Hi NT,
There seems to be some conflicting information over what exactly Ron took to Hassan.
This site:
http://www.wyattarchaeology.com/red_sea.htm
Claims it was a chariot wheel:
On diving down to the sea bed, in 1978, Ron Wyatt and his two sons found and photographed numerous coral encrusted chariot parts. Several dives since then have revealed more and more evidence. One of his finds included an eight spoke chariot wheel, which Ron took to the director of Egyptian Antiquities, Dr. Nassif Mohammed Hassan. After examining it he immediately announced it to be of the eighteenth dynasty, dating the exodus to 1446 BC. When asked how he knew this Dr. Hassan explained that the eight spoke wheel was only used during this period, the time of Ramases II and Tutmoses (Moses).
One thing that I would like to know here, as the structure of the paragraph is a bit ambiguous, is who said that the 18th dynasty was the period of Rameses II and Tutmoses (sic)? It looks as if Hassan said the wheel was only used during the eighteenth dynasty, but to place Rameses II into the eighteenth dynasty alongside any of the Thutmosis’ is a schoolboy error that I don’t think someone in Hassan’s position would make. Perhaps it is just the way the sentence is structured, and Hassan said it was a 18th Dynasty wheel, and the info about Rameses II and Tutmoses is an addition by the good folks at wyattarchaeology. But, I find it extremely difficult to believe that Hassan could have said the final part of that sentence, anyone with the faintest clue about Ancient Egypt knows that Rameses II was a 19th Dynasty pharaoh.
Anyway, the conflicting information about what Ron took to Hassan is at this website:
Page not found - WND
She (Ron’s wife) cites Ron's discovery of a wheel hub that he brought to the surface in the late 1970s as proof.
The hub had the remains of eight spokes radiating outward and was examined by Nassif Mohammed Hassan, director of Antiquities in Cairo. Hassan declared it to be from the 18th Dynasty of ancient Egypt, explaining the eight-spoked wheel was used only during that dynasty around 1400 B.C.
Curiously, no one can account for the precise whereabouts of that eight-spoked wheel today, though Hassan is on videotape stating his conclusion regarding authenticity.
Apparently, Ron only took a wheel
HUB to Hassan and not the entire wheel as claimed by Wyattarchaeology. Note that Hassan has now dated the wheel to 1400 BCE.
But, not only is there no sign of the wheel, or the hub, poor old Hassan is dead as well. But, there’s allegedly some footage taken by Ron of Hassan’s testimony, which is useful as all Wyatt’s friends have to do is to show the film footage to a few Egyptologists and they can verify it for them, Hassan’s testimony is not needed.
Finally, perhaps there are some photos of the wheel/wheel hub available for these experts to examine, I mean Ron wouldn’t have taken the wheel/wheel hub out of the sea and went straight to Hassan without taking a great many pictures of it would he?
We know that Ron wasn’t the sharpest tack in the box, but surely he wouldn’t be stupid enough not to take as many precautions as he could just in case something happened to the artefact. Taking photos of and drawing a picture of a find is one of the first things an archaeologist would do, didn’t anyone tell Ron that at nursing college?
There may be a way to harmonise this conflict, for example, the wyattarchaeology site may be calling the partial wheel find a 'wheel', when they should really say that it was was 'part of a wheel'.
Brian.
PS, is it me, or does anyone else hear the distant 'clip clop' of a Gish Gallop that will arrive shortly?