Aerial Activities of Ancient Man
According to the legends, the small star is very heavy, and it rotates around the Sirius star in an elliptical orbit. Some elderly Dogon people can draw the orbits of the two stars on the ground, and they are quite similar to those calculated results by modern astronomers. This example may indicate that the ancient Dogon people have retained knowledge of astronomy from long ago.
The stone carving in Peru, just like the astronomical knowledge of Dogon people, reveals mysterious knowledge and techniques that previous human civilizations possessed. Modern science could be only a rediscovery of previously acquired knowledge. Let us take a look at some of the methods for flying that the ancients knew about.
Flying
Ancient Chinese books recorded that in the Spring and Autumn period (770-475 BC), Lu Ban had created flying machines. This led Lu Ban to be acknowledged as the father of all craftsmanship. In Mozi·Luwen, it reads "Lu Ban cut bamboo and wood, and made a wooden bird. It stayed in the sky for three days." Lu Ban also made a big wood kite in order to spy on enemies in a war.
In Hongshu it reads, "Lu Ban made a wooden kite to spy on cities in the State of Song." Besides, Lu Ban made a passenger plane. According to Youyang Zazu [A Collection of Essays from Youyang] of the Tang Dynasty, Lu once worked in a place very far away from his hometown. He missed his wife very much, so he made a wooden bird. After being redesigned several times, the wooden kite could fly. Lu Ban went home on the kite to meet his wife and returned to work on the next day.
There was also an interesting example in the West regarding a wooden bird. In 1898, French Archeologist Lauret dug out a wooden bird from an ancient Egyptian tomb in Saqqara. It was dated at around 200 BC. Because people had no concept of flying at that time, it was labeled "wooden bird" and gathered dust more than 70 years in a museum in Cairo. In 1969, Khalil Messiha, an Egyptian doctor who likes making models, happened to see it.
This wood bird reminded Messiha of his earlier experience of making model planes. He thought it was not just a bird, since it had no claws, no feather, and no horizontal tail feathers. Surprisingly, its tail was vertical, and it had an airfoil cross-section, which qualified it to be a model airplane. He made a copy. Although he did not know how ancient Egyptians flew it, when he threw the model, he found it could glide. Further testing showed it was not only able to glide, but also on a scale similar to modern gliders.
Later, scientists found this model was very similar to modern propelled gliders, which can fly in the air on their own. With a small engine, they can fly at a speed of 45-65 miles per hour (or 72-105 kilometers per hour), and can even carry considerable cargo. Since ancient Egyptian artisans used to build models before constructing real objects, it is possible that this kind of wooden bird was used for transportation, just like the wooden kite that Lu Ban made.