Traditionally the L-shaped instrument has been called a merkhet. It was used not only as a plumb line and altitude sundial but more importantly for finding time at night. For this purpose, two people were involved. On to hold the merkhet to mark a meridian and another to sight through a notch in a palm-like paddle. The timing of key stars crossing the meridian marked the hour. The stars were known as decans.
Another example of the merkhet is at the Oriental Institute in Chicago. Cheers, Sara Sara J. Schechner, Ph.D. David P. Wheatland Curator of the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments Department of the History of Science, Harvard University Science Center 251c, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 Tel: 617-496-9542 | Fax: 617-496-5932 | [email protected] http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~hsdept/chsi.html
--------------------------------------------------- https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial
