew that it came from the sky when it is crashed down long before there were people around?
Click to expand...

They didn't. Odds are they just realized it was the hardest rock they had ever encountered.
 
X

xptoxyz

Member
Is it me or are little flames coming of the sphere? It reminded me of Uncharted 2 where I think in most representations of the *
Cintamani Stone I think the "buddahs" held it like that and it was burning.
I'm not sure, as it was some time ago.

* Uncharted 2 spoilers.
 
Riposte

Riposte

Member
There is no reason to believe Hitler was possessed by an alien demon that came from a meteorite that happened to be carved into a Buddha statue.

Other than that it would be really freaking cool.
 
N

noah111

Still Alive
Breaking news: the swastika symbol has existed for thousands of years, far predating the nazi adoption of it. It meant absolutely nothing harmful or vile as it's depicted today.

If that is actually news to anyone, then our schools have failed yet again.
 
S

Secret Fawful

Member
Great, there's probably a horrific alien virus or deadly face-melting lifeform encased within it, in the grand tradition of Indiana Jones artifacts.
 
N

noah111

Still Alive
This find is amazing, though. I still find it incredible how man was capable of such precise craftsmanship so many thousands of years ago. Especially considering the scale.

Also, i'll take this as proof of the divine over a Jesus face in egg yolk any day.
 
X

xbhaskarx

Member
Dragoon En Regalia said:
I find it funny that they acquired a rare sculpture with the wrong swastika facing. Nazi swastikas go clockwise; this one's reversed.
Click to expand...

You find it funny that Nazis, who adopted the clockwise swastika as their symbol, found a statue with counterclockwise swastika in the region (India/Nepal/Tibet) where counterclockwise swastikas originated thousands of years before Nazis adopted the swastika, turned clockwise, as their symbol?
HAHA FUNNY

zomaha said:
So Himmler thinks Aryan race comes from Tibet, sends expeditions to gather stuff from the area and happens to find this amazing statue created centuries earlier that just also happens to have his party's symbol on its belly....that's creepy.
Click to expand...

Let's list the events in chronological order:
People live in Tibet area
People in the area use the swastika as a religious symbol
People in the area create a statue with a swastika on its belly... along with tons of other swastikas on just about everything
(many years pass)
Nazis adopt the swastika as their symbol (they didn't create it, they knew it was already used in South Asia)
Himmler thinks Aryans came from Tibet based on zero evidence
Nazis travel to Tibet
Nazis find statue with swastika

WHAT ARE THE ODDS
 
D

Dragoon En Regalia

Member
xbhaskarx said:
You find it funny that Nazis, who adopted the clockwise swastika as their symbol, found a statue with counterclockwise swastika in the region (India/Nepal/Tibet) where counterclockwise swastikas originated thousands of years before Nazis adopted the swastika, turned clockwise, as their symbol?
HAHA FUNNY
Click to expand...
Funny as in curious? Now what's wrong with that?

It's counter-clockwise.
 
GungHo

GungHo

Single-handedly caused Exxon-Mobil to sue FOX, start World War 3
hiryu64 said:
Clearly this is proof that the Nazis have been around for thousands of years.

I bet some people might actually believe that.
Click to expand...

Considering the left-handed swastika is part of my wife's name, let's not perpetuate that one. Whenever she does write her Chinese name, she gets a lot of looks. Imagine what they'd think if they went to a Buddhist Temple in Taiwan, Japan, or Korea.

Or looked at a Greek coin.

Or Roman mosaics.

Or an Iranian necklace.
 
MisterHero

MisterHero

Super Member
It's adamantium

but that can only mean this world is the setting for an extremely mediocre movie for another dimension's moviegoers
 
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