Magnetic Magic Mystery

Even the ancients recognized the power of magnetism, but we still aren't exactly sure how it works.

Hiya!

I know we just talked about magnets, but it still blows my mind that scientists still can’t fully explain them! I kinda assumed magnets gave up their mystery a long time ago. I mean, they’re manufactured and sold worldwide, and there are at least a dozen on my fridge as we speak. So how is it possible that magnetism is still a mystery??

Good golly. I swear, the more I learn, the more I realize we know nothing at all. Yet, we know more now than at any other time in history… that we know of, at least… After all, we aren’t the only human culture to notice and use the power of magnets for our own purposes. In fact, there’s a chance ancient civilizations understood magnetism better than we do.

Ancient Cultures and Magnets

The ancient Olmec culture thrived in what’s now Mexico’s Gulf Coast between 1200 and 400 BCE. The Olmecs didn’t leave any writings, but they did leave many artifacts, indicating they were highly talented artists. The most famous of their work is the huge magnetic boulders carved to portray heads and faces, now known as the Olmec Heads. Experts once believed they represented gods but now suspect they portray various Olmec rulers due to the unique and personalized details of the faces and that they’re all wearing variations of a helmet.

The heads were carved out of giant basalt boulders, some almost 10 feet high (3 meters), with a circumference of nearly 15 feet (4.5 meters), and weighed an average of 8 tons each.

Olmec Head Sculpture Photo by Vin Aug via Pexels

The heads alone are shrouded in mystery, but what’s particularly curious is the magnetism found within the monuments. In fact, the pattern of magnetism within them was so strong archeologists used magnets to survey beneath the ground of an Olmec site in San Lorenzo and discovered over seventeen additional monuments that had gone unnoticed.

As it turns out, the Olmecs aren’t the only Mesopotamian ancient culture to incorporate the wonder of magnetism within their monuments.

The Monte Alto (pre-Mayan, post-Olmec) prospered in today’s Guatemala from around 500 BCE to 100 BCE, and like the Olmec, Monte Alto carved faces and “potbellied” sculptures from massive basalt boulders that had been struck by lightning. The extreme heat from the lightning magnetized the basalt.

Image Source: Harvard Gazette

Research also shows that “almost all the San Lorenzo monuments were carved from such rock - basalt.” The same type of stone used to carve the Olmec and Monte Alto magnetic sculptures, which wasn’t native to the area but somehow transported from over 70 kilometers (almost 50 miles) away.

Even more interesting is how the artists utilized the magnetic portions of the rock. Research from 2019, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, suggests that the people of Monte Alto knew how to detect the magnetic strength of the stones. Specifically, they found the areas with the strongest magnetic force were used for the protruding features, such as the navels, right temples, and/or cheeks, suggesting they knew which areas were magnetized.

Unlike the Olmecs, researchers don’t believe the Monte Alto sculptures represent rulers or any individual person. Mainly because they share similar features— a naked figure with their hand resting on their large belly—found throughout the coasts of what’s today El Salvador, Guatemala, and the Mexican state of Chiapas.

Researchers aren’t sure why either culture incorporated magnetism into their art, but archeologists are convinced they valued and used magnetism, including trading magnetic tools like needles and bars. This indicates ancient knowledge of magnetism may predate Mesopotamia.