The remains of the supposed compass known as the Uunartoq disc were found in Greenland in 1948 in an 11th-century convent. Though some researchers originally argued it was simply a decorative ...

A correspondent informs us that a friend of his has invented a new gnomon for sun-dials, which is simply a piece of thread or twine carried at an angle from the center of the dial to a post set at ...

How Did a 17th-Century French Sundial End Up Buried in a Field in Indiana? Curator Peggy Kidwell solves the mystery of a pocket sundial from the 1600s ...

A wide hole within the center of the disk — previously interpreted as a place to grip the compass — could have served as a holding spot for this so-called central gnomon, the team suggests.

Now, new interpretations of a medieval compass suggest the sea robbers may have skillfully used the sun to operate the compass even when the sun had set below the horizon. IE 11 is not supported.