There is a brass disc sitting in the National Museum of Scotland that has been quietly observing the passage of time for a millennium. This week, it turned 1,000 years old.
The astrolabe was made in Cordoba by Muhammad ibn al-Saffar in what the Islamic calendar records as 417 AH, which translates to 1026 or 1027 AD. It is one of Europe’s oldest surviving signed and dated astrolabes, a two dimensional model used to chart the position of the sun and stars for purposes ranging from navigation to astrology.
How it ended up in Edinburgh is a story almost as fascinating as the instrument itself. National Museums Scotland says it was gifted to them in 1959 by James H Farr, a man who ran Wardie Garage on Ferry Road. In a newspaper interview from 1960, Farr claimed he purchased it in a second hand shop on Edinburgh’s Lawnmarket. Imagine that: a thousand year old astronomical instrument sitting between old teapots and dusty novels on the Royal Mile.
Dr Rebekah Higgitt, principal curator of science at NMS, said: “As this incredible object turns 1,000 years old, we reflect on how a single object can connect science, history and culture.”
I find it rather humbling. While we struggle to keep our smartphones working for more than three years, this brass disc from medieval Spain has survived crusades, empires, wars, and a stint in an Edinburgh junk shop. It makes you wonder what artefacts from our own era will still be around in the year 3026.