We found a lost temple using maths sent by an ancient Sumerian god | Curator's Corner w. Matt Parker

It's not every day you get to say 'I found a lost, presumed to be mythical, ancient Sumerian temple'. Unless you're curator of ancient Mesopotamia Sébastien Rey. Because he did exactly that - rediscovering the Temple of Ningirsu in Girsu, in Southern Iraq. And he did it by cracking an ancient Sumerian maths puzzle that had stumped archaeologists for over 140-years.

Join Matt Parker and find out how unit fractions and predictive archaeology are 'way better than the golden ratio'.

00:20 Setting Matt Parker an ancient Sumerian Maths problem
01:15 Matt's first attempt at deciphering the tablet of Gudea
02:14 Is it a ruler?
02:16 It IS a ruler!
02:48 The most iconic statue of ancient Mesopotamia: the statue of king Gudea
03:56 The dream that built the temple of Ningirsu in Girsu Tello
04:33 The archaeological search for the lost temple of Ningirsu
05:12 How the British Museum excavated the lost temple of Ningirsu
05:19 Discovering the first temple gate
05:48 The clue that helped crack the temple of Ningirsu metrology
06:28 Matt's second attempt at deciphering the tablet of Gudea
07:48 Measuring out the temple of Ningirsu
09:08 Using predictive archaeology
09:17 Matt Parker: archaeologist
10:15 Proving the sceptics wrong... by digging more holes
10:43 The oldest architectural plan known in history
11:25 The beginning of abstract numeration in ancient Mesopotamia
12:37 Building with maths because it's nice
13:35 What came first, the statue of Gudea or the temple of Ningirsu?
14:45 Mathematics; the divine language of the Sumerians
15:36 Sumerian fractions are officially better than the golden ratio
15:41 Who is Ningirsu?

#curatorscorner #mesopotamia #maths

[britishmuseum]

Thanks again to Matt Parker for taking on so many ancient unit fractions. If you've found us through Matt's video on the mathematical pa-π-rus
we think you'll like these 2 videos:

[RedHair]

If I were one of the archaeologists on the site when they found out that the second hole showed exactly what they predicted, I think I would have exploded. This is such a pleasing thing to see.

[charlesgoddard]

Such a brilliant video! Some years ago, the BM invited subscribers to vote on how they would like to see the BM increase its outreach - and I voted for small vids, from curators, about special objects in their collections. Each and every one is pure gold - but as an architect this just hit my sweet spot. Beautiful guys - many many thanks!

[JaneParsons-somy]

‘To make things function as they should’. Thank you, Sumerians. Thank you, Sebastien and Matt. Mathematically proportioned buildings are immensely pleasing. I need more of this sort of thing.

[el_wumberino]

"To make things function as they should" … now that is a maxim today's world should be acting upon.
Thank you very much for this video.

[BrianSpurrier]

6:25 Matt switching from counting the tally’s to the gaps really highlights the later point about the evolution of numbers just existing to count physical things into objects that you can act on themselves

[JeffErickson]

I'm honestly seriously tempted to get a tattoo of the Sumerian "to make things function as they should", but I'm afraid to find out in ten years that it actually means "sesame chicken" or "property of he Louvre".

[idjles]

"order out of chaos" is the definition of creation in the Ancient Near East Creation Stories.

[GaryHurd]

For the interested, I encourage serious students to read these fairly easy books on the origins of the Sumerian numerical systems and their link to mathematics. They also show the link to sedentary agriculture, and solar calendars.

Schmandt-Besserat, Denise
1992 "Before Writing Volume I: From counting to cuneiform" Austin: University of Texas Press

Dalley, Stephanie
2000 “Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, The Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others, Revised” Oxford University Press

Black, Jeremy, Anthony Green, Tessa Rickards (illustrator)
2003 "Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia" Austin: University of Texas Press.

The religious interpretations of solar observation led to the orientation of building walls, streets, etc...

[SethHubbell]

Seeing the plans, and specifically the ruler, it makes me think of the beginning of engineering professor Bill Hammack's book "The Things We Make". In it he describes how the engineering method was used to build structures like cathedrals, when the architects may not have knows about the specific structural integrity of their building materials, but by deriving rules based on simple math like this, structures can be built that don't fall over under their own weight.

[BlueBaron]

A religion that determined that mathematics was the language of the gods and of a universal order 4000 years ago. Uh...my mouth is still hanging open after watching THIS VIDEO!

[giannobong]

I love the model of the blueprint being ordered in parts rather than precise measurements so that it can be built really at any scale. There’s something about this that is so satisfying to my brain.

[danceswithdirt]

I didn't expect this crossover. Fantastic.

[britishmuseum]

EDITED: 4.30 was reading as a timecode for the video so changed colon to a full stop. Silly YouTube.

[RedstonekPL]

4:00 "it was revealed to me in a dream"

[zahrap]

In Zoroastrianism, there is Asha, which is the order of the world that must always be maintained. Whoever is against Asha and promotes chaos is Ahriman and must be fought to maintain Asha and keep the world in order. The building is very similar to Persepolis in Persia/Iran.

[musiqueetmontagne]

Just incredible, beautiful research, amazing results from the cradle of modern culture....Thank you for showing us.❤

[CrowSkeleton]

That's incredibly cool! I love that the sculptor bothered to put a completely accurate plan of the completely accurate temple with the king, though I suppose he'd have demanded nothing less.

[rkond]

The scale of the ruler to the temple seems to be close to 1:360. Considering that they used base 60 it is appropriate.

[FlockofAngels]

The God, Ningirsu is literally the wall of the temple embodying the numbers of the Gods. This wall is the barrier that keeps wild animals from entering into the inner sanctuary.