Ancient violinist? No, that's the weapon of Mesopotamia.

It looks like a restless spinner, but this artifact is probably actually a mace head. Provided by the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, it is a work of art in Mesopotamia 4000 years ago. It looks like an agitated rotor. The curator told Field Science that a museum that has been labeled as a "spinning toy" for 85 years is actually-unexpectedly-an ancient weapon.

During the expansion of the Mesopotamian Art Museum at the Oriental College of the University of Chicago, the museum director noticed this mistake. During the Isin-* * * period in Mesopotamia, triangular and baked clay products were labeled as "rotating toys with animal heads".

Although this object looks like a modern violin rotator, the curator of the museum recently realized that it is something completely different: a hammer. [Modern tools of 10 by Indiana Jones]

This cultural relic can be traced back to 2000 BC to 1800 BC. It was made at an Ar site in Goutel, which is now Iraqi territory. Kirsten Neumann, director and research assistant of the Institute of Oriental Studies, told Field Science in an email:

"The diggers realized that this object was unique, and they speculated that it might be rotating and used for astrological divination, indicating that the animals represented were bulls, wild goats and lions," she said.

Newman said, but some new clues, reviewed by the curator, support the scepter head hypothesis.

The mace head is unusual and made of baked clay. Usually, they are made of stone. But this object looks like other confirmed mace heads, and its position further proves its original use, she said.

"The charred clay samples we found near a temple also support that this is a scepter head, because they were considered as God's weapons in 2000 BC. Neumann said,

This is another Macedonian head, from the ruins of Tel Agrab, which is also located in modern Iraq. Neumann said that archaeologists had previously discovered ancient Mesopotamian toy artifacts, including baked clay rattles, whistles, animal statues and wheeled trolleys, but this item may not be designed for children's whimsy.

So why did museum researchers call it a toy in the first place? Jean Evans, the chief curator of the Institute of Oriental Studies, told the science reporters at the scene: "Our ideas will change over time." Neumann said: "This ancient weapon will soon be exhibited with other objects unearthed from the temple of Mesopotamia, including prayer statues, plaques, utensils and other Macedonian heads." . But this did not stop Twitterverse from getting pleasure from the similar appearance of restless spinner.

When the restless spinner craze arose, people posted a photo of an art work on twitter. On Monday (July 3 1 Sunday), Arielle Pardes, senior deputy editor of Wired, even joked on Twitter, "This proves that there is no original idea.

Original articles on life sciences.