#
# Identification:
#
# * Title: "nine-rosette diagram"
# * Page: f85v2 = NC+ND+NE+NF+NG+NH (Rene) = p169 (Stolfi)
# * Folio: f85+f86
# * Panels: f85v2+f86r4+f86r6+f85v1+f86r3+f86r5
# * Bifolio: bN1 = f85+f86
# * Quire: N (Rene) = XIV (Beinecke)
#
# This is the top left panel(?) of the main face of a 12-panel foldout.
#
# Panels 85v2, 86r4, 86r6 (top), and 85v1, 86r3, 86r5 (bottom)
# comprise a single logical page, here called f85v2, which is the
# main face of a 12-panel fold-out. This is the only face that can
# be entirely seen when all folds are opened. All the panels
# obviously belong to the same bifolio, which is bound at the
# vertical fold between panels 85v1 and 86r3.
#
# Attributes:
#
# * Language: B (Currier)
# * Hand: 3 (Currier)
# * Subsets: C (Rene), cos (Stolfi)
# * Subject: cosmological
# * Colors: ??? (Reeds), blue("T"_of_"TO"_map) (Reeds)
#
# Description:
#
# This face of the fold-out contains an elaborate diagram consisting
# of nine main circular diagrams or "rosettes" connected by things
# that resemble roads, rivers, tubes, etc. Using compass directions
# as labels for the rosettes, the general layout is roughly like this:
#
# *
# = NW----N----NE
# = | \ | / |
# | | |
# W--- Ctr----E
# | * | |
# | / | \ |
# SW----S----SE
# o *
#
# (The right 1/3 of this design is incomplete and based on verbal
# descriptions by others, and relatively low-resolution images
# provided by Dennis.)
#
# The top and bottom rosettes lie one in each of the six panels,
# roughly centered. The rosettes in the middle row sit on top of the
# horizontal fold. The center rosette is the largest one while the
# mid-side ones (N, E, S, W) are the smallest.
#
# There is a ring of text around each rosette, and dozens of labels
# all over the place. Some text rings, perrhas all of them, are
# bounded by two faint, mechanically drawn circles.
#
# Several object in this diagram seem to be covered by tongue-like
# "scales" or sprouts (see glossary). In several places these scales
# pile up into a small conical mound or "fountain", which seems to emit
# a small "jet" (which looks like a tuff of stiff hair).
#
# The NW rosette (panel f85v2):
#
# The ring of text surrounding this rosette (unit "???") has a wide
# gap at 09:30. Inside this ring is a band of scales turned
# inwards, giving the impression of a hollow spherical shell with
# closely-packed finger-like buds sprouting from the inside
# surface. The band of scales is fringed with a band of hairs,
# also pointing inwards, and a circle of small dots.
#
# At the center of this "shell" is a round (slightly oblong)
# object, also decorated with scales, hairs, and tiny dots
# but pointing outwards. The object seems to have a opening shaped
# like an eye on its side, as if a slice had been cut from a
# melon. The interior of the object seems to be hollow. The edges
# of the hole are fringed with many small "teeth" or "flames",
# sharp and curved, directed inwards. On the right edge of the
# cut, on the boundary between the scales and the flames, there is
# a single word.
#
# North, East, and South of the NW rosette there is a complex of
# scalloped and hatched areas that suggests a very rough surface.
# Cutting through this hatching, and apparently higher than it, are
# some flat areas that resemble broad wawering roads. One "road"
# connects the rosette to a wide flat "plateau" North of it, that
# extends beyond the panel's edge. Another road goes East to the
# N rosette (panel f86r4) and a third road goes South to the
# W rosete (split between panels f85v1 and f85v2).
#
# The East-going (NW to N) road narrows quickly, and is
# interrupted halfway by a round court. (Actually the court is
# foreshortened to an oval; this part of the diagram is drawn as
# seen from due West, high above the road.) Two narrow
# paths---slightly convex, with parapets---connect this plaza to
# the N rosette. The trapezoidal space between the two paths could
# be a hole or a flowerbed. The road and plaza are edged by an
# artificial-looking wall, interrupted by a few square columns or
# towers of the same height. In the middle of the road there is a
# round multistory tower, with a sharp conical roof.
#
# The South-going (NW to W) road sports five labels: one at each
# end, one in the middle, and one on each side, outside the road.
# It is apparently drawn as seen obliquely from the South.
