SEAC 2011 by Marcial Tenreiro

SEAC 2011 Program Sunday, 18 18:00-20:00 Monday, 19 8:30-9:30 9:30-10:00

10:00-10:40

10:40-11:00 11:00 11:00-11:30 11:30-12:00 12:00-12:20 12:20-14:00 14:00 14:00-14:30 14:30-14:50 14:50-15:10 15:10-15:30 15:30:15:50 15:50-16:10 16:10-16:30 16:30-16:50 16:50-17:10 17:10-17:30 19:00

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ARRIVAL Registration Registration desk opened WELCOME ADDRESS Câmara Municipal de Évora Universidade de Évora OPENING OF THE CONFERENCE Juan Belmonte Aviles, President of SEAC Invited Speaker:Michael A. Voyages guided by the skies: ancient concepts of exploring and domesticating time and space across Rappenglück, Secretary of SEAC cultures Coffee break MORNING SESSION: Astronomical Navigation – An Encounter of Worlds (Chairman: Clive Ruggles) Invited Speaker: José Manuel The archaeology of the nautical astrolabe: news from a shipwreck in Namibia Malhão Pereira Invited Speaker: Jarita Holbrook Celestial Navigation in the USA, Fiji, and Tunisia The problem of the longitude in the 18th century: Jorge Juan, Antonio de Ulloa and the expedition of the Manuel Pérez Academy of Sciences to the Kingdom of Peru Lunch AFTERNOON SESSION: Archaeoastronomical voyages in Antiquity, Egypt, Middle East and Mediterranean (Chairman: Juan Antonio Belmonte) Invited Speaker: Giulio Magli An archaeo-astronomical visit to the sacred landscape of the Old and the Middle Kingdom pyramids Mary Blomberg, Göran Henriksson Orientations of Bronze Age buildings on Crete and their relationships to the Minoan calendar Vance Tiede Ziggurat, Khirigsuur & Ling: Ancient Astro-Architecture Across Asia Coffee break Invited Speaker: Nicholas Campion Defining Astrology in Ancient and Classical History Xenophon Moussas Early Greek Astrophysics A total solar eclipse depicted on a protoliterate Sumerian cylinder seal - a new calibration of the lunar Göran Henriksson secular acceleration Manuela Revello Orion in Homer: is it a terrestrial, an astral or an astronomical myth? Marcello Ranieri Himera and Pyrgi: the diagonals and the alignments of the temples André Henriques Plato's cosmic theology: a rationale for a polytheistic astrology? WELCOME COCKTAIL at Câmara Municipal de Évora

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Tuesday, 20 9:00-9:30 9:30-9:50 9:50-10:10 10:10-10:30 10:30-10:50 10:50-11:20 11:20-11:40 11:40-12:00 12:00-12:20 12:20-14:00 14:00-14:20 14:20-14:40 14:40 14:40-15:00 15:00-15:20 15:20-15:40 15:40-16:00 16:00-17:00 17:00:17:20

21:00 21:00-21:45 21:45-22:30

MORNING SESSION: Ethnoastronomical voyages in Africa, Asia, Europe and Oceania (Chairman: Michael Rappenglück) Invited Speaker: J. McKim Malville Reading Alien Landscapes: Thick Descriptions versus Euro-centrism Alba Aller Egea, Juan Belmonte Statistical analysis of temple orientation in ancient India Catarina Oliveira The Cosmos in portuguese popular tradition: a bibliographic and field work approach Roslyn. M. Frank Basque stone octagons: Outlines of a fossilized celestial and terrestrial navigation system Coffee break Invited Speaker: David Pankenier East Asian Astronomy – Astrology: wich way diffusion, if any? Joerg Baecker The Cosmic Tree. Problems of its origin, diffusion and typological aereas Alex Cherney, John Morieson When the Giant Fish leaves the sky it is time to travel Audrius Beinorius On the Intercourse between Indian and the Arabic / Persian Astrology Lunch The intangible and tangible heritage of the interwoven relationship between the stars, environment, law, Marea Atkinson art and people in Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island cultures Evidence of Astronomy in Monoliths - A Case Study of Astronomical Orientation in Ikom Stone Monoliths, Barth Chukwuezi South Eastern Nigeria AFTERNOON SESSION: Ethnoastronomical voyages in North America, Mesoamerica and South America (Chairman: Stanisław Iwaniszewski) Invited Speaker: Alejandro Martín Shaking Eden: Voyages, Bodies and Change in the Social Construction of South American Skies López Astronomical significance of architectural orientations in the Maya Lowlands: new data, analyses and Invited Speaker: Ivan Sprajc interpretations Agustina Altman Sky travelers: cosmos' experiences among evangelical Indians from Argentinean Chaco Coffee break Invited Speaker: Mariusz Astronomy and the calendars of the Inca Empire: Lecture in honour of Robert M. Sadowski (1947-2010) Ziółkowski Sepp Rothwangl Is the Mayan Tzolkin closing a Gap between the lunisolar Metonic cycle and the Long Count?

PUBLIC LECTURES Invited Speaker: Luísa Pereira Invited Speaker: Juan Belmonte Avilés

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The voyage of human genes

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The Voyages of the Zodiac: an impenitent traveller across lands and ages

128

Wednesday, 21 MORNING SESSION: Archaeoastronomical voyages in Paleolithic and Neolithic cultures (Chairman: Lionel Sims) 8:30-9:00 Invited Speaker: Marciano da Silva Elements of Archaeoastronomy in Portugal Monica Argenta, Giuseppe Criminologists, Structuralists and Astronomists :A Brief History on the studies of rock carvings in 9:00-9:20 Brunod, Melchiorre Masali Valcamonica 9:20-9:40 Liz Henty A Voyage Around the Recumbent Stone Circles of NE Scotland 9:40-10:00 Claus Clausen Danish passage graves, "spring/summer/fall full moons" and lunar standstills Javier Mejuto, A. Carlos Valera, G. Ditched enclosures in southern Portugal: an archaeoastronomical point of view of portuguese Neolithic 10:00-10:20 Rodríguez-Caderot and Chalcolithic 10:20-10:40 Coffee Break 10:40-11:10 Invited Speaker: Manuel Calado Central Alentejo: beyond megalithic orientations 11:10-11:30 F. Silva, F. Pimenta The Sun and Moon's voyages along the horizon: Crossovers, Stones and Calendars 11:30-11:50 Tore Lomsdalen Possible Astronomical Intentionality for the Mnajdra South Temple in Malta 11:50-12:10 Morgan Sterling Saletta Stones of Earth and Sky: megalithic monuments, the voyage of ideas, and the 'Cosmological Package' 12:10-12:30 Georg Zotti Astronomical and Topographical Orientations of Kreisgrabenanlagen in Lower Austria Marianna Ridderstad and Fabio 12:30-12:50 New orientations in the Giants' Churches Silva 12:50-14:00 Lunch 14:00-17:00 ½ day excursion to Anta Grande do Zambujeiro and Almendres 17:00-19:00 Walking tour inside Évora’s walls with stop for wine taste

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Thursday, 22 8:30-9:00 9:00-9:20 9:20-9:40 9:40-10:00 10:00-10:20 10:20-10:40 10:40 10:40-11:10 11:10-11:40 11:40-12:00 12:00-12:20 12:20-12:40 12:40-14:00 14:00 14:00-14:30 14:30-14:50 14:50-15:10 15:10-15:30 15:30-15:50 15:50 15:50-16:20 16:20-16:40 16:40-17:00 17:00-17:20

