Hi, I'm not sure what to make of it. If I assume it's an ordinary vertical south dial, the angle between the hour lines would vary as noon approaches and recedes. The morning lines do vary to some extent, but the afternoon lines seem to be almost exactly equally spaced, around 15 degrees apart.
Even if I assume that the variation is simply due to the carving, the lines don't come at the right angles for your latitude. Also, the noon line isn't perpendicular to the 6-6 line. I'm measuring angles from a photograph so am likely to have errors in measuring. My errors may explain the inconsistencies, but I wonder if there's some other effect at work. For example, could the dial be intended for a wall that declines slightly from South? That would interfere with the symmetry and spacing. To check this, it would be nice to have some measurements taken directly from the artifact. Lastly, I am unable to comment on the historical period of the dial. Cheers, Steve On 16 June 2014 13:23, cerculdestele . <[email protected]> wrote: > Hey group! > > This sundial piece was found during the construction of a shopping center > in my city (Cluj-Napoca, Romania). The local museum suspects it's roman, > but I have my doubts. > > Could it be a vertical meridional sundial because of the 6 o'clock line > matching the line of horizon? No numbers are preserved and no clue is left > as to the shape of the gnomon. It seems to have been a rectangular iron rod > placed slightly off center. The big questions are: did the style point to > the celestial pole? do the hour lines suggest something of this sort? and > more important: does it look roman to you? > > > Dan > > --------------------------------------------------- > https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial > > >
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