#
# Five straight tubes exit from the NW rosette's outline, directed
# Southeast towards the center rosette. They seem supported at
# their base by a rampart with multiple scalloped outline. The
# tubes are arranged symmetrically, with one in center and four,
# slightly narrower, around it. They stop in mid-air with flat
# open ends, as if all were cut with a single stroke. There is a
# label further ahead of the tubes and aligned with their axis.
#
# Further nortwest of this rosette, right next to the panel's
# corner, there is a small sun with long sinuous rays. West of the
# rosette, squeezed against the left edge of the panel, is a
# narrow text with two paragraphs of 4.0 (or 5.0?) and 4.0 lines.
#
# The NE rosette (panel f86r6)
#
# The ring of text (unit "???") surrounding this rosette is
# interrupted at 00:00 by a rectangle, about half as wide as it is
# tall, spanning the width of the text band, and decorated with
# two vertical rows of dots.
#
# Inside the text ring is a broad band, spanning almost half the
# radius, and surrounding a starry field. Most of the band is
# covered by a texture of closely spaced scalloped lines, on which
# are superimposed several objects shaped like fat ostrich
# feathers, curled up on themselves; the whole vaguely suggests a
# a stormy sea with huge breaking waves. The "stormy sea" is
# interrupted at 06:00, 09:00, and 01:30 by extensions of "roads"
# that reach the text ring from the outside. There is one
# "breaking wave" in each of the 06:00--09:00 and 09:00--01:30
# sectors, bending counterclockwise; while the sector 01:30-06:00
# contains four small "breaking waves" and a medium-size one, all
# bending clockwise.
#
# The interruption at 09:00 is an extension of the "road" leading
# to the N rosette. The road intersects the text ring between
# 08:30 and 09:45, and is broadest at that point. Once inside the
# text ring, the road narrows abruptly, and is only 1/3 of its
# maximum width by the time it reaches the starry field. This
# part of the road is bordered by two concave walls, looking down
# on rocky cliffs that to rise from the sea. The end of the road
# is blocked by by a castle in perspective view, with "up" towards
# West. The castle consists of a square wall, twice as high as the
# road walls, with M-shaped merlets all around the top edge. A
# dark dot in the middle of the front wall may be a door. Two rows
# of elongated dots on the wall could represent windows. Near (or
# right against) the back wall, close to the left corner, there is
# a tower. The tower is twice as tall as the walls, reaching
# almost to the text ring. It has a vertical row of three dot-like
# windows, a narrow parapet around the top, and a conical roof. To
# the right of the tower there is a building of some sort. Just
# outside the castle, where the South wall of the road begins,
# there is a second tower, similar to the first but only half as
# tall, with a dark globular roof (or is that an ink blot?).
#
# Outside the text ring, the road connecting the NE rosette to the
# N rosette is almost a mirror image of the road from NE to N: a
# broadening road, edged by artifical walls with square posts or
# towers. [CHECK] However there is no flower bed dividing the road
# in two, as there is on the other side. There is a label on the
# road, just outside the ring, reading North.
#
# The road from the NE to the E rosette starts on the edge of the
# starry field, between 04:30 and 07:30, then quickly narrows, and
# crosses the text ring between 05:30 and 06:30. Where the road
# starts, at 06:00 right on the edge of the starry field, there is
# yet another tower. This tower is like the first one but shorter;
# it has two dot-like windows, one above the other, and a blunter
# conical roof. Outside the text ring, the road maintains
# basically the same width until the E rosette, wandering a bit
# off the straight line. This road, like most of the others, has a
# flat surface, surrounded by a band with scalloped texture that
# sugests a rocky cliff. On the road's surface there are two
# scalloped lines, with each lobe decorated by a dot, constricting
# the road [COMPLETE]
#
# The SW rosette (panel f85v1)
#
# The ring of text bounding this rosette (unit µ{C1}) has gaps at
# 01:30 and 07:30.
#
# Inside the text ring is a "plateau" with scalloped boundary,
# with 8 extensions or "passages" leaving in different directions.