MORNING SESSION: Archaeoastronomical voyages in Paleolithic and Neolithic cultures (Chairman: Frank Prendergast) Invited Speaker: Lionel Sims The Journey Out of Africa: the solarisation of the moon Roslyn M. Frank, Sergio Cardoso Megaliths and Genetics: Implications of the Franco-Cantabrian Refugium Theory Daniel Brown, Andy Alder A proposed seasonal sundial at Gardom's Edge Maria da Conceição de Moraes Brazilian Prehistoric man's knowledge of astronomy Coutinho Beltrão K.P. Rao Stars and stones: the interpretation of Megalithic cup-marks from south India Coffee Break MORNING SESSION: Archaeoastronomical voyages in Chalcolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages (Chairman: Cândido Marciano da Silva) Invited Speaker: Emilia Pasztor Symbols forever? Voyages in the celestial symbols over the Prehistoric Europe and over the time A place along the way - contextualising findings from the Iron Age post enclosure at Lismullin, Co. Meath, Invited Speaker: Frank Prendergast Ireland Elio Antonello, V. F. Polcaro, A.M. Astronomical orientations in sanctuaries of Daunia Tunzi Sisto, M. Lo Zupone Marco Garcia Quintela, Yolanda Seoane Veiga, A. César González Archaeology, Hagiography & solar orientations in Santa Mariña de Augas Santas (Ourense, España) García, Rebeca Blanco Rotea Joanna Dobrawa Kozakiewicz Krakow's prehistoric monumental mounds Lunch AFTERNOON SESSION: Archaeoastronomical voyages in Chalcolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages (Chairman: Manuel Calado) F. Pimenta, N. Ribeiro, A.Smith, A. Open air Rock Art between Alva and Ceira rivers: A voyage through mining, trading and transhumance Joaquinito, S. Pereira and L. routes and the orientation in the landscape Tirapicos Mª. Pilar Burillo-Cuadrado A myth in Celtiberian astronomy: the return of the Sun during the nigth F. Burillo-Mozota, M. PérezResults from the archaeological excavation in the astronomical sanctuary of the Celtiberian town of Segeda Gutiérrez (Mara, Zaragoza, Spain) Abasali Rustamov Modeling and analysis of the sundial observatory of Gobustan, Azerbaijan Coffee Break AFTERNOON SESSION: Archaeoastronomical voyages in Medieval Time in Orient and Occident (Chairman: Emília Pásztor) Invited Speaker: A. César A voyage of Christian medieval astronomy: symbolic, ritual and political orientation of churches González-García V.F. Polcaro, F. Bònoli, M. Incerti Transient Astronomical events as inspiration sources of Medieval Art: III the 13th and 14th century Marianna Ridderstad Solar and calendrical symbolism in the Early Medieval Finnish church murals Peter Hoare and Hans Ketel English medieval churches, festival orientation and William Wordsworth

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17:20 17:20-17:33 17:33-18:46 17:46-17:59

POSTER SESSION (Chairman: Henrique Leit達o) Rosa M. Herrera Evangelista Torricelli and Astronomy Andrey V. Kuzmin The Birth of Nomography Rosa Doran History, Culture, Myths and Astronomy - Connecting dots for an Inquiry Based Science Education Iurii Mosenkis Astronomical Odyssey

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21:00 21:00-21:45

PUBLIC LECTURE Invited Speaker: Clive Ruggles

130

Navigation, Calendars, and Temples: Interconnectivities of Polynesian Sky knowledge

Friday, 23 09:00-9:30 9:30-10:00 10:00-10:20 10:20-10:30 10:30-10:50 10:50-11:10 11:10-11:30 11:30-11:50 11:50 11:50-12:10 12:10 12:10-12:30

12:30-12:50

12:50-14:00 14:00-16:00

16:00-16:20 16:20-19:00 20:00

MORNING SESSION: History of Astronomy – An Encounter of Cultures (Chairman: Ivan Sprajc) Invited Speaker: Henrique Leitão Manuel Dias and the Tianwenlüe: a 17th cent. dialogue on astronomy between Europe and China From Confrontation to Accommodation: The Cultural Dimension of European Astronomy in China (1583Invited Speaker: Shi Yunli 1840)" Alejandro Martín López Gods, demonds and deceivers: jesuits facing Chaco skies Elio Antonello Boscovich, the Brera Observatory and the Enlightenment Coffee break Jody Morellato Archaeology and Astronomy. A 300-year voyage” Rosário Salema de Carvalho, Astronomy and the "azulejos" of Portuguese Jesuit colleges Samuel Gessner, Luís Tirapicos V.F. Polcaro The role of Cultural Astronomy in bridging the Snow's "Two Cultures": some Italian experiences Archaeoastronomical voyages in Antiquity, Egypt, Middle East and Mediterranean (Chairman: Ivan Sprajc) Efrosyni Boutsikas The role of astronomical observations in the Greek cults of Apollo in Delos, Delphi and Dreros MORNING SESSION: Astronomical Navigation – An Encounter of Worlds (Chairman: Ivan Sprajc Bernadette Brady Star lines, and Stones N. Ribeiro, A. Joaquinito, F. Pimenta, H. Sauren, A. F. Protohistoric and historical atlantic navigation: unpublished archaeological sites in Azores and Rodrigues, A. Costa, S. Pereira, M. archaeoastronomical orientation of some monuments F. Juliano, J. Fernandes, R. Freitas, R. Ventura, L. Tirapicos, A. Smith Lunch Round Table: To Where is Archaeoastronomy voyaging? Archaeoastronomy, Cultural Astronomy and Education Invited Speaker: Stanisław Navigating between the Scylla of social constructivism and Charybdis of logical empiricism: the Iwaniszewski construction of facts in Cultural Astronomy Invited Speaker: Lionel Sims Coffee break SEAC General Assembly Closing Dinner in “Celeiros de Évora” with “Grupo de Cantares de Évora”

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STARS AND STONES: VOYAGES IN ARCHAEOASTRONOMY AND CULTURAL ASTRONOMY - A MEETING OF DIFFERENT WORLDS

VOYAGES GUIDED BY THE SKIES:

ANCIENT

CONCEPTS OF

EXPLORING AND DOMESTICATING TIME AND SPACE ACROSS CULTURES Michael A. Rappenglück

Persistence and change are necessary for the stability and development of both the human individual and the human society, since the beginnings of human history. Most of the human evolution is characterized by nomadic or semi-nomadic subsistence and migrations. Man needs a static framework, which, related to his self awareness, defines a topocentric system of perception, evaluation, order, and meaning. He also requires a dynamic impetus, which allows exceeding the limits of special world views, shifting of perspectives and transformations of individual as well as social approaches to life. For different cultures through time and across the world the heavens provided certain principles of stability and change to model human life and natural processes. Considering ancient cultures, conceptions of the sky or even profound cosmovisions are related to astronomical facts, anthropological conditions, social parameters, and certain ecosystems, all of them subject to specific dates, locations and kinds of alteration. As a result archaic worldviews share some similarities and show particular diversities. They allowed constructing a structured and stabilized habitat - a cosmos – on the one hand and on the other hand they offered ways to overcome transitions – journeys – from one living space to another one, going through more or less labile conditions. Travelling especially helped to broaden man’s horizon and mind. Across cultures voyages guided by the skies are linked with practical concepts of exploring and domesticating time and space, but also figuratively with the life’s journey and with other worlds, being expressed by mythic, ritual and later scientific language. People on the move used celestial phenomena, such as the motion of the sun, the moon, certain stars and asterisms, or the Milky Way, to know the respective time and place, to fix centres, to establish spatiotemporal frameworks, to recover ways, and to reach destinations. The skies supported both, navigation to move between locations and orientation to get guidance systems for individual or collective life. According to archaic views the practical and the spiritual aspects were close-knit. People developed some special ideas about voyages, guided by the skies to other terrestrial or cosmic worlds: They talked about the journeys of gods, vivid humans and animals, or souls of dead creatures to and through the heavens and the underworlds. They devised concepts of cosmic pathways using apparent celestial features like the rainbow and the Milky Way or abstract entities like the ecliptic and zodiac, the polar or zenithal world axis, symbolized for example by a tree, a mountain, a building and some other things. Transitions were addressed by the idea of a possible movement within a stepped cosmic structure, having separate levels (worlds) to go and special places in space and time to open or to close the passage. The talk discusses the main categories concerning the topic of voyages guided by the skies. It moreover focuses on some selected examples: Archaic shamanistic worldviews, pilgrimages related to the skies, navigation and mythic cosmographies, ancient dreams of space flight, and finally a short glimpse on the broadening of the topic by today’s astronomical knowledge and science fiction (e.g. “Star Trek”). References

