How a backyard pendulum saw sliced into a Bronze Age mystery

Researcher’s swinging blade offers glimpse into how ancient Mycenaeans built palaces

Lion Gate sculpture

ENIGMATIC ENGINEERING  An ancient sculpture known as the Lion Gate relief contains marks in a column (center of image) that may have been made by a pendulum saw. The lions, now headless, stood above the main entrance to the citadel of Mycenae, in what is now Greece.

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Nicholas Blackwell and his father went to a hardware store about three years ago seeking parts for a mystery device from the past.