# Each passage has a peculiar outline, sort of a pair of trumpets
# joined at their narrow ends by a "bulb-like" swelling. The passages
# are flat like the plateau but are surrounded by a several wavy
# lines, sugegsting cliffs. One "passage" goes North, one West, two
# South, three East, and one (narrower, with two swellings, each
# with a dot inside) goes SouthEast. The passages going North and
# East are more or less aligned with the roads between the SW,
# W, and S rosettes, that start just outside the text ring.
# However the match is not perfect, as if the text ring marked an
# ellipsis or a change of scale.
#
# Inside the scalloped area there is an elliptical "flower bed"
# surrounded by a band of scales. The scales are either painted
# yellow or dark green, or left uncolored. At the four cardinal points, the
# scales pile up into four fountains, whose jets point at nothing in
# particular. The elliptical flower bed is filled with 24 tiny flowers or
# stars. In the center there is a yellow flower-like object with 6 round
# "petals" and a doubly-traced outline.
#
# There are several labels (unit µ{B1}) on or near this rosette.
# One label in the scalloped-outline area, at 07:30, seems
# associated with the area itself, or the flower bed inside it.
# Another 9 labels seem associated with the 8 "passages" leaving the
# scalloped area, and perhaps with the fountains at the corners of
# the flower bed. Two more labels lie on the "sea", between the
# text ring and the scalloped area, at 08:00 and 11:00. Four more
# labels, reading radially outwards, lie just outside the text
# ring, between 04:30 and 06:00; they may be associated with the
# passages going Southeast (although they are not aligned with
# them).
#
# Outside the text ring, Northwest from the rosette, there is a
# roundish textured area surrounded by several wavy lines,
# resembling a small "island" with steep coastline. A broad,
# slighlty divergent band with wavy outlines, resembling a
# torrential stream of water, goes from the island to the edge of
# plateau (passing under the text ring). Two curves lines of text
# are written along the stream's axis, and a third is written
# along its Southern edge. On the Northeast side of the island
# there is a tuff of curved hairs, so that the island looks like
# an onion with its roots.
#
# On the opposite side of the rosette (07:30), also outside the
# text ring there is a small circle (with double outline decorated
# with 8 sets of three cross-hatches). The circle is surrounded by
# a short ring of text (half clockwise and half counterclockwise).
# Inside the circle there are three dots connected into an "L"
# with equal arms. Two labels, reading radially towards the the
# rosette, lie on each side of the small circle. A "dock"
# resembling a double-traced squarish "U" extends out of the SW
# rosette towards the small circle.
#
# Connecting the SW and W rosettes there is a "road", looking like
# a causeway bordered by artificial-looking walls. The road is
# actually a diamond-shaped loop, with slightly concave sides. The
# North and South corners of this diamond connect to the two
# rosettes; the West and East corners of the diamont open into
# small round courts. Around this diamond are some wavy lines that
# suggest steep rocky cliffs. Surrounded by the road is a small
# diamond-shaped well or monument, tinted yellow. The four corners
# of the diamond are labeled, and there are two more labels in the
# "sea" on both sides (all in unit µ{B1} too).
#
# The SW and S rosettes are connected by a broad bowtie-shaped
# "isthmus", apparently with steep rocky shores. A thick
# "fortified wall", fringed with "M"-shaped merlets on both sides,
# runs along the Southern "shore" of the isthmus. North of this
# wall are two triangular "fields", taking up most of the
# isthmus, covered by parallel lines and many vertical sticks or
# poles. There is a label just north of the wall, and another
# just off the Northern "shore".
#
# The SE rosette (panel f86r5)
#
# For most of this panel I have only an image with relatively low
# resolution.
#
# On panel f86r3 one can see half of the connection between
# rosette SE and rosette S. This connection too is a bow-shaped
# isthmus. The multiple wavy outlines suggest steep shores on both
# sides. There is a narrower bowtie-shaped "road" on top of the
# isthmus, next to the South shore cliff. This road has no
# parapets or merlets, but its edges are scalloped outwards.
