I first apologize for not yet getting out the prize promised some time ago. Because he is in the process of moving, with no reliable address, Michael graciously suggested that his prize (a Jemez Eagle card) be given to the second place finisher. I will get around to doing that, I promise.
Second, in order to prolong the contest, lets agree to submit possible answers to me, as a PM. If you decide to submit a message, and don't get the answer fully right (I will have to be the judge) I will copy and paste the incorrect answers as a part of the thread. This will assist others as they try to narrow down the possibilities.
There will be people who think there is a mystic (as opposed to scientific) answer to the problem. Please don't get the opinion that I discount, or rule that out as a possibility. But since such an answer, by it's very nature, cannot be tested, I will not be able to credit it for these purposes. What follows in the next paragraph is the mystery. I would personally rate it's difficulty as a 9.5 on a scale of 10. I will give you the evidence you need to solve it. This is a true mystery---the facts described below actually happened.
Mystery: Two men extremely skilled at navigating the very difficult canyon country of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah have been hiking for a few days. In order to protect the site I am about to describe, the area of their hike will not be further described. The site can only be reached on foot, and requires some pretty daring climbing up and down canyon walls. One of the men, on an earlier summer trip, had discovered an intact pot, which, based on his skilled observation, he knew to be approximately 1,000 years old.
There has been a rising tendency among lovers of the Southwest, and it's Native American history, to simply observe & then leave these artifacts where they find them. No public report is made, and no museum is notified where to come and find the artifact. An intact pot of this age is extremely rare. The finder takes some photographs, and takes the time for careful sketches of the plain, cream colored pot. He then puts it back exactly as he found it, buried in the dirt with only the tiniest tip of it's handle showing.
Six months pass before he is able to get back to the same canyon. This is very difficult terrain. On this trip he has brought a trusted friend who wants to see the intact pot. This friend has seen the photographs and sketches, but wants to see the original.
At last the proper canyon is found. You can safely assume that, except for the trip last summer, no one has entered this portion of the canyon for probably 500 years. Preparing to show his friend, the man walks to the exact (though unmarked) location. He drops to his knees. Exactly where it should have been, in the precise shape his hand remembers, was the curve of the pot. Working his fingers through the winter dirt, the pot is brought to the surface with the turn of a wrist. Both men are shocked--the pot is clearly painted. The first response from the friend-this isn't the same pot. The odds of reaching down and scooping out a second complete pot under these circumstances would be far greater than 10 billion to one. It has to be the same pot, and it is. The friend remarks--"this pot is painted". The man looks at the pot in his hand and thinks that it can't be painted. But it is painted, and in such a way that he could not possibly miss. Painted in such a way that his prior photographs no longer resemble the pot in his hand.
What happened-the answer does not involve any human intervention.
Second, in order to prolong the contest, lets agree to submit possible answers to me, as a PM. If you decide to submit a message, and don't get the answer fully right (I will have to be the judge) I will copy and paste the incorrect answers as a part of the thread. This will assist others as they try to narrow down the possibilities.
There will be people who think there is a mystic (as opposed to scientific) answer to the problem. Please don't get the opinion that I discount, or rule that out as a possibility. But since such an answer, by it's very nature, cannot be tested, I will not be able to credit it for these purposes. What follows in the next paragraph is the mystery. I would personally rate it's difficulty as a 9.5 on a scale of 10. I will give you the evidence you need to solve it. This is a true mystery---the facts described below actually happened.
Mystery: Two men extremely skilled at navigating the very difficult canyon country of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah have been hiking for a few days. In order to protect the site I am about to describe, the area of their hike will not be further described. The site can only be reached on foot, and requires some pretty daring climbing up and down canyon walls. One of the men, on an earlier summer trip, had discovered an intact pot, which, based on his skilled observation, he knew to be approximately 1,000 years old.
There has been a rising tendency among lovers of the Southwest, and it's Native American history, to simply observe & then leave these artifacts where they find them. No public report is made, and no museum is notified where to come and find the artifact. An intact pot of this age is extremely rare. The finder takes some photographs, and takes the time for careful sketches of the plain, cream colored pot. He then puts it back exactly as he found it, buried in the dirt with only the tiniest tip of it's handle showing.
Six months pass before he is able to get back to the same canyon. This is very difficult terrain. On this trip he has brought a trusted friend who wants to see the intact pot. This friend has seen the photographs and sketches, but wants to see the original.
At last the proper canyon is found. You can safely assume that, except for the trip last summer, no one has entered this portion of the canyon for probably 500 years. Preparing to show his friend, the man walks to the exact (though unmarked) location. He drops to his knees. Exactly where it should have been, in the precise shape his hand remembers, was the curve of the pot. Working his fingers through the winter dirt, the pot is brought to the surface with the turn of a wrist. Both men are shocked--the pot is clearly painted. The first response from the friend-this isn't the same pot. The odds of reaching down and scooping out a second complete pot under these circumstances would be far greater than 10 billion to one. It has to be the same pot, and it is. The friend remarks--"this pot is painted". The man looks at the pot in his hand and thinks that it can't be painted. But it is painted, and in such a way that he could not possibly miss. Painted in such a way that his prior photographs no longer resemble the pot in his hand.
What happened-the answer does not involve any human intervention.
