A group of archaeologists has managed to find some buried stone records in Ukraine that were probably used by the VikingoSA solar compass mode to navigate in the seas. In total, eight stone albums have been discovered, dating between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, made of a pyrophilite slate, an abundant mineral in Ovruch, located in northern Ukraine.
The discs found share some characteristics with other viking gadgets found in Poland and Greenland and initially the researchers thought it was some kind of tool to sharpen or make jewels.
“These albums have been previously interpreted as various elements, including calendars, handmade tools such as sharp and polishing stones, as well as arc drill components manually operated,” said the study at first.
However, after discovering some of its unique characteristics, such as rings and lines engravings, archaeologists They began to doubt their true purpose Until they discovered that three of them were quite similar to Vikingas compasses.
“Through measurements and surface analysis, three stone discs exhibit similarities with the Vikingas solar compasses, with a limited number of examples found in Greenland and the Baltic Sea region,” the study said.
The work has been published by the Magazine Polish Archaeological reports. Now, archaeologists request that investigations be continued to find if these albums had a “Practical Navigation Purpose”.