# Between the road and the North shore cliffs there is a band of
# scales, pointing seawards. There are two labels (unit µ{B3}) just
# off the shore, one on each side of the isthmus.
#
# The rosette itself is touching the vertical fold bwterrn
# panels f86r3 and f86r5, which is disintegrating.
# The rosette is framed by a ring of text (unit "???"),
# broken by a gap and two short radial lines at 05:30,
# and obliterated by the crumbling fold between 08:00 and 10:30.
#
# Inside the text ring there is an irregular arrangement of drawn elements
# and text. At the center is a square, tilted some 10-20 degrees
# counterclockwise, divided into four triangles by a light "X",
# outlined with thick black strokes. The four triangles are
# paited with some faded (now brownish) color. At the very center, where
# the arms of the "X" come together, is a
# small circle with a dot in the center.
#
# A textured rectangle extends the square in the 11:00 direction,
# up to to the surrounding text ring. Its texture consists of
# several transverse "furrows" with finer perpendicular hatching
# in between, resembling a woven mat or a ploughed field. The
# boundary between the rectangle and the square is marked by four
# short posts. A fringe resembling a palisade runs along the right
# edge of the square-and-rectangle area, interrupted and bounded
# by six tall poles or towers, pointing. Paralellel to this
# square-and-rectangle are are five lines of Voynichese text (unit
# "???"), two on the left side and three on the right side, the
# latter interrupted in four places by the towers of the palisade.
# The text reads towards 11:00 (i.e. vertically, slightly upside-down).
#
# A fan-shaped area, resembling a mountain with concave sides,
# connects an arc of the text ring between 06:00 and 08:00 to the
# lower left corner of the central square. The base of this
# "mountain", adjeacent to the ring, is covered with several rows
# of inward-pointing scales, which apparently cover the whole
# mountain. Some of the scales are painted dark green, and green
# dots are sprinkled over the mountain slope. The remaining free
# space just North of this mountain, just inside the text ring,
# between 08:30 and 10:30, is filed with dark dots.
#
# Another fan-shaped "mountain", similar but broader, connects the
# text ring from 00:00 to 04:30 to the last line of the text
# to the right of the central square. The base of this
# "mountain" too is covered by several rows of colorless scales,
# but the mountain slope further up seems bare and lines with
# many ridges running down the slope.
#
# A dotted triangular area, with straight sides, extends inwards
# from the text ring between 04:30 and 05:30, and ends just before
# reacing the bottom right corner of the central square. This
# dotted area has no outline, and is framed by 6.7 lines of
# Voynichese text (units "???"), three on the left side and 3.7 on
# the right side, all reading inwards.
#
# Dennis [???] points out that, Southwest of the rosette, there is
# a small drawing of an animal with a long tail curled up, four
# thin and dark legs, large roundish ears and a long and narrow
# muzzle. Rene [04 Apr 1999] could not see it, but he didn't get
# to unfold the diagram.
#
# To the right of the "animal", South of the rosette is an
# undecipherable drawing with a fan of dark strokes, pointing West
# and Northwest, edged by finer, almost invisible detail. A faint
# line seems to extend from this item towards 02:00. The whole
# might be the tail of a large fish. Where the "body" of this fish
# should be, one finds a label (unit "???"), upside down.
#
# Further to the right, South and Southwest of the rosete and
# right against the edge of the panel, there is a textured band
# apparently in golden hues; Dennis suggested [???] that it may be
# a closely-packed school of fish, facing left. Rene [04 Apr 1999]
# says it doesn't quite look like fish.
#
# Above the "school of fish", right against the left edge of the panel,
# is a small sun with narrow, sinuous rays, painted yellow. Inside the
# sun there seems to be some symbol or simple diagram.
#
# Between the SE and the E rosettes there is another bowtie-shaped
# isthmus, containing a bowtie-shaped "raised road", surrounded
# scalloped "cliffs" on both sides (the inner cliff being much
# wider than the outer one). I cannot tell whether the road has
# any walls or parapets. Two labels (unit "???") lie next to the
# narrow part of the road, one on either side, both upside-down.
