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Sun-Compass or Sun Shadow Board

Reconstruction of a Sun-Compass and Sun Shadow Board according to artefact found in the ruins of a Benedictine convent in Uunartoq, Greenland, in 1948
Is was probably used by Greenland Vikings about 1200

Type of object:

Timekeeper & Sundial & Compass & Barograpf

Time period:

Arabieren

Place:

Greenland

Date:

2016

Maker / Author:

unknown

Publisher / Printer:

unknown

Dimensions:

3D printing:
70 mm diameter, 17 mm central whole.
Gnome of 7, 10 and 15 mm
With a steel ballast to allow horizontal measurements as it floats in a bucket.

Material:

ABS

Graduation:

Inscription:

None

Provenance:

Benedictine convent in Uurnartoq

References:

Balázs Bernáth, et al. ©2013 Royal Society Publishing
https://phys.org/news/2013-04-errors-viking-sun-compass-hint.html#jCp

Image by Austin Neill

Description

3D Reconstruction of the compass dial artifact as a combination of a sun-compass and a sun shadow board. The gnomonic lines belong to a low rectangular gnomon and serve to identify the noon period. The series of 17 notches in the north form a fine scale for reading the noon shadow length of a second high central gnomon with a height chosen for the given latitude and time of year. Deviation from the desired latitude can be read with a resolution of about 0.1° at noon, but only crude bearings can be taken from the compass at intermediate solar elevation angles when this compass is floating in a bucket of water.
Credit: Balázs Bernáth, et al. ©2013 Royal Society Publishing

Additional information

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