Most archaeology apps show you a reconstruction and let you believe it. Whether Enclosure D at Göbekli Tepe ever had a roof is disputed; drawing it as though the question were settled is not a rendering choice, it is selling an opinion as knowledge. Palimpsest is built so that it cannot do that.
A layer with no source cannot be created at all — the initialiser returns nothing, so the rule is enforced by the compiler rather than by discipline. Author, year and a lookup identifier sit under every claim, not in a credits screen.
Measured: an excavation report and a date. Reconstruction: a published interpretation. Disputed: the same evidence read more than one way. The level is drawn as a shape rather than a colour, so it survives colour blindness — and it is the app's content, not its decoration.
Uncertainty cannot be zero here; the type refuses it. 9500 BCE ± 500 is drawn as a band beside 3200 BCE ± 100 on one axis, so which of the two is thinly known is seen rather than read.
A slider that gives every layer an equal share is easy to navigate but teaches a false scale. A slider proportional to real time teaches the scale but is awkward. Both are defensible, so the choice is yours — and whichever you pick, the real gap in years is written out underneath.
Solstice alignments are computed from the obliquity of the ecliptic for that site and that epoch, and the screen says so in as many words. Where a field survey exists it is drawn as a solid line beside the dashed computed one. Where the published claims contradict each other — Göbekli Tepe, Nabta Playa, Çatalhöyük — no angle is stored at all, and the app explains why instead of choosing a side.
Eight places in version 1.0: Göbekli Tepe, Stonehenge, Newgrange, Maeshowe, Troy, Çatalhöyük, Nabta Playa and Karnak. iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. Six languages. Free, with no advertising.
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Deutsch — Die meisten Archäologie-Apps zeigen eine Rekonstruktion, als wäre sie der Befund. Palimpsest zeigt zu jeder Schicht ihre Quelle und die Stärke des Belegs, und dort, wo sich die veröffentlichten Behauptungen widersprechen, hinterlegt es gar keinen Winkel.
Español — La mayoría de las apps de arqueología muestran una reconstrucción como si fuera el hallazgo. Palimpsest muestra la fuente de cada capa y la fuerza de la evidencia; donde las afirmaciones publicadas se contradicen, no guarda ningún ángulo.
Français — La plupart des applications d’archéologie présentent une reconstitution comme un fait. Palimpsest indique pour chaque couche sa source et la force de la preuve, et là où les hypothèses publiées se contredisent, il n’enregistre aucun angle.
日本語 — 多くの考古学アプリは復元図を事実のように見せます。Palimpsest はすべての層に出典と根拠の強さを添え、公表された主張が矛盾する遺跡では角度を一切登録しません。
Türkçe — Arkeoloji uygulamalarının çoğu bir canlandırmayı bulguymuş gibi gösterir. Palimpsest her tabakanın kaynağını ve kanıtının gücünü yazar; yayımlanmış iddiaların birbirini tutmadığı yerlerde hiçbir açı saklamaz.