#
# The N rosette (panel f86r4)
#
# This rosette is surrounded by ring of text (unit µ{V2}). The ring
# is fairly round but the presumed guiding circles are not
# visible.
#
# Just inside this ring there is a band of scales, as in the NE
# rosette. However there are no hairs or dots. Instead the scales
# seem to pile up into 13 conical "fountains" (11 visible and 2
# inferred), pointing inwards.
#
# The fountains seem to be blowing or spraying a "windmill" that
# takes up most of the space inside the rosette. Each fountain
# points into the notch between consecutive "blades" of the
# windmill. In each sector, between consecutive fountains, there are
# 10 labels, aligned with the tips of the windmill blades, reading
# radially inwards. (Two of the sectors are hidden by the
# "waterfall", see below.)
#
# The central "windmill" resembles the central structure of the
# diagram in <f68v1>. It consists of a fat star (or toothed disk)
# divided into 13 "blades" or sectors shaped like narrow kites.
# Each sector is split lengthwise into a solid dark-colored half
# (the most clockwise one) and a "starry" half. The latter
# contains many tiny stars against a colored background. The
# approximate star counts, clockwise from North, are
#
# sector 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13
# -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
# stars 11 10 10 10 09 10 11 10 11 10 11 10 10
#
# The actual counts may be one or two higher. Thus there are
# 133 stars, perhaps a little more. This is almost exactly twice
# the total number of stars in the windmill of <f68v1> (66-67).
#
# A "flow" of some sort seems to be taking place between the
# windmill's South edge and the central rosette. The flow has
# triangular or conical shape, and is marked with stream lines and
# many small circles suggesting droplets. It is not entirely clear
# which way the flow is moving; but its South end has smaller
# "droplets", and exits or enters a hole at the top of a conical
# pile of scales, similar to the fountains inside the N rosette
# but larger.
#
# A narrow stick or tube, with a round swelling near its tip,
# extends Southwards from the center of the windmill, for about
# half its radius. (It is probably perpendicular to the windmill's
# plane, but drawn as if looking from a North-South direction.)
#
# The S rosette (panel f86r3)
#
# This rosette, like the others, is framed by a ring of text (unit
# "C2") between two faint mechanically drawn circles. There is a
# wide gap in the text between 06:00 and 06:45.
#
# The space inside the ring is largely occupied by a "windmill"
# object somewhat similar to the one inside the N rosette. This
# windmill too has the outline of a fat star divided into 13
# narrow kite-shaped sectors. However, instead of being bisected
# into dark and light halves, here the sectors alternate between
# dark solid color (blue-black in one reproduction) and starry sky
# pattern. The necessary exception is the sector at 08:00, which
# is bisected by a wavy line that slaloms between two rows of
# dots; the clockwise half is starry, the other is solid dark.
# Three of the starry sectors have a light yellow background, the
# rest are uncolored (or faded away). The star counts per sector,
# starting and ending with the split one (01 and 14), are
#
# sector 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14
# color wh bk YE bk YE bk wh bk wh bk YE bk wh bk
# -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
# stars 12 -- 19 -- 25 -- 24 -- 26 -- 22 -- 24 --
#
# i.e. 152 stars.
#
# There is no tube at the center of the windmill, only a
# faint circular marking, possibly containing two Voynichese
# letters.
#
# At the tip of almost every sector there is a small round bulb,
# and attached to almost every bulb is a fan-like structure
# of varying width. When present, the fan starts from a small
# pointed spike at the at distal end of the bulb, and stops at the
# surrounding text ring. For the broadest fans, the spike seems to
# have opened to a crown of points. More precisely, starting from
# the split sector at 08:00 we have
#
# sector 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 ** 12 ** 13
# -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
# bulb at tip Y Y Y Y ? ? ? Y Y Y Y Y ? Y Y
# spike(S)/rown(W) S S S S ? ? ? S S S W ? ? ? W
# fan width(N,0..2) 2 ? ? N N N N 0 N 0 1 2 2 2 2
#
# The two "**" entries above refer to a pair of "extra" fans that
# start from narrow stalks growing from the notch between two star tips.