Stars and Stones: Voyages in Archaeoastronomy and Cultural Astronomy

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Bollnow, Otto Friedrich: Human Space. London: Hyphen Press, 2008. Ingold, Tim: The Perception of the Environment: Essays on Livelihood, Dwelling and Skill. London: Routledge, 2000. Rappenglück, Michael A.: Constructing Worlds, Cosmovisions as Integral Parts of Human Ecosystems. In: Cosmology across Cultures (= ASP Conference Series, Vol. 409), Rubifio-Martin, Jose Alberto, Belmonte, Juan Antonio, Prada, Francisco and Alberdi, Antxon (eds.), San Francisco 2009, pp. 107-115. Rappenglück, Michael A. Sternenkompaß, Stabkarte und Heilige Kalebasse – Navigation in Ozeanien. In: Sterne weisen den Weg. Geschichte der Navigation, Katalog zur Ausstellung in Hamburg und Nürnberg 2008-2010 (= Nuncius Hamburgensis, Beiträge zur Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften 15), Wolfschmidt, Gudrun and Wiederkehr, Heinrich, Norderstedt 2009, pp. 166-167. Singh, Rana P. B.: Cosmic Order and Cultural Astronomy: Sacred Cities of India (Planet Earth & Cultural Understanding). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009.

Stars and Stones: Voyages in Archaeoastronomy and Cultural Astronomy

ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL VOYAGES IN ANTIQUITY, EGYPT, MIDDLE EAST AND MEDITERRANEAN

THE ROLE OF ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS IN THE GREEK CULTS OF APOLLO IN DELOS, DELPHI AND DREROS Efrosyni Boutsikas Apollo, the god of cosmic order (Farnell 1907: 139), had three major sanctuaries in ancient Greece. His oracle in Delphi, his sanctuary on the island of Delos –where he was born– and the earliest surviving temple of Apollo Delphinios located in Dreros, Crete. This paper brings together these three sanctuaries, their myths and festivals, in order to examine whether an astronomical association can be verified by the timing of the festivals associated with Apollo and the layout of key structures in the three sites. Earlier research on the oracle of Apollo in Delphi has argued in favour of a connection between the timing of the oracle and the movement of the constellation of Delphinus (Salt and Boutsikas 2005). This paper tests this earlier theory by investigating whether the suggested links for Delphi could have equally applied to the other two sanctuaries of Apollo in Greece, in Delos and Dreros. Since the three sanctuaries examined here are dedicated to different forms of Apollo (Pythian Apollo in Delphi, Delian Apollo in Delos and Delphinios Apollo in Dreros), the paper discusses also the overlaps between the three cults, a topic which has been contested by earlier research (Graf 1979). To explicate this idea, the context of the sites and festivals is examined as fully as possible, through the visual arts, the literary myths, the festival calendars, and the natural landscape and night-sky, so as to determine whether the movement of the celestial bodies mentioned in myth were indeed visible from the specific sites during the time when the cult rites in question were performed. In this way, the visible surroundings of the three sites that participants of the nocturnal rites would have seen offer a new understanding of the relationship between Greek cosmology, astronomy and ritual practice. References   

Graf, F. 1979. ‘Apollo Delphinios’, Museum Helveticum, 36: 2–22. Farnell, L.R. 1907. The Cults of the Greek states. Vol IV. Oxford: Oxford UniversityPress. Salt, A. and Boutsikas, E. 2005. ‘Knowing when to consult the oracle at Delphi’ Antiquity 79, No.305: 564–572.

ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL VOYAGES IN ANTIQUITY, EGYPT, MIDDLE EAST AND MEDITERRANEAN

DEFINING ASTROLOGY IN ANCIENT AND CLASSICAL HISTORY Nicholas Campion

University of Wales Trinity Saint David

Astrology in the ancient and classical worlds can be partly defined by its role, and partly by the way in which scholars spoke about it. The problem is complicated by the fact that the word is Greek - it has no Babylonian or Egyptian cognates - and even in Greece it was interchangeable with its cousin, 'astronomy'. Yet if we are to understand the role of the sky, stars and planets in culture, debates about the nature of ancient astrology, by both classical and modern scholars, must be taken into account. This talk will consider modern scholars' typologies of ancient astrology, together with ancient debates from Cicero in the first century BCE, to Plotinus (204/5-270 CE) and Isidore of Seville (c. 560 - 4 April 636). It will consider the implications for our understanding of astronomy's role in culture, and conclude that in the classical period astrology may be best understood through its diversity and allegiance to competing philosophies, and that its functions were therefore similarly varied.

ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL VOYAGES IN ANTIQUITY, EGYPT, MIDDLE EAST AND MEDITERRANEAN

A TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE DEPICTED ON A PROTOLITERATE SUMERIAN CYLINDER SEAL: A NEW CALIBRATION OF THE LUNAR SECULAR ACCELERATION Göran Henriksson

University of Uppsala

goran.henriksson@astro.uu.se

A correct identification of ancient solar eclipses is not only important for historical reasons, but gives also the possibility to determine the secular acceleration of the moon with high precision and to test Einstein’s Theory of Relativity (Henriksson 2006, 2009). All well documented total solar eclipses from the Greek, Babylonian and Chinese texts back to 2500 BC fit very well with my calculations based on a lunar secular acceleration of –29.68 ″ /cy2, determined by Carl Schoch (1931) from an occultation of Spica by the moon in 283 BC and solar eclipses back to 600 BC. Schoch used the apparent lunar secular acceleration, but he gives also a formula for calculation of the sidereal lunar acceleration as a function of the secular acceleration of the sun, given with three digits. This is the weakest point in his theory. In this paper a 5600 year time interval will be used to determine the secular acceleration of the sun with four digits accuracy. It is therefore necessary to include protoliterate Sumerian cylinder seals, made before 3200 BC, in the calibration. The oldest identified total solar eclipse in this investigation took place on September 12, 3653 BC, at 06.34.25 local mean solar time in Eshnunna, in the Diyala region, Eastern Iraq (Gregorian calendar). This eclipse took place in Scorpio corresponding to the Sumerian constellation “Scorpion-man”. The lunar secular acceleration –25.85"/cy2, determined by the LLR-measurements (Williams et al. 2008), is only valid in the earth-moon inertial system, and, according to Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity (1916), must be corrected by -3.84 "/cy2 before it can be compared with results from the ancient solar eclipses. The sidereal lunar secular acceleration from the LLRmeasurements is therefore –29.69"/cy2 which is very close to Schoch’s value –29.68"/cy2 from solar eclipses. However, a closer look at Schoch’s formulas shows that the lunar secular acceleration is time dependent and this value is only valid around the year 1800, while the LLRmeasurments are made 200 years later. The author’s new calibration solves this problem. References   

Einstein, A. 1916. “Die Grundlage der allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie”, Annalen der Physik 49. Henriksson, G. 2006. A new Chronology of the Old Babylonian Kingdom and Ur I-III based on identification of solar and lunar eclipses. Proceedings of the SEAC 2002 Conference in Tartu. Henriksson, G. 2009. A new test of Einstein’s theory of relativity by ancient solar eclipses. Cosmology across Cultures, Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series vol. 409, 166–171. Ed. J. A. Rubiño-Martín, J. A. Belmonte, F. Prada and A. Alberdi.

ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL VOYAGES IN ANTIQUITY, EGYPT, MIDDLE EAST AND MEDITERRANEAN

ORIENTATIONS OF BRONZE AGE BUILDINGS ON CRETE AND THEIR RELATIONSHIPS TO THE MINOAN CALENDAR GĂśran Henriksson and Mary Blomberg In our archaeoastronomical project of Minoan Crete we have studied the orientations of a selection of the major monuments of that culture. One of our aims was to learn something of Minoan astronomy, since we thought it unlikely that the Minoans had not made similar strides in this disciple as the Babylonians and the Egyptians. These three great cultures were in contact from the third millennium BCE at least. However we do not have the same historical knowledge of the Minoans since their script has not been deciphered. Our archaeoastronomical approach, however, has produced amazing discoveries. We selected the four palaces, the seven peak sanctuaries that have foundation walls remaining, and about a quarter of the large independent houses, which are called mansions or villas. Rows of houses with shared walls are much more common and they line the village streets, so that their orientations could be influenced by local topography. Some of these, however, are identified as shrines because they were furnished with typical cult equipment. These are not many and we chose two such village houses. The Minoans did not build temples as separate buildings in their communities. The peak sanctuaries are a special case. They were isolated and, as we maintain, they were more than cult places, since they were also used to study the celestial bodies for calendric, navigational and other proposes. Today we would like to present our results from the Late Minoan villas and the remnants of Middle Minoan buildings at Tylissos. The town is situated in north central Crete and has the same name as in the Bronze Age. Our results are in good agreement with what we have found at other buildings and we have also found orientations to the beginnings of the two solar months, which we lacked, the ninth and the eleventh months. The remaining long walls of the Middle Minoan building are oriented to sunrise at the equinoxes. This is the most frequent orientation for Minoan buildings; however the buildings are so fragmentary, with no doors or windows surviving, that we cannot interpret them further. The villas A and C have the same kind of orientations that we have encountered in the case of the Palace and the South-east house at Knossos, causing shadows from door frames and columns. In the case Villa A we have three orientations from the northern outer wall of the entrance hall to a pillar and column in the hall. One is to sunrise at the summer solstice, the second is to sunrise on the 21st May according to our calendar, marking the beginning of the ninth and the eleventh solar months, and the third is to sunrise on the 21 of August according to our calendar, marking the beginning of the eighth and twelfth solar months, which is also marked by two shrines at Gournia. At Villa C we also have the orientation to sunrise on the 21 st of August marked by the corners of the two easternmost walls forming the entrance, with sunlight reaching only as far as the entrance to the pillar crypt, which seems to be one of the most sacred cult rooms in Minoan religion. The solar months are measured from the autumn equinox, which began the Minoan year, as we have argued. References ď&#x201A;ˇ

Blomberg, M. and Henriksson, G. 2001. Archaeoastronomy: new trends in the field, with methods and results from studies in Minoan Crete. Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry 247, 609-619.

ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL VOYAGES IN ANTIQUITY, EGYPT, MIDDLE EAST AND MEDITERRANEAN

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Blomberg, M. and Henriksson, G. 2000. Further evidence for the Minoan origins of the Greek calendars. In Proceedings of the 8th Cretological congress, Heraklion (Crete), Greece, 9-14 September 1996. A. Karetsou et al (eds.). Heraklion, 109-128. Hoskin, M. 2001. Tombs, temples and their orientations: a new perspective on Mediterranean prehistory. Ocarina Books, Bognor Regis. Marinatos, N. 1993. Minoan Religion. Ritual, image, and symbol, (Studies in comparative religion), University of South Carolina Press, Columbia SC.

ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL VOYAGES IN ANTIQUITY, EGYPT, MIDDLE EAST AND MEDITERRANEAN

PLATO’S COSMIC THEOLOGY: André Henriques

A RATIONALE FOR POLYTHEISTIC ASTROLOGY?

University of Wales Trinity Saint David

Plato’s cosmology had a decisive impact on the history and development of classical astronomy and religion, and determined the shape of European cosmology until the seventeenth century.[1] Throughout his many texts, including the cosmological treatise Timaeus, or the discussions on the soul in the Phaedrus, Plato (c.428-c.348 BCE) established what can be generalised as Platonic cosmological thought. The Timaeus discusses the concepts of Being and Becoming (Being as an unchangeable eternal realm differentiated from the perishable material world of Becoming), the revolution of the Different, or of the planets, defining temporal existence, and the Demiurge (a divine craftsman, fashioning an ordered, beautiful universe).[2] While in the Laws Plato defended astronomical observation as a practice that would support the belief that the sun, moon and stars were gods, the Epinomis relates for the first time the five visible planets with Greek deities. [3] The traditional Homeric polytheistic view, similar to the Babylonian, was that natural processes are basically irregular and unpredictable, and that gods could interfere and manipulate them as they pleased.*4+ To Plato, knowledge of the gods would only be probable, due to man’s limitation, and belief in these matters was more adapted to the realm of Becoming: ‘what being is to becoming, so truth is to belief’.*5+ With a theoretical reasoned model it was possible to be closer to true knowledge, and Hellenistic astrology developed such a theoretical model, with the planets still bearing the names of deities, though now the Roman ones. Ptolemy’s astrological work Tetrabiblos, from the second century CE, was influenced by Platonist, Aristotelian and Stoic theories, and displayed a structured theoretical model for the movements of the planets and stars and their implications on earth.[6] In the Phaedrus, Plato mentions circuits of the gods that souls would join, defining the character a person would display once living on earth, a similar concept that Ptolemy explores through the position of the planets.[7] However, Ptolemy with his naturalist model goes further, linking the planets with the human body, personal events, crops, weather, and states and their inhabitants.[8] This was similar to a Greek traditional view, where all these things were ruled by different gods and goddesses. The planets with their wandering positions in the heavens, as gods with their whims, were related to the changes in the material world, the world of mortal man. However, Ptolemy’s astronomy had the mathematical tools to predict those positions, and the astrological theoretical model of cosmic order as to what those positions meant. Ptolemy’s discourse was supposed to be very rational and devoid of religious overtones.[9] Nevertheless, there is a mythical and narrative background dimension to his astrology which, if looked at closely, pervades the whole system. Plato’s theological views were influenced by the polytheistic cultural context in which he lived, a context that shaped and pervaded later astrological thought. An exploration of the theological and mythical dimensions of Plato’s thought provides some understanding of the continuity of polytheistic concepts through the development of astronomical and astrological ideas in antiquity. References

ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL VOYAGES IN ANTIQUITY, EGYPT, MIDDLE EAST AND MEDITERRANEAN

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[1] Nicholas Campion, A History of Ancient Astrology, vol. 1, The Ancient World (London: Continuum, 2009) [hereafter Campion, History], p. 149. [2] Plato, Timaeus, trans. Donald J. Zeyl, in Plato Complete Works, ed. John M. Cooper (Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing, 1997) [hereafter Plato, Timaeus], 27 D – 29 A, 36 C – 38 C; Francis M. Cornford, Plato’s Cosmology: The Timaeus of Plato (Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing, 1997 [1937]), pp. 24, 117. [3] Plato, Laws, trans. Trevor J. Saunders, in Plato Complete Works, ed. John M. Cooper (Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing, 1997), X.885 E – X.899 B; Plato, Epinomis, trans. Richard D. McKirahan Jr., in Plato Complete Works, ed. John M. Cooper (Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing, 1997), 987 B - C. *4+ T. H. Irwin, “Plato: The intellectual background,” in The Cambridge Companion to Plato, ed. Richard Krant (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), p. 52. [5] Plato, Timaeus, 29 C. Cornford translates as belief, while Zeyl as convincingness. [8] Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos, trans. F. E. Robbins (Cambridge, Mass. and London: Harvard University Press, 2001 [1940]) [hereafter [Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos]; Campion, History, pp. 173-223. [7] Plato, Phaedrus, trans. Alexander Nehamas and Paul Woodruff, in Plato Complete Works, ed. John M. Cooper (Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing, 1997), 252 C – 253 B; Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos, III.13. [8] Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos, III.11, II.8, II.11, II 2-5. [9] Campion, History, p. 209.

ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL VOYAGES IN ANTIQUITY, EGYPT, MIDDLE EAST AND MEDITERRANEAN

THE BIRTH OF NOMOGRAPHY Andrey V. Kuzmin

The S.I.Vavilov Institute of Natural History and Technics, Russia

No doubt, that the first nomographic scales appeared far away in antiquity. For example, section 8 of Book 2 of Ptolemy's Almagest (2nd century A.D.) contains a table of the rising time of every tenth degree of ecliptic at eleven geographical latitudes, in which the nonlinear function of rising speed of different portions of ecliptic from the geographical position of the viewing point is emphasised [1]. In the course of the next fourteen centuries, this mathematical function has been used in developing of systems of astrological houses. They were presented as nonuniform circular scales, the size of each of the twelve sectors quantitatively reflecting the dynamics of the ecliptic ascending in a certain time in a given geographical location. This non-uniformity makes the system of twelve houses principally different from the uniform or linear scale of twelve zodiacal signs, each of them counting thirty degrees along the ecliptic. It has been considered possible to give a symbolical description to the terrestrial reflection of the celestial sphere by the means of constructing a temporal, or chronal, topocentric variation of the circle of ecliptic. The first printed edition of tables of houses was carried out by Regiomontanus (1436-1476) *. He started publishing his own system of houses based on studying of Ptolemy's works, in 1474, which was by 140 years earlier than the first edition of logarithmic tables by John Napier (1614). In the first printed edition of the system of nonuniform circular scales by Regiomontanus, the author represented them in a tabular form, his calculations comprising both the equatorial and ecliptic system of celestial coordinates [2]. It should also be noted that soon after logarithmic tables have become available, development of accurate tables of astrological houses was one of their basic applications. As one may see, the class of nonuniform scales which later formed a basis of the nomographic method in mathematics, was known to scientists since the late antiquity. A system of such scales was presented in the aforementioned Almagest by C. Ptolemy. As a matter of fact, they represent a quantitative description of the Earthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s motion in cosmos. By the 16th century, this mathematical approach became one of the most popular applied methods of space-time measurement. As a vivid example of its realisation we may consider the title engraving in the Horoscopion Apiani (1539), the work of Peter Apian (Apianus), professor of astronomy and mathematics in the University of Vienna (1495-1552) [3] (see picture 1) Graphically, the picture comprises a set of nomographic scales combined in a single table, a kind of two-dimensional slide rule designed for fine correction of values of logarithmic functions. Along with nomographic lines and numeral values, there are figurative images (zodiacal signs etc) depicted in it. This method of approach facilitated the performance of certain operations, somewhat resembling the use of miniature images in computer programs so familiar to us at present days. The aesthetic level of the picture is extremely high. The whole composition presents an impressive metaphysical collage which is in fact a graphical representation of space-time geocentric dynamics. In other words, it expresses the totality of motions of the celestial sphere which, in its turn, reflects the complex multifactor motion of our planet in the cosmic space. References

ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL VOYAGES IN ANTIQUITY, EGYPT, MIDDLE EAST AND MEDITERRANEAN

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[1] G.J. Toomer (trans. and ed.) (1998), Ptolemy’s Almagest, Princeton University Press, 2nd Ed. [2] Regiomontanus' Astronomical Tables, http://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/starry/regiotables.html. [3] Apianus Petrus. Horoscopion Apiani generale dignoscendis horis cuiuscumque generis aptissimum. Ingolstadt 1539.

Fig.1. The title nomographic engraving from ‘Horoscopion Apiani’ (1539).

Fig.2. A fragment of Fig.1, enlarged.

ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL VOYAGES IN ANTIQUITY, EGYPT, MIDDLE EAST AND MEDITERRANEAN

ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL INTERPRETATIONS FOR THE TEMPLE OF APOLLO, DELPHI Liritzis, I.; Vafea, F. and Artelaris G.

University of the Aegean and University Paris 7

The puzzling orientation of the Temple of Pythian Apollo at Delphi (550 B.C.) is revisited. Its NE pointing entrance related to the heliacal rising of the constellation Delphinus and the timing of the consultation of the Oracle at Delphi is reappraised (Salt & Boutsikas 2005). The landscape of Delphi itself embellish instrumental properties in creating or enhancing the cosmology of Apollo. Plutarch and his friends in his De Defectu Oraculorum discusses the reasons why the oracle ceased to offer consultations, while modern era researchers interpret it theologically, culturally, politically (Zuiddam, 2008). Here we reassess these issues focusing on the orientation based on solar settings. Sunrise light scans the Temple from SW to NE touching one of the two faidriades rockes at kastalia spring. The entrance alignment due east (NE) passes through the two faidriades rocks an angular altitude of the skyline of Az~50o). At winter solstice of ca. 500 BC bright star Vega (a-Lyre) connected also to music god Apollo, has an heliacal rising. This is the time also of Dionesus birth. In situ measurements (Azimuth ca. 112 o) and google earth simulations have indicated interesting sunrises at around November and February that we relate to the Apollo depart and return from hyperboreans, his twinned brother Dionisus’ reign at Delphi during his absence, the delivering of oracular consultations, and the shining of god’s statue at the opisthodomos of the Temple. More orientations for key locations of the Temple were investigated. All orientations point to the opisthodomos and the existence of openings (windows) at least the southern SE side of the Temple an architectural element known from Egyptian Temples at the time and later. A revealing discussion is also made on the alignment between the Temple, the sunrise positions and the Tholos (400-375 B.C) whose function is not completely clear. Our conclusion reinforces the little and vague textural evidence and contemporary archaeoastronomical research indications that ancient Hellenic religion may have included ritual elements inspired by astronomy (Liritzis & Vassiliou, 2002, 2003) References     

Alun Salt & Efrosyni Boutsikas (2005) Knowing when to consult the oracle at Delphi Antiquity 79 (2005): 564–572 PLUTARCH. 1972. De defectu oraculorum, ed. W. Sieveking. (Plutarchi Moralia vol.iii, p.59-122.), Stuttgart: Teubner. Benno Zuiddam (2008) Plutarch and 'God-eclipse' in Christian theology: when the gods cease to speak, Paper for Society of Biblical Literature, Auckland July 2008 Liritzis.I and Vassiliou.H (2002) Astronomical orientations of ancient temples at Rhodes and Attica with a tentative interpretation. Mediterranean Archaeology & Archaeometry, vol.2, No 1, 69-79 Liritzis.I and Vassiliou.H (2003) Archaeoastronomical orientation of seven significant ancient Hellenic temples. Archaeoastronomy International, vol.17, 94-100.

ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL VOYAGES IN ANTIQUITY, EGYPT, MIDDLE EAST AND MEDITERRANEAN

AN ARCHAEO-ASTRONOMICAL VISIT TO THE SACRED LANDSCAPE OF THE OLD AND THE MIDDLE KINGDOM PYRAMIDS Giulio Magli

Faculty of Civil Architecture of the Politecnico of Milan

Royal funerary landscapes in Egypt show a remarkable continuity in the use of symbols and in the interplay between natural and man built features. In such a context "directionality", both in the sense of succession of elements and of orientation of single buildings and tombs, plays a relevant role in governing the landscape in accordance with the idea of cosmic order, the basis of the temporal power of the Pharaoh. Astronomical and topographical alignments were indeed used to state closeness to ancestors or to sacred centers. We will visit here the pyramid's fields of the Old and the Middle Kingdom in search of these features, showing their role in governing the location of each subsequent building. The issue of the "missing" pyramid of King Userkare will be briefly discussed within this context.

ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL VOYAGES IN ANTIQUITY, EGYPT, MIDDLE EAST AND MEDITERRANEAN

ASTRONOMICAL ODYSSEY Iurii Mosenkis Argonautica [1], Iliad [2], and Odyssey [3] were searched for astronomical implications. I propose the following description of astronomical events in Odyssey. The land of the Cicones (unattested tribe) = Cygnus. The land of the Lotus-Eaters = the flower-shaped Delphin. Northern wind (IX 67, 81) designs the location of Delphin southward to the Cygnus. The island of goats = Capricorn. The island of the ‘round-eyed’ Cyclopes = Scorpio (+ Corona Australis?), the eye of Cyclops = Antares. The exit with rams from the cave (the black spot of the Milky Way) = rising Aries, setting Scorpio and Corona Australis. The island of Aeolus (cf. Greek Aetes ‘wind’: Aetos ‘eagle’) = Aquila. Ithaca (Equuleus) was visible after 10 days (X 28-29) of sailing from Aeolus (Aquila). The island of the Laestrygonians = the constellations from Aquarius to Taurus. The princess of the giants (X 120) who brings water (X 105-113) = Aquarius (Sumerian GU.LA ‘Aquarius’, literally ‘giant’). The Laestrygonians pierced men like fish = Pisces with the rope. The king and the queen of the Laestrygonians = Cepheus and Cassiopea. The island of Circea (Greek Kirka) = Cancer (Greek Karkinos). The East and the West can not be distinguished (X 190-192) = the summer solstice without shadow of the gnomon. The lions (X 212) = Leo and Leo Minor. The vessel with wine (X 356: krater) = Crater near Virgo. Oceanus = Milky Way. Two Sirens = Sirius. The Odysseus’ last ship = Argo. Athene as the patroness of Odysseus = Virgo near Argo. Scylla (whining like puppy) = Procyon, Harybdis = Hydra. The fig-tree near Harybdis (XII 103104) = branch-shaped Monoceros. Thrinacia = forkpitch-shaped Sextans (Greek thrinax ‘pitchfork’). The dying maritime pilot (XII 412-414) = setting Canopus (cf. Menelaus’ maritime pilot Canopus). The drawning men like crows (XII 418) = Corvus. Ogygia = Virgo. Evening setting of Arcturus (V 272) coincided with the morning rising of Centaurus (Odysseus’ raft). 20 days from Calypso to Scheria (V 278–280, 288–290) = 20 days from the rising of Vindemiatrix to the rising of Libra. The Phaeacians = Libra (Arete as the personification of justice in ‘Argonautica’) + Crux (Nausithoos = the star which became invisible because of precession).

ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL VOYAGES IN ANTIQUITY, EGYPT, MIDDLE EAST AND MEDITERRANEAN

Ithaca = Equuleus (see above) + Sagittarius (Odysseus as the archer). The dog Argos died when he saw Odysseus: setting Canis Major, rising Sagittarius. Athene said ‘toi toi, ksein’ (XIII 248): the anagram of Greek Toxon ‘Bow (in Sagittarius)’. Sagittarius is the home of Jupiter (Ptol. Tetr. 17). Odysseus’ returning to Aeolus (10-day sailing from Aeolus to Ithaca) = the retrograde motion of Jupiter (10 o). Telemachus and Telegon = Gemini. Circea (the mother of Telegonus, the wife of Telemachus) = Cancer near Gemini. Telegonus killing Odysseus: rising Gemini, setting Sagittarius. References   

[1] Newton, I., The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended, L., 1728. [2] Wood, F. & K., Homer’s Secret Iliad, L., 1999. [3] Johnson, L.R., Shining in the Ancient Sea, Portland, 1999.

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ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL VOYAGES IN ANTIQUITY, EGYPT, MIDDLE EAST AND MEDITERRANEAN

EARLY GREEK ASTROPHYSICS Xenophon Moussas

University of Athens

xmoussas@phys.uoa.gr

Since the dawn of humanity, humans observe the sky and try to understand the cosmic environment. This is the beginning of astronomy and civilization. This is part of the struggle of humans to survive in a hostile environment. According to a popular etymology the world Anthropos, human in Greek, means the one that looks up, the one that observes the sky. Humans develop Mathematics and Physics for astronomy and to keep calendars. Humans observing the universe discover the harmony of the motions of celestial bodies. Study their trajectories and try to reproduce them with mathematics. At the same time they study the nature of celestial bodies and the cosmos. They understand that there are laws of Nature. In the Orphic Hymns we read: I call the celestial law, the star positioning, that sets order to the stars.Thales (624-546 BC) is probably the first to use scientific reasoning to explain nature. He was a mathematician, astronomer, engineer and meteorologist. Establishes Geometry with Theorems and proofs. Pythagoras of Samos (570-500 BC) gives theoretical proof of the Pythagorean theorem and systematically studies the numbers. Of great importance is the fact that he performs some systematic experiments with measurements and understands that the Universe and everything in Nature has to be described in numbers. Heraclitus (6th-5th CBC) proposes that matter is made of four elements: fire, air, water, earth. All substances come from these simple bodies that he terms elements. Introduced dialectics, causality, humans are responsible for their fate. Anaxagoras (500/488-428 BC) understands that celestial bodies are not gods but are made of matter. He comes to Athens from Ionia (Asia Minor, Aegean coast) and establishes a school (University). This changes drastically the course of Philosophy, as he puts the seeds of philosophy in Athens. His most important pupil was the great statesman Pericles who changes completely Athens to a very important city-state with Acropolis and the Parthenon. Anaxagoras School in Athens puts the foundations to the Academy of Plato and Lyceum of Aristotle and establishes Philosophy, as we know it. Anaximander (610-545 BC) introduced the term Principle, constructed the first map of the Earth, solar clocks, introduced the first theory of evolution of species, life comes from the water, where some worms developed first, humans come from a kind of shark that has fetus similar to human. Measured the change of the inclination of solar altitude during the year (solstices, equinoxes). Anaximenis (585-525 BC) introduced a mechanical model for the Universe. Defines stars and planets as different celestial objects. He also studies the cycle of water (evaporation, clouds, rain, snow, rainbow). Leucippus (b. 480 BC) and later his student Democritus (460.-370.BC) established causality. They established the atomic theory for the matter. Matter is made of atoms, the smallest possible particles that cannot be divided further. Leucippus (and Democritus) atoms are what today physicists call elementary particles that make matter and not what we call today atoms. The Universe is made of a large vortex of atoms. The heaviest atoms go to the center; The Universe is made of matter that is initially in fluid form. Matter heats up due to the fast rotation. Stars are made of this hot matter. Earth is made of a fast rotating atoms that form a vortex. The stars are made of fast rotating vortices of atoms and become hot as they rotate very fast. The Sun gets additional heat from the stars. There are an infinite number of Cosmoi (Earths or Solar Systems or Universes) and stars in the Universe. They are made of an infinite number of atoms and they are in an infinite space. Vision is caused by images of the objects we see that enter into our eyes through the pupil of the eye. The Galaxy is made of many stars, that we cannot see as we do not see the atoms matter is made of. Worlds (planets and stars) are created and die. 26

ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL VOYAGES IN ANTIQUITY, EGYPT, MIDDLE EAST AND MEDITERRANEAN

Plato (429-347 BC) is the most important Greek philosopher. Extremely influential to philosophy. He puts provocative, fundamental and profound questions to be answered, following his teacher Socrates. Influenced by Socrates to his methods and by philosopher Cratylus, student of Heraclitus, to his view of the Cosmos. He adopts the Ideas, of Socrates, that preexist and of which real objects are just mere shadows or projections. He believes in the great importance of mathematics in understanding the Universe and in Philosophy too. He writes in the door of his School, the Academy, Do not enter if you do not know mathematics. Plato’s elementary particles are triangles. Everything in the Universe is made of them. Combination of these triangles (Plato’s elementary particles) is Plato’s «chemical elements»: the tetrahedron or pyramid for the fire (made of 24 triangles), the octahedron (made of 48 triangles) for the air, the icosahedrons (made of 120 triangle) for the water and the cube (made of 24 triangles) for the earth. Aristotle, from Macedonia, the most important student of Plato has been extremely influential for centuries in Christianity as well as in the Muslim world. He has been extremely influential to his most important student, Alexander the Great. He establishes his School, the Lyceum. Thousands of students study in the Lyceum. The Museum and the Library of Alexandria are children of the Lyceum. The Aristotelian model for the motion of the Stars, the Sun, the Moon and the planets is the one of Eudoxus and Callippus with 59 nested concentric to the Earth spheres. The role of small city-states, democracy and organization of societies as well as the influence of Alexander the Great will be discussed too.

ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL VOYAGES IN ANTIQUITY, EGYPT, MIDDLE EAST AND MEDITERRANEAN

HIMERA AND PYRGI: THE DIAGONALS AND THE ALIGNMENTS OF THE TEMPLES Marcello Ranieri

INAF-ROMA

Research on the alignments of Greek temples shows that the orientation of many is ”EastWest” within ≈10°; for about as many other the ”East-West” orientation can be assigned only in a much broader sense (facing East, or facing “the range of the horizon that sun rises over”*1+). Scholars have produced papers correlating the deviations from true East with the horizon positions of the rising or setting of Sun, stars or constellations on important days (as festivals related to the worshipped deity or construction dates); These interpretations show sometimes convincing consistency sometimes less, all depending on the exactitude of the knowledge of the dates and on the availability and reliability of azimuth and horizon-height data; the cases more recently considered[2] appear to corroborate these interpretations. Yet, a large number of temples with a puzzling alignment of the main axis still remains. This has stimulated this author to investigate on the orientation of the diagonals of those temples not cardinally oriented. In a previous work[3], a sample of 41 were naively analysed in CAD using unchecked data from the literature. The results showed a spread of the deviations of the diagonals from the cardinal directions indeed small would have had some relevant implications. It would point to a widespread topographic practice of establishing cardinal directions on the terrain prior to construction. Also in these cases the desired orientation of the temple axis would be bound to the geometrical proportion of the stylobate therefore ruling the basic shape of the temple (and vice-versa). Technical procedures, more sophisticated than simply aligning the axis to the morning shadows, may have been in place prior to the construction. More accurate analyses are needed with safe cross-checked azimuths and quality survey plans, often already available (more precise methods in deriving temple orientation and ground plans, as done for example by Pantazis et al. for Delos, would however be preferable). Here are presented the results for five temples of Himera and the two of Pyrgi. Temples ground plans were “decoded” in terms of integer numbers of length units, and of harmonic, Pythagorean or quasi-Pythagorean proportions. The amplitudes of the deviations from EastWest of the diagonals have all resulted within the amplitudes of the errors on the azimuths of the temple axes. References     

[1] SALT, A. The Astronomical Orientation of Ancient Greek Temples. PLoS ONE , 4 (11), e7903. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0007903, 2009 [2] BOUTSIKAS E. (2007-2008) Placing Greek Temples: An Archaeoastronomical Study of the orientations of Ancient Greek religious Structures. Archaeoastronomy: the journal of Astronomy in Culture 21, 4-19. SALT, A. An analysis of astronomical alignments of Greek Sicilian Temples. Cornell University Library arXiv:1001.3757v1 [physics.hist-ph], submitted. 2010. PANTAZIS, G., LAMBROU, E., NIKOLITSAS, K., PAPATHANASSIOU, M., ILIODROMITIS, A., The orientation of Delos’ Monuments, Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, Vol. 9, No. 1, 2008 [3] RANIERI, M., Le diagonali e gli orientamenti archeoastronomici, proc. X Conv. SIA, Trinitapoli 2010, in press.

ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL VOYAGES IN ANTIQUITY, EGYPT, MIDDLE EAST AND MEDITERRANEAN

ORION IN HOMER: IS IT A TERRESTRIAL, AN ASTRAL OR AN ASTRONOMICAL MYTH? Manuela Revello

Università degli Studi di Roma "Tor Vergata"

The subjects related to stars and constellations in the Greek litterature are very complex: astronomy, astrology, mythology, astro-metereology and philological studies are variously involved in this field of investigation. The situation becomes much more complicated if we try to reconstruct the picture of knowledges and the degree of consciousness in matter of stars, in the Homeric age. In this short report we will take into account the constellation of Orion. I will start from the time of the creation of the new Achilles’s shield, on which Ephesus engraves what it seems to be Homer’s cosmical conception (Σ 482-489): a conception that reappears when we come to know that Odisseus, following Calypsos’s indications, does not fall asleep while he stares at Pleiades and continues sailing as the Nymph suggested him. Orion o , is a very bright constella on, if we compare it to the Bear. It is followed by the Canis Major and in its head there is Sirius, which should be its muzzle (X 29). I will stop on the de ni on (Σ 486), “strong Orion” and on the syntagm ’ (X 29), “Orion’s Dog”. We know Homer knows a myth referring to Orion, and describes it as a tremendous giant of exceptional beauty (λ 310) armed with a club who hunts for himself in the Ades those animals that once he used to kill on a lonely mountain (λ 572-575). Orion, as an energetic man accompanied by a dog, with the Bear that looks towards him, should represent the image of a hunter. I will discuss if the astronomical myth of Orion already formed itself at the time Homer lived or if it was about to develop. The debate will show a sharp difference among terrestrial myth, astronomical myth and astral myth. References  

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AUJAC 1976 G. Aujac, Le ciel des étoiles fixes et ses raprésentations en Grèce ancienne, in «Revue d'histoire des sciences» XXIX, 289-307 CALDINI 1996 R. Caldini-Montanari, "Étoile, constellation et corps céleste dans les mentalités grecque et romaine", in in Les Astres, actes du colloque international de Montpellier - 23-25 mars 1995, Seminaire d'Etude des mentalites antiques, Universite Paul Valery, 245262FITTSCHEN 1973 K. Fitteschen, Archaeologia Homerica, Kapitel N, Bildkunst, Teil 1, Göttingen KAMPTZ 1982 H. von Kamptz, Homerische Personennamen, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen KUENTZLE 1897 H. Kuentzle, Über die Sternsagen der Griechen, Heidelberg LORIMER 1951 Helen L. Lorimer Stars and constellations in Homer and Hesiod, in «The Annual of the British School of Athens» XLVI, 86-101 PFEIFFER 1966 Erwin Pfeiffer, Studien zum antiken Sternglauben, Hakkert, Amsterdam (LeipzigBerlin, 1916) RENAUD 2003 Jean Michel Renaud, Le catastérisme chez Homère: la cas d'Orion, in «Gaia» VII, 205-214

ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL VOYAGES IN ANTIQUITY, EGYPT, MIDDLE EAST AND MEDITERRANEAN

ANCIENT TOPOMETRY - THE TRACING OF TOWNS IN THE ROMAN EPOCH: NEW CONSIDERATION CONCERNING ULPIA TRAIANA SARMIZEGETUSA, ROMANIA Florin Stanescu

