looking at the skies in the stone and bronze agesastro4/lectures/lecture3.pdf · 2005-05-19 ·...
TRANSCRIPT
![Page 1: Looking at the Skies in the Stone and Bronze Agesastro4/lectures/lecture3.pdf · 2005-05-19 · British Stone Age calendrical sites Avebury, largest stone circle in UK –500 m in](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042111/5e8c536800f1a53e95465b76/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Looking at the Skies in theStone and Bronze Ages
(or in 2001)
![Page 2: Looking at the Skies in the Stone and Bronze Agesastro4/lectures/lecture3.pdf · 2005-05-19 · British Stone Age calendrical sites Avebury, largest stone circle in UK –500 m in](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042111/5e8c536800f1a53e95465b76/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
Astronomy--the first “science” Oldest art/iconography Earliest extant written texts First natural phenomena seen as regular,
quantifiable, & thus predictable Early attempts to ‘order’ heavens linked to
social and religious needs Annual calendar/seasons become important after
invention of agriculture, ca. 8000 BCE Earliest deities in many cultures were celestial Earliest ‘specialists’ established to set calendar
and to predict ‘dangerous’ events
![Page 3: Looking at the Skies in the Stone and Bronze Agesastro4/lectures/lecture3.pdf · 2005-05-19 · British Stone Age calendrical sites Avebury, largest stone circle in UK –500 m in](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042111/5e8c536800f1a53e95465b76/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
The celestial sphereNorthPole
Horizon
Celestial Equator
Ecliptic = Path of Sun
NorthSouth
Sun
SouthPole
AutumnalEquinox
SummerSolstice
![Page 4: Looking at the Skies in the Stone and Bronze Agesastro4/lectures/lecture3.pdf · 2005-05-19 · British Stone Age calendrical sites Avebury, largest stone circle in UK –500 m in](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042111/5e8c536800f1a53e95465b76/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
Naked-eye phenomena Daily E to W rotation of heavens
– Pole, horizon, zenith, geographical latitude– Stars retain “fixed” positions
Annual W to E motion of Sun– Ecliptic (or zodiac), equinoxes (vernal & autumnal),
solstices (summer & winter), longitude, annual changein visibility of stars
Monthly W to E motion of Moon– Latitude, lunar nodes, irregular eclipses
Long-term precession of equinoxes– Drift of vernal equinox around zodiac, one circuit in
26,000 years– Tropical (back to equinox, 365.242d) vs. sidereal (back to
same star, 365.256d) year
![Page 5: Looking at the Skies in the Stone and Bronze Agesastro4/lectures/lecture3.pdf · 2005-05-19 · British Stone Age calendrical sites Avebury, largest stone circle in UK –500 m in](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042111/5e8c536800f1a53e95465b76/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
Conditions for eclipses
EarthMoon
Ecliptic
Line of nodes
Condition for eclipses: Line ofnodes must point toward Sun ANDMoon must be either full or new
Sun
![Page 6: Looking at the Skies in the Stone and Bronze Agesastro4/lectures/lecture3.pdf · 2005-05-19 · British Stone Age calendrical sites Avebury, largest stone circle in UK –500 m in](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042111/5e8c536800f1a53e95465b76/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
Precession of equinoxes
![Page 7: Looking at the Skies in the Stone and Bronze Agesastro4/lectures/lecture3.pdf · 2005-05-19 · British Stone Age calendrical sites Avebury, largest stone circle in UK –500 m in](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042111/5e8c536800f1a53e95465b76/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
Phenomena of Sun & Moon Tilting of ecliptic from celestial equator
means that over the year:Sun & Moon trace different arcs across sky
in different seasonsSun & Moon reach different maximal
altitudes at noonSun & Moon rise and set at different
points along the horizon
![Page 8: Looking at the Skies in the Stone and Bronze Agesastro4/lectures/lecture3.pdf · 2005-05-19 · British Stone Age calendrical sites Avebury, largest stone circle in UK –500 m in](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042111/5e8c536800f1a53e95465b76/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
British Stone Age calendricalsites Avebury, largest stone circle in UK
– 500 m in diameter, no known astronomical alignments,ca. -2600
Newgrange circular stone mound– Aligned to winter equinox, ca. -2500
Stonehenge (3 overlapping sites) Earthwork ring & heel stone, ca. -2400
Center-Heel stone = summer solstice sunrise Center-postholes = northernmost moonrise?
Earth mounds & four “station stones” Station stones = moonrise points?
Ring of 30 sarson stones, 5 trilithons, ca. -2100 Alignments for max/min moonrise? Aubery Holes as eclipse predictor (56-yr cycle)?
