The Saqqara Bird
A small wooden bird from an Egyptian tomb has been held up as a model glider, proof that the ancients knew how to fly.
What was reported
In 1898 a small bird carved from sycamore wood, about 18 cm across the wings, was found in a tomb at Saqqara, the ancient burial ground near Memphis. It's thought to date from around 200 BC and is now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
In the 1970s writers noticed its straight wings and upright tail and suggested it was a scale model of a glider, evidence that ancient Egyptians understood flight.
Explanations offered
Egyptologists say it's simply a bird, perhaps a falcon, with carved eyes and a beak, and that it may have been a toy or a weathervane. Replicas don't glide well unless a horizontal tailplane is added, which the original doesn't have.
- When
- Found in 1898
- Where
- Saqqara, Giza, Egypt
- Witnesses
- Archaeologists, and later ancient-astronaut writers
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.