kj, what's confusing about having copies of the original? There were copies of the Declaration of Independence. And the Magna Carta. People did backups of important documents long before computers existed. Except Moses didn't have a backup of the Ten Commandments and had to go back for another original.
Titam, thank you so much for the link to that French thesis; this prosthesis is discussed beginning on page 33 of that work. From what I can tell they consider it to be either Etruscan work or a Mideast copy of such work. I would add that since it was found in a grave but not attached to a body, it might have travelled as booty of war for its gold content and not be a local item.
Dave H, I used the word "attributed" because there is some disagreement regarding the authorship of that canon. Most conventional scholars attribute the work to the man from Stratford.
I spelled his name "Shaksper" because that is how he spelled it. Or, to be more precise, that is ONE of the ways he spelled it. There are reportedly six signatures (on legal documents, I believe) reliably confirmed as those of the man from Stratford; all six are spelled in different ways (Shaksp, Shakspe, Shaksper, Shakspere, Shakspere and Shakspeare). The Stratford man appears to have been rather flexible re his legal signature.
Jill, the subtitle "No Wars Have Not Been Fought to Help Victims of Oppression" must have an inadvertent double negative. (then delete my comment so I don't sound like a grammar Nazi).
In a curious and coincidental juxtaposition, this month's issue of Archaeology magazine has a feature article entitled "Warrior Tut" with the subtitle "Sculptures from Luxor prove the "Boy King" was the scourge of Egypt's foes."
Since Rob has indicated that all the early guesses are wrong, let me take the thinking in a different direction. Perhaps the ball, instead of being heavy (brass) is actually light/hollow and is intended to float upward when the device is surrounded by fluid (the cage obviously keeps it from floating away). After it rises the fluid escapes down beneath the sphere, and when the fluid level normalizes, the sphere settles back to prevent something else (air, gas) from entering.
It might thus be called some type of flotation valve, though where such might be used (and why it would need a knurled ring) is beyond me.
Jmo was the first of several to identify the correct category for the objects. bees and iSAWiWASi found related links, and Dr. Rock has just tracked down the source of the photo.
http://www.wired.com/vanish/2009/08/gone-forever-what-does-it-take-to-really-disappear/
I spelled his name "Shaksper" because that is how he spelled it. Or, to be more precise, that is ONE of the ways he spelled it. There are reportedly six signatures (on legal documents, I believe) reliably confirmed as those of the man from Stratford; all six are spelled in different ways (Shaksp, Shakspe, Shaksper, Shakspere, Shakspere and Shakspeare). The Stratford man appears to have been rather flexible re his legal signature.
Nice post.
Stan
http://i.imgur.com/1oLog.png
Credit to Redditor jjs774 (http://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/b3p8g/reddit_last_week_we_saw_the_depth_of_the_ocean/)
Fulltext and images online:
http://www.archaeology.org/1003/etc/tut.html
It might thus be called some type of flotation valve, though where such might be used (and why it would need a knurled ring) is beyond me.
I'll go ahead and revise the post tonight.