![Page 9: Looking at the Skies in the Stone and Bronze Agesastro4/lectures/lecture3.pdf · 2005-05-19 · British Stone Age calendrical sites Avebury, largest stone circle in UK –500 m in](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042111/5e8c536800f1a53e95465b76/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
Avebury stone circle, c. -2600
Swindon stone, 65 tons
500 meters
No confirmed astronomicalalignments
Largest stone circle in UK
![Page 10: Looking at the Skies in the Stone and Bronze Agesastro4/lectures/lecture3.pdf · 2005-05-19 · British Stone Age calendrical sites Avebury, largest stone circle in UK –500 m in](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042111/5e8c536800f1a53e95465b76/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
Newgrange, c. -2500
80 meters
97 kerbstonesWintersolstice
![Page 11: Looking at the Skies in the Stone and Bronze Agesastro4/lectures/lecture3.pdf · 2005-05-19 · British Stone Age calendrical sites Avebury, largest stone circle in UK –500 m in](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042111/5e8c536800f1a53e95465b76/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
Stonehenge,-3100 to -1600
PanoramicView
![Page 12: Looking at the Skies in the Stone and Bronze Agesastro4/lectures/lecture3.pdf · 2005-05-19 · British Stone Age calendrical sites Avebury, largest stone circle in UK –500 m in](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042111/5e8c536800f1a53e95465b76/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
Nebra disk, -1600 (EarlyBronze Age)
Found 1999, recoveredfor public 2002
32 cm in diameter,buried ritually withtwo bronze daggers
32 stars, notrepresentational exceptfor 7 in Pleiades
Full and crescent moon Horizon arcs (82°)
match max/minsunrise for Saxony
Ship at bottomtransports Sun at night
![Page 13: Looking at the Skies in the Stone and Bronze Agesastro4/lectures/lecture3.pdf · 2005-05-19 · British Stone Age calendrical sites Avebury, largest stone circle in UK –500 m in](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042111/5e8c536800f1a53e95465b76/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
Nebra site
![Page 14: Looking at the Skies in the Stone and Bronze Agesastro4/lectures/lecture3.pdf · 2005-05-19 · British Stone Age calendrical sites Avebury, largest stone circle in UK –500 m in](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042111/5e8c536800f1a53e95465b76/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
Origins of constellations Constellations before star names “Correlative thinking”
Lascaux cave paintings (-30,000)Akkadian lion/bull (-1000)Persepolis gate with lion/bull (-500)First Greek constellations--Farnese globe
(Roman copy, +100)Ptolemy’s Almagest describes 48
constellations, ca. 1000 stars (+150)
![Page 15: Looking at the Skies in the Stone and Bronze Agesastro4/lectures/lecture3.pdf · 2005-05-19 · British Stone Age calendrical sites Avebury, largest stone circle in UK –500 m in](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042111/5e8c536800f1a53e95465b76/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
Origins--zodiac constellations Constellations around ecliptic, 30°/sign All 12 “signs” first mentioned in
Babylonian horoscope (-419) Pre-Babylonian origins as calendar
“quartets” of signs?– Precession shifts equinoxes 1 sign in 2000 years
Gem/Vir/Sag/Pis (matriarchal in -6000)Tau/Leo/Sco/Aqu (patriarchal in -4000)Ari/Can/Lib/Cap (monotheism in -2000)
![Page 16: Looking at the Skies in the Stone and Bronze Agesastro4/lectures/lecture3.pdf · 2005-05-19 · British Stone Age calendrical sites Avebury, largest stone circle in UK –500 m in](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042111/5e8c536800f1a53e95465b76/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
Gurshtein hypothesis, 1990
Gemini quartet -6000 -spring = twins-summer = virgin-fall = archer-winter = fish
Taurus quartet -4000-spring = bull-summer = lion-fall = spider-winter = water carrier
Aries quartet -2000-spring = ram-summer = crab-fall = balance-winter = goat
![Page 17: Looking at the Skies in the Stone and Bronze Agesastro4/lectures/lecture3.pdf · 2005-05-19 · British Stone Age calendrical sites Avebury, largest stone circle in UK –500 m in](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042111/5e8c536800f1a53e95465b76/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
Egyptian constellations Star images on tomb ceilings by -1500
Non-representationalNon-classical figures (hippopotamus)
Decans = daily “star clocks” by -250036 star groups each for 10° of zodiac, mark
hourly risingsbased on annual calendar of 360 days + 5
feast (epagomenal) days
![Page 18: Looking at the Skies in the Stone and Bronze Agesastro4/lectures/lecture3.pdf · 2005-05-19 · British Stone Age calendrical sites Avebury, largest stone circle in UK –500 m in](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042111/5e8c536800f1a53e95465b76/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
Senmut tomb ceiling (-1534)
Decans
![Page 19: Looking at the Skies in the Stone and Bronze Agesastro4/lectures/lecture3.pdf · 2005-05-19 · British Stone Age calendrical sites Avebury, largest stone circle in UK –500 m in](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042111/5e8c536800f1a53e95465b76/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
Constellations as phenomena Remain in “fixed” arrangements Rotate diurnally, rising E, setting W Shift in visibility through year as Sun
moves backward through stars Shift in relation to vernal equinox
because of precession; not known (i.e.,mentioned in texts) until -300
![Page 20: Looking at the Skies in the Stone and Bronze Agesastro4/lectures/lecture3.pdf · 2005-05-19 · British Stone Age calendrical sites Avebury, largest stone circle in UK –500 m in](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042111/5e8c536800f1a53e95465b76/html5/thumbnails/20.jpg)
Features of early astronomies Stars and major luminaries well-known
in earliest religions and social orders Ordered by “correlative thinking” Regular motions of stars and major
luminaries used for calendars & clocks Marking these motions required long-
term attention by “experts” Wandering stars (planets) ordered later