Talk:Baghdad Battery

message: This University of Pennsylvania Press book has an article in it
"Electricity Generation Or Magic? The Analysis Of An Unusual Group Of Finds From Mesopotamia"
"A review of the literature isolates twelve comparable finds from Parthian and Sassanian contexts to which a similar
function has been occasionally ascribed.
Four small unglazed earthenware jars sealed with bitumen were uncovered in 1930 by a University of Michigan excavation at the Seleucid trading post of Opis, on the Tigris. The vessels were about 15-20 cm high and of various shapes, two with handles. Three were found lying on their sides, each with up to four metal rods stuck in the ground around them. One of the rods with each find was iron; the rest were bronze, all about 20-25 cm long. Each toppled jar contained a bronze cylinder, just under 3 cm in diameter and 7.5 cm long, sealed at both ends. Tucked into these "containers" were compressed rolls of papyrus—presumably inscribed—in various stages of decomposition. The one jar still standing contained fragments of a glass bottle.
The finds were dated to the late Sassanian period (5th-early 6th century AT).) by coins. The excavator gave no interpretation of the finds, merely emphasizing that they had been deposited irregularly around a (cult?) building and that they were not associated with a burial (Watermann 1931:60-62). At about the same time German archaeologists were carrying out excavations on the east bank of the Tigris at Ctesiphon (Fig. 2, plan). In the second season of excavation (1931/32), undertaken jointly by the Islamic Art Museum of
the Staatliche Museum, Berlin, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, led by Ernst Ktlhnel (KQhnel 1932, 1933; see also Upton 1933), six sealed unglazcd earthenware jars were found, each containing little rolls of metal or metal nails (Fig. 2a-f):"  - these were from late Sassanian layers.
"The artifact group which prompted this article (Fig. 1) was found three years later, in 1936, on the northern outskirts of Baghdad near Khuyut Rabbou’a, in a late Parthian layer (Damerji 1979). The vessel of unglazed earthenware, originally sealed, contained a copper cylinder closed at one end with a copper plate, and sealed at both ends with bitumen. Inserted into the copper cylinder was an iron spike held in place by the bitumen stopper. The thicker end of the heavily encrusted and corroded spike projected about a centimeter from the sealing. Traces of metal, presumed to be lead, were registered on the stopper. According to KOnig (1938:8-9; 1940:164-168), the cylinder consists of “fairly pure copper with traces of zinc, lead, and iron." An investigation of the spike was not carried out.
"A group working under Prof. W. Jansen (Oldenburg) independently came to similar conclusions (Jansen et al. 1985). The finds have only an apparent outward resemblance to a cell (or dry battery). Instead, they probably served for the performance of magical practices." This is followed by a discussion of magic at the time, including eg the role of nails. 
"The group of objects found at Scleucia becomes more comprehensible. The content of the texts of papyrus, unfortunately no longer accessible to us, probably concerned foundation texts or protective spells. For magical protection they were put into sealed bronze rolls (as discussed below); for practical protection they were then deposited in earthenware jars. The finds were in each case 'nailed fast' with a set of iron and bronze rods. Given the circumstances of discovery it is reasonable to assume they were deposited around a cult building."
"We conclude that the earthenware jars found in Parthian and Sassanian contexts, sealed with bitumen and containing metal cases, occasionally associated with papyrus remains and metal rods, did noc represent any apparatus with a pracii cal use in the modem sense, e.g., the generation of electricity. Rather, they were, as Kuhnel (1932) described, containers fro “conjurations, blessings and the like, written perhaps 01 papyrus,” which had been deposited to exercise a protective defensive, or occasionally harmful magic spell." 
Also see this
Doug Weller talk 15:18, 22 August 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  More sources 

message: Surely more information is available about when it was discovered, at least the year? VQuakr (talk) 18:06, 23 December 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: see the last link in my above post. I also need to find time to work on using the source I quoted there. Do you read German because I have a German article by the same author. I've been told elsewhere that this article doesn't make it clear enough that more modern research disagrees with the battery idea and that the article is too neutral between possibilities. Doug Weller talk 13:35, 24 December 2021 (UTC)
replies: text:  unfortunately no, my 2nd language is French and even it's too rusty to use for editing. The Elizabeth Stone quote does a good job of summarizing the academic consensus on this artifact. Maybe the quote should appear in the lead, too? Or does NPOV overrule WP:POVNAME in this case and the article should be moved away from a title that contains the word "battery"? VQuakr (talk) 20:56, 24 December 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Date and circumstances of excavation 

message: Doug Weller talk 11:59, 25 December 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: Re the article title: it is consistent with WP:COMMONNAME however the fact that it's not universally considered a battery could be better emphasized. Per the sources, something like  etc. - LuckyLouie (talk) 19:18, 25 December 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  More sources