A Feynman-Style Puzzle

This puzzle came our way because the owner thought it was the sort of thing Feynman excelled at solving.  Any comments from our readers can be sent our way to be forwarded to the owner of this artifact

Here is what we've been told by the owner of this artifact:

• The previous owner --- an older gentleman --- purchased it over 50 years ago through an Egyptian agent working out of Lebanon.
   
• The piece is approximately 2-2 ½ inches wide by about 18 inches long.
   
• This scroll was purchased by a clergyman in the United States from an Egyptian agent working out of Lebanon around the time of President Kennedy’s assassination. The gentleman who sold it to the clergyman tried to buy it back for twice as much less than a month after he sold it. The clergyman purchased it for spiritual reasons not for financial gain it remained in his collection until mid 2008.
   
• Since I have had it I took it to a creditable archeologist and professor from the University of California at Berkley who agreed it may have come from the Qumran area of the Middle East but could not identify the text. The professor said it may be Sumerian or Judaic or some form of Aramaic, Syriac, Sanskrit or Byblos or may be a dead language.
   
• I had the material analyzed at a private laboratory it came back over 90% copper with some silicon and calcium.
   
• Next stop was the carbon dating testing lab at the University of Arizona I was hoping they could date the calcium deposits on the piece but they would not saying that would not be indicative of its real age.
   
• Next step was the Semitic Museum at Harvard once again a dead end --- no one can decipher this mysterious correspondence.
   
• I have checked every known language to man with no luck. That’s when I started thinking in mathematical symbols and Professor Feynman.

Figure 1: Copper strip with symbols.

Figure 2: Close-up of copper strip with symbols.

Posted June 14, 2009