Journal:Archaeologia Baltica
Volume 10 (2008): Astronomy and Cosmology in Folk Traditions and Cultural Heritage, pp. 110–113
Abstract
The supernova explosions of 1006 AD and 1054 AD are, probably, the astronomical events most carefully studied through the analysis of historical sources. But contradictions are still present in several sources concerning SN 1054 and the historical records are not consistent with the astronomical data. This short analysis aims to highlight all these aspects.
Journal:Archaeologia Baltica
Volume 10 (2008): Astronomy and Cosmology in Folk Traditions and Cultural Heritage, pp. 114–118
Abstract
The paper suggests that The Book of Esther contains astronomical and chronological information associated with the reign of Artaxerxes II. It further investigates a play on dates concerning an intercalary 12th Hebrew month and the eve of Passover, and possible mathematical references to Ancient Near Eastern and Jewish calendars.
Journal:Archaeologia Baltica
Volume 10 (2008): Astronomy and Cosmology in Folk Traditions and Cultural Heritage, pp. 119–124
Abstract
In the eighteenth century, the Abbé Lebeuf was a reknowned historian, a folklorist, a musicologist, and an archaeologist. He published several books and many articles in the Mercure de France. He was still famous in the 19th century but is now almost forgotten. His work contains a great many notes, reflections and other pieces of information of interest to those studying astronomy in culture. I present here a short selection of such fragments.
Journal:Archaeologia Baltica
Volume 10 (2008): Astronomy and Cosmology in Folk Traditions and Cultural Heritage, pp. 125–130
Abstract
As part of the Uppsala University archaeoastronomical project to study the Minoan calendar, we have investigated representative examples of their buildings and found on Philioremos the third example of a peak sanctuary related to sunrise at the summer solstice. This is the nineteenth example of an important Minoan building exactly related to a major yearly event of the lunisolar calendar that was remembered in archaic Greek literature. An important achievement of our project is the discovery of cooperation among Minoans at different sites to mark major celestial events and of well-developed methods for maintaining a seasonally correct lunisolar calendar that began in connection with the autumn equinox.
Journal:Archaeologia Baltica
Volume 10 (2008): Astronomy and Cosmology in Folk Traditions and Cultural Heritage, pp. 131–140
Abstract
When tree ring dates at Mesa Verde National Park were plotted as a function of time along the lunar standstill cycle, a correlation was evident, leading to the hypothesis that architectural features and construction phases were timed according to the lunar 18.6 year cycle. A detailed architectural analysis at Sun Temple and tree ring analysis support the sub-hypothesis that lunar maximums were observed over Sun Temple from the Painted Tower area of Cliff Palace. Tree ring dates at Balcony House and Square Tower House suggest a similar relationship between construction of specialized architecture such as kivas and the lunar maximum cycle.
Journal:Archaeologia Baltica
Volume 10 (2008): Astronomy and Cosmology in Folk Traditions and Cultural Heritage, pp. 141–148
Abstract
The Taosi late Neolithic site is located in Shanxi Province in north-central China. Three decades of excavation have unearthed storage pits, dwellings, and many artifacts, identified as the Taosi culture type (4300 to 3900 BP). Recent excavations led to the discovery of the tombs of chiefs of the Early Taosi period, and the largest walled-town in prehistoric China. A semicircular foundation built in about 4100 BP along the southern wall was also discovered. The design of the raised terrace within it would have permitted observations of sunrise at specific dates along the eastern horizon. Here we report on what has been learned about this fascinating site, and analyze its astronomical features and function.
Journal:Archaeologia Baltica
Volume 10 (2008): Astronomy and Cosmology in Folk Traditions and Cultural Heritage, pp. 149–154
Abstract
Recent ideas about the formation of the Roman tradition of town layout and the associated foundation rituals are briefly reviewed. The example of Cosa is used as a case study to investigate the possible existence of an archaic, tripartite layout, as is mentioned by some authoritative ancient writers.
Journal:Archaeologia Baltica
Volume 10 (2008): Astronomy and Cosmology in Folk Traditions and Cultural Heritage, pp. 155–162
Abstract
The Nuraghic well of Santa Cristina, Sardinia has been regarded as a ritual monument built to receive moonlight on its water mirror at the time of the meridian passage of the moon when it reaches its highest point in the sky during and around the major northern lunistice. In this paper we investigate the precision that could have been achieved and conclude that the well could indeed have served as an instrument for measuring the lunar declination during half of the draconic cycle of 18.61 years.
Journal:Archaeologia Baltica
Volume 10 (2008): Astronomy and Cosmology in Folk Traditions and Cultural Heritage, pp. 163–169
Abstract
This paper focuses on five stones with ancient incised images containing the symbol of a pole with a semicircle or a cross at its top. This symbol had a cosmological meaning and represented a projection of the “heavenly sphere” onto a flat surface. The strict orientation of the stones and the symbols to the north indicates a ceremonial “world axis” directed to North Star. This symbol of the “world axis” was used during funerary rituals at gravestones The Scebiaraky site is an example of Baltic sacred stones (stabas) in the Baltic-Slavic contact zone.
Journal:Archaeologia Baltica
Volume 10 (2008): Astronomy and Cosmology in Folk Traditions and Cultural Heritage, pp. 170–174
Abstract
Spread over south-eastern Bulgaria, northern Greece and the European part of Turkey are a large number of megalithic tombs. These dolmens were built from around the twelfth century BC to about the sixth century BC. The monuments were built with well cut slabs, defining a rectangular space with a roof. A small hole marks the entrance. A dromos is also present in some dolmens and all of these structures used to be covered by a tumulus. We present the first results from a series of campaigns devoted to measuring the orientation of these structures. The first campaign was carried out in the Strandja Mountains where 31 dolmens (among other monuments) were measured. The dolmens are not orientated at random, and a particular pattern of orientation has been found for the entrance of these monuments. Several tentative explanations are attempted and supported with information provided by contemporary Greek sources.