Kashmir Wheel

Site Description and Context

In the rugged, mineral-rich valleys of Kashmir, at an elevation of 2,800 meters, the Khewra Salt Mine Complex (Site KS-25) has yielded a groundbreaking assemblage of prehistoric artifacts. Dated preliminarily to ca. 12,000–10,000 BCE through stratigraphic analysis and preliminary optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating, this site represents one of the earliest known human-engineered mining operations in South Asia. The excavation, conducted between March and June 2025, uncovered a suite of tools, implements, and an unprecedented wheeled structure, offering profound insights into the technological sophistication of Late Pleistocene human populations.

Artifact Catalog and Analysis  

Lithic Tools

The excavation revealed a diverse toolkit comprising 47 lithic implements, primarily fashioned from locally sourced chert and quartzite. These include:  

Microblades (n=23): Finely crafted, averaging 4–6 cm in length, with evidence of pressure flaking and hafting wear, suggesting use in precision cutting of halite (rock salt) crystals. Microscopic residue analysis indicates traces of sodium chloride and organic material, possibly hide or plant fibers, hinting at multi-purpose applications.  

Scrapers and Burins (n=15): Robust end-scrapers and burins exhibit heavy edge wear, likely employed in processing mined salt or shaping organic materials. One burin, cataloged as KS-25-B17, features an intricately notched edge, potentially for grooving wooden handles or supports.  

Heavy-Duty Picks (n=9): Large, bifacially flaked picks (20–30 cm) were recovered near collapsed tunnel sections, suggesting their use in extracting salt deposits from bedrock. Their ergonomic design, with smoothed grip areas, indicates prolonged, specialized use.

Organic Implements

Preservation conditions within the saline environment facilitated the recovery of rare organic artifacts:  

Wooden Shovels (n=4): Constructed from juniper wood, these shovels (60–80 cm long) feature broad, flattened blades and polished handles, optimized for scooping loose salt. Radiocarbon dating of one specimen (KS-25-W03) places it at 11,800 ± 120 BP, among the earliest known wooden tools in the region.  

Woven Baskets (n=2 fragments): Fragments of tightly woven plant fibers (possibly willow or reed) suggest containers for transporting mined salt. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis confirms salt impregnation, indicating direct contact with halite.

The Wheeled Structure

The most astonishing discovery is a partially preserved wheeled structure (KS-25-WH01), located in a sealed chamber at a depth of 12 meters. Measuring approximately 1.2 meters in diameter, the artifact consists of a solid oak wheel with a central axle hub, reinforced with sinew bindings. The wheel’s surface exhibits wear patterns consistent with rolling over uneven terrain, and its axle shows traces of animal fat, likely used as a lubricant. Associated wooden fragments suggest a cart-like frame, possibly for transporting salt loads.  

Technological Implications: This find predates the earliest known wheeled vehicles (ca. 3,500 BCE, Mesopotamia) by over 7,000 years, necessitating a reevaluation of prehistoric technological timelines. The wheel’s construction, requiring advanced carpentry and an understanding of rotational mechanics, indicates a level of engineering previously unattributed to Late Pleistocene societies.  

Cultural Context: The wheel’s placement in a sealed chamber, alongside ochre-painted stone slabs, suggests ritual or symbolic significance, possibly linked to salt’s value as a trade commodity or cultural artifact.

Methodological Notes

Excavation employed a grid-based approach, with 1x1 meter units mapped using 3D photogrammetry to preserve spatial relationships. Artifacts were cataloged in situ, with soil samples collected for geochemical and palynological analysis to reconstruct the paleoenvironment. The saline matrix posed challenges, requiring specialized preservation techniques to stabilize organic materials during extraction.

Discussion and Significance

The KS-25 assemblage challenges existing paradigms of prehistoric technological development. The diversity and specialization of tools reflect a sophisticated understanding of resource extraction, while the wheeled structure suggests an early mastery of mechanical principles. These findings imply that the inhabitants of KS-25 were not merely subsistence foragers but participants in a complex socio-economic system, potentially involving long-distance trade networks centered on salt—a resource critical for preservation and nutrition in antiquity. The wheel, in particular, stands as a testament to human ingenuity, predating known analogs by millennia and suggesting that technological innovation in the region was far more advanced than previously hypothesized.

Conclusion

The discoveries at KS-25 illuminate a forgotten chapter of human history, where a prehistoric community in Kashmir harnessed advanced tools and mechanical innovation to exploit one of nature’s most vital resources. The wheel, in particular, stands as a monumental achievement, its weathered grooves whispering of a people who defied the constraints of their time. These findings compel us to rethink the dawn of technology and the boundless creativity of our ancestors, leaving an indelible mark on our understanding of the human journey.

Beige Carpet Photo Wallpaper WILTY

 David's wallpaper

⛭⛣⚴⛭∇⛭☿.♆☋☋⛭∇

Something weird happened today morning. I woke up feeling like the barrier between two worlds had been breached, like something very wrong and evil had happened. I had gone to sleep listening to a podcast. We were a bunch of people in a room listening to this guy talking. It was about all life in the universe being in the form of information, but the information was encoded within the fabric of spacetime itself. 

I woke up with the stale, salty taste, something that happens after a migraine attack. The dream was similar in some ways to another one I had a few days back, like as if Im on a different track only, and dealing with something very important, and universally fundamental. 

I went back to office and listened to the podcast, because the memory of the dream vanished rapidly as soon as I woke up. I even turned off the podcast and went back to sleep in an attempt to recover it, but I dreamt of something entirely different in round two. Im short-circuiting or hacking the sleep cycles, to see how it goes. Going to sleep at 11:00, with an alarm for 04:30, and another alarm for 7:00. Then, I can put in another sleep cycle or get some work done before going to office. 

No clue why I am doing this, just to give some more time for myself in the mornings I guess. Feels right tho. 

DND 50

 We were taken to a long tree and we were all separated. We talked to each other psychically. We run out of spell slots. The people on the island knew all our secrets and suspect us of killing the captain. All my stuff is taken away. We are taken to govt building where we are charged. 

You are charged with the murder of Ker Dumas, leaving monastic part, consumption and illegal trade of drugs, murdering civilians, captain grotto, our case would be heard three days later and the captain would be getting in touch with us. 

practice compassion

The universe is mostly gas. Hydrogen, helium, lil bit of lithium. All of these make your voice high pitched, along with mostly beneficial side effects. In the pristine, early universe, vast clouds of mostly hydrogen collapsed directly into the first black holes, forming the superstructure of the universe in its first instant. Most of creation consisted of equal portions of matter and antimatter, with an infinitesimally miniscule amount surviving some primordial instability, a kick that created a universe fundamentally out of balance. 

The biosphere was born instantly. Under the heat and pressure of a universe unexpanded over time, the habitable conditions were ambient. Liquid water could exist in space, but the only problem was, there was no oxygen. After most of creation annihilated each other, the remaining clouds of hydrogen collapsed into the first supermassive black holes. The first galaxies sparkled up in the infalling matter. Their stars cooked oxygen, and died young after living fast. The spores of life were seeded at the dawn of time. 

SOHO vs PUNCH

 

OSIL

The Orient Scholastic Institute Library is located on the 29th floor of Zenith Tower on Senapati Bapat Marg, nestled among the skyscrapers of Lower Parel. The bags are scanned at the lobby, and visitors are issued photo ID cards. There is an additional security check on the 29th floor, where visitors have to deposit electronics before being allowed to enter. The entire floor is sealed off from the outside with thick concrete walls. There are no windows. The library looks like the inside of a bank vault, housing a tremendous collection of unique documents containing ancient and potent wisdom. The text is inked, painted or scratched across a wide variety of surfaces, including tree bark, rolls of cloth, strips of palm leaves, copper plates, bamboo slices and paper. Most are in critically endangered languages, some studied only in academic circles, and a few in long forgotten ones, unsupported by unicode. 

In 2014, the library initiated a digitisation drive. The idea was to provide access to all the documents through computers and the internet. Scanners were procured, along with hard drives. Volunteer members went through the laborious process of digitising the documents. An expert team carefully edited out the cracks, holes, tears, folds and mould as and when they were scanned. A tech bro offered funds to the library to host a publicly accessible copy of the entire collection, and in 2019 purchased the rights for using the entire text corpus to train a large language model. A supercomputing cluster in Balkum chewed through the documents, resulting in the Thane Creek drying up. In 2025, a multimodal LLM was launched, OSILbot. The first user was an early adapter, a technology enthusiast who went to the gym on the third floor of Zenith Tower. His time was precious and he wanted a tl:dr of the whole library. He asked OSILbot to summarise everything it knew. 

Cultivate spiritual balance through self-awareness and interconnectedness, live in harmony with rhythms of nature, practice compassion