#
# Some of the bays between consecutive star tips contain labels
# (unit µ{B2}), reading radially inward. One of them, at 07:30, is tilted
# at 45 degrees to the radius, almost vertical.
#
# Symmetrically to the N rosette, there is a big fan-shaped flow
# between an aperture in the central rosette and the whole North
# edge of the windmill. The flow is marked with stream lines
# (diverging from the North vertex) and small chevrons pointing
# South, towards the windmill. The flow seems to emanate from a
# bottle-shaped nozzle on the wall of the central rosette.
#
# The W rosette (on the fold between panels f85v1 and f85v2)
#
# This rosette is similar to the North and South ones, in that it
# has a ring of text (unit µ{N1}) surrounding a "windmill", which
# is sprayed by a "flow" emanating from the central rosette.
# However the fold and the poor copy quality prevent us from
# checking many of the details that are visible in the other two.
#
# The text ring is interrupted at 09:45 by a decorated rectangle
# (a laterally compressed version of the "notched square" marker).
#
# The West windmill is smaller than its North and South
# companions. It is divided into 18 kite-shaped sectors,
# half of them solid light yellow, and half of them filled with
# many small stars. Clockwise from 09:00, the star counts are
#
# sector 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
# -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
# stars ?? -- >6 -- 07 -- 05 -- ?? -- 10 -- 09 -- 09 -- 10 --
#
# So there are more than 56, probably around 80 stars on this windmill.
#
# About two dozen thin beams or "stalks" emanate from the windmill
# (both from the tips of the sectors and from the throughs between
# sectors). the stalks end in round bulbs. These in turn are
# connected to a scalloped circle that resembles a ring of round
# arches. Every two normal arches there is an extra-tall one.
#
# The "flow" is somewhat smaller than the North and South ones,
# and consists of several tinsel-like strands with the barbs
# pointing towards the windmill; it is similar to the South flow,
# but the barbs are pointing in the opposite sense. The
# strands converge on (or diverge from a point on the wall
# of the center rosette---which is unfortunately obscured by the fold.
#
# Between the text ring and the arches there are 8 labels (one of them,
# obscured by the fold), reading radially inwards (unit µ{M1}).
#
# The E rosette (on the fold between panels f86r5 and f86r6)
#
# For this rosette I have only a low-resolution image, so the description
# is incomplete and possibly incorrect.
#
# This rosette too is framed by a text ring (unit "???")
# with a gap around 09:00.
#
# Inside the text ring is a patterned band, with two or three rows
# of roundish objects (details not visible).
#
# Inside this band is a wheel with about 12 rounded lobes,
# each attached to the wheel by a narrow neck. There may be
# some texture, labels, or designs on the wheel. At the center there
# is a small round hub, yellow-tinted.
#
# A "flow" comes out from the central rosette and spreads over the
# lobed wheel.
#
# The central rosette (on the fold between panels f86r3 and f86r4).
#
# The usual text ring (unit µ{N2}) is surrounded in this case by a
# complex band, entirely covered with outward-pointing scales and
# other structures. Exposed scales are seen to have a dark (green?) spot
# near the middle. The band of scales is edged on the outside with
# many narrow yellow "flames" like sun rays, each ending with a
# dark dot. The inner edge of the band has a row of
# elements like shallow conical cups, with dark green interior
# (similar to the "flowers" of f???). also pointing
# outwards. From among the scales thre arises at regular inervals
# a group of five or six tubes (a wide one at the center, with
# smaller and shorter tubes surrounding it). All tubes have
# an open, clean-cut end; their hollow is painted dark (red?).
#
# Inside the text ring there are two additional concentric bands
# of outward-pointing scales. The outermost of these two bands
# is fringed by hairs, also pointing outwards. In the innermost
# of these two bands, some scales are painted dark green.
