Ingenious Inventions
A Train to Haul Dirt
Triggering the Camera Up in the Air
VC26

As Giorgio Buccellati says, "High tech and low tech are bedfellows at Tell Mozan". This is manifestly the case for the two "inventions" that are featured in this short (and spirited) clip excerpted from the documentary film, "Unwrapping Urkesh" (1998).

The first is a rickety "little-train-that-could" used to clear excavation dirt away from a work area. It appears somewhat jerry-rigged-and in fact it is! Made up of bits and pieces of mechanical detritus - wheels and guide - rails and pulleys and string - but it works brilliantly and does with alacrity and efficiency what it was designed to do.

The remote-control device that was devised to trigger the camera above the excavations is nothing short of genial. The mercury switch/ampoule in the little box repositions itself in such a way that when the camera is level and the excavation area below in one focal plane, then and only then can the camera can be triggered.

Remarkable!

The delightful music that underlies the train sequence was composed by Chan Poling, a versatile musician whose work is infused with a sense of drama and fun.