#
# In the annular space between the text ring and the the second
# band of scales there are 19 labels, reading radially inwards ---
# all between 17:30 and 02:30.
#
# Around the North half of that annular space there is also a thin
# semicircular line that is interrupted several times by
# triple-scalloped indentations.
#
# The inner band of scales is a bit flattened, like a disk seen in
# perspective. Inside the band there are half a dozen "mushrooms"
# in a circle. Each mushroom consists of a "stalk" and a "head",
# topped by a "spike". The stalk is a chubby cylinder with its
# bottom half encased in a short "sock" with a swelling just above
# ground level. The "head" is spherical and featureless. The
# "spike" is shaped like an upside-down trumpet, with thick lip,
# and ends with a sharp point at the top. The spike and/or stalk
# of some mushrooms is painted yellow.
#
# Further inside the mushroom ring there is a ring of unidentified
# shapes (perhaps resembling human silhouettes), with their
# "heads" painted dark blue-green. Inside this ring is a dotted
# area, about level with the mushroom "heads".
#
# Between the two nearest mushrooms there are a few words of text
# (also in unit µ{M2}).
#
# Comments:
#
# LOW-LEVEL INTERPRETATION
#
# I.e. what objects was the artist trying to draw?
#
# The hatched areas outside the rosettes could be sea waves, rocky
# terrain, flesh, clouds, cave walls, and many other things. However
# the details of the NW to N road sugegst they are cliffs rising
# from the sea.
#
# The object inside Nw rosette could be a cutaway view of a hollow
# shell, with a layer of "scales" on the outside, and
# inward-pointing flames or spines on the inside. (Compare however
# with the flower on f40v). The label seems to be applied the shell
# itself.
#
# The opening could also be a mouth with teeth; but the shape,
# curvature, and slant or the "teeth" are not correct. It could also
# be eye with eyelashes; but the same objection applies, and there
# is no hint of iris and pupil.
#
# The tower-like structure on the N to NE road could be a fountain.
# There are faint markings South of it that could be a puddle of water,
# or a standing person (with one arm on the "fountain"), or...
#
# The two roads connecting the N rosette to the plaza West of it
# could be either bridges or, two lanes separated by a flower bed.
#
# The knobs at the corners of the SW-W road could be towers seen
# from dead above (the apparent perspective for this part of the
# drawing), dropping straight down to the sea level. But they could
# also be landing pads at sea level...
#
# The grooved areas North of the wall on the SW-S isthmus could
# represent plowed and planted fields, or vineyards.
#
# HIGH-LEVEL INTERPRETATION
#
# I.e. what is the purpose of this picture?
#
# The sun in the NE corner suggests a cosmological interpretation.
# On the other hand, the tubes suggest anatomy, or (less likely)
# plumbing, while the roads and tower suggest a map.
#
# The whole diagram may be a graphic equivalent of the description
# of the cosmos given in 1 Enoch and other ancient texts, where
# natural phenomena like planetary motions, rivers, winds, rains,
# springs, etc. are said to be produced in some "cosmic factory".
#
# Alternatively, it could be a "biological factory" explanation of
# human physiology.
#
# Perhaps this diagram is an attempt to draw the mysterious device
# described in the Cabal, or the apocalyptic vision of Ezra, or
# Heron's hydraulic gadgets, or...
#
# Just to cover all the bases: it could be a report from a time
# traveler or UFO abductee: the NW rosette is a fusion reactor, the
# pipes leaving it carry steam for heating, the N/S/W/E rosettes are
# steam turbines, the bulb-headed towers in the center are
# rockets... 8-)
#
# Another possibility is that it is a "fantasy island", like many
# kids like do draw (and grown-ups too---consider Tolkien's maps of
# Middle Earth)
#
# References:
#
# [1] Smythe, Frank. "A Script Full of Secrets" and "The Uncrackable
# Code" in "Mysteries of Mind, Space & Time: The Unexplained", pp.
# 3062-3069. H. S. Stuttman, Inc., Westport, Connecticut, USA.
# Copyright 1992 by Orbis Publishing, Inc. [Originally published in
# "The Unexplained" in the UK.]
#
# Last edited on 1999-04-11 04:24:34 by stolfi