University “1 Decembrie 1918” Alba Iulia, Romania

The objectives of the research. While following the rituals and the topometrical methods being used by the Romans in tracing the cities, the paper aims at deter-mining the day when it was inaugurated the new Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa, capital of the new province of Roman Empire, Dacia Felix. The paper also aims at verifying the hypothesis launched by I. Piso and C. Diaco-nescu (University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania), claiming that the capital may have beeen traced on 18 September 106 AD, on emperor Trajan’s birthday. We also know that there existed a city, probably founded on Trajan’s birthday, in Africa, Colonia Marciana Ulpia Traiana Thamugadi, around 100 AD. The hystorical and archaeological context. After the 2nd Dacian-Roman war (105-106 AD), which ended with the death of Decebal, the king of dacians, and the destruction of Sarmizegetusa Regia, the capital of the Dacian kingdom, as well as the conquer of the entire Dacia, Emperor Trajan erected two monuments, one of which can still be seeing, that marked the victory, i.e. “Tropheum Trajan”, at Adam Clissi in Dobruja, Romania, and “Trajan’s Column”, in Rome, Italy. About 80 kilometers from the former capital, Trajan built a new one for the province he had conquered. The new capital would bear his name: Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa. Analyzing techniques being used. According to the Etruscan tradition, the Romana used to trace the main axes of the city – decumanus maximus and kardo maximus – by means of the shadow being cast by the first sunbeam that appeared at the physical horizon of the respective place on inauguration day. The azimuth of the decumanus maximus direction was therefore identical with the azimuth of the point the sun rise on the day. When tracing a city, the Romans used a topometric instrument groma, that we also present in this paper. The paper also presents a short historical outline of this type of research initiated by the german F. Nissan at the beginning of the 20th century. The elements of the research consist of local measurements and satellite maps, that have been made for: the determination of the main axes of the ancient city, decumanus maximus and kardo maximus, as well as of their respective azimuth; the determination of the physical horizon of the place; his determination is very important; the determination of the azimuth of the point where the sun would rise in that epoch, at echinoxes as well as on 18 September. Last but not least, problems being involved by the Roman Julian calendar will also be discussed. References 

Stanescu, Florin, 2009, “Astronomical Orientation in Ancient Dacian Sanctuaries of Piatra Craivii, Romania. Preliminary Results”. Cosmology Across Culture. Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Conference Series, Vol.409, , pp.408-412

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Stanescu, Florin, 2008, “Measurement Systems for Mathematics and Astronomy in Antiquity: Ptolemy’s Chord Calculation and New Consideration Concerning the ‘Discus in Planitia”, Ascribed to Aristarchus”. Archaeologia Baltica 10, Klaipeda University, Institute of Baltic Sea Region History and Archaeology, , pp.215-219 Stanescu Florin, 2005, “From the Mathematical Geography of the Antiquity to the Modern GPS Systems. The “AstroDacia” Research Project, Romania”. 35th International Symposium on Archaeometry (35th ISA), Beijing, China, pp.11-12 Stanescu, Florin, 2011, “Teotihuacan – Orasul Zeilor” (“Teotihuacan – City of the Gods”) Transilvania, nr.4, , pp.34-45

ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL VOYAGES IN ANTIQUITY, EGYPT, MIDDLE EAST AND MEDITERRANEAN

ZIGGURAT, KHIRIGSUUR & LING: ANCIENT ASTRO-ARCHITECTURE ACROSS ASIA Vance R. Tiede

Yale University

The histories of Mesopotamian and Chinese astronomy are among the oldest in antiquity. Both originated with court astronomers who oriented imperial monumental architecture, prepared luni-solar calendars and made eclipse predictions (O. Neugebauer 1957 and J. Needham 1959). In Mesopotamia, for example, the mud-brick inscriptions at the Great Ziggurat of Ur-Nammu (ca. 2100 BC) document dedication to Nanna the Moon God, the patron deity of Ur, and also at the adjacent temple to Ningal the Moon Goddess (P.R.S. Moorey 1982). In China, two ancient Chinese texts, the Chou-Pei-Suan-Ching/Zhou Bei Suan Jing (周髀算经) and Chou Li/Zhouli (周禮), record that the Imperial Astronomer (Feng Hsian Shin) made solar observations to orient structures to the four cardinal directions with a circle and gnomon, and to determine the solstices and equinoxes. Accordingly, two distinguished sinologists concluded that Mesopotamian ziggurat architectural grammar may have diffused eastward along Central Asia’s Silk Road influencing the design change from underground Shang Dynasty royal shaft-tombs at Hsi-Pei-Kang/Xibeigang, Henan Province, China to above ground Chin, Zhou and Han Dynasty royal mound-tombs (líng 陵) near the ancient imperial capital of Changan, Shensi/Shaanxi Province, China (J. Needham 1959 and S. Ling, 1967). This study presents new evidence from astro-archaeology supporting the hypothesis that Mesopotamian, Central and East Asian monumental architecture was oriented to astronomical targets found in their respective mythologies. The research is based on combining the algorithms for astro-archaeology (G. S. Hawkins 1968) with DEM/ArcGIS terrain modeling and satellite imagery. To date, the sample includes the Great Ziggurat of Ur-Nammu (Nasiriyah, Iraq), Ziggurat of Aqar Quf (Baghdad, Iraq), Chogha Zanbil (Khuzestan, Iran), Sialk (Kashan, Iran), twin Khirigsuurs (Khanuy River Valley, Mongolia) (F. Allard 2007) and twenty-nine rectangular mound tombs (ling) (near Sian/Xian, Shensi/Shaanxi Province, China) (V. Tiede 1978, 2010). References 

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Allard, Francis et al. (2007), “Ritual and Horses in Bronze Age and Present Day Mongolia: Some Preliminary Observations from Khanuy Valley,” 151-162 in Social Orders and Social Landscapes, L.M. Popova, C.W. Hartley and A.T. Smith (eds.), Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Hawkins, Gerald S. (1968), Astro-Archaeology, Vistas in Astronomy 10:45-88. Ling, Shun-Sheng, (1967). “The Pyramids of Egypt and the Royal Tombs of China,” Bulletin of the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica (Taiwan), 24: 216. Moorey, P.R.S. (1982), Ur ‘of the Chaldees’ (Ithaca: Cornell University Press). Needham, Joseph (1959), Science and Civilization in China, III, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). Otto Neugebauer, Otto. (1957), The Exact Sciences in Antiquity (Providence: Brown University Press). Tiede, Vance (2010). “Lunar and Solar Alignments of Ancient Chinese Pyramids,” 155th AAS Meeting, HAD 18.CE.12. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2010AAS...21533101R Tiede, Vance (1978). “Orientation of Ancient Chinese Pyramids,” Archaeoastronomy, I:3, 7-8.

ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL VOYAGES IN ANTIQUITY, EGYPT, MIDDLE EAST AND MEDITERRANEAN

ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL VOYAGES IN MEDIEVAL TIME IN ORIENT AND OCCIDENT

SEAC2010 – Stars and Stones

Abstract Book

Évora, Portugal

TRANSIENT ASTRONOMICAL EVENTS AS INSPIRATION SOURCES OF MEDIEVAL ART: III THE 13 AND 14 CENTURIES TH

F.Bònoli, M. Incerti and V.F.Polcaro Following our long term project of analysis of the transient astronomical event as inspiration sources of Medieval art, we deepen in this paper the 13 th and 14th Century. This is a period of strong changes either in society, in art and in science: the bourgeoisie starts to play a prominent role in economy and thus in politics (see, e.g. Le Goff, 1977), gothic art starts to spread in Europe as well as a more realistic representation in paintings, scholastic philosophy becomes the main model of interpretation of nature (see, e.g. Geymonat, 1977). It is thus worth of interest to verify if the relationship between the number of artworks where a star is represented and astonishing transient astronomical events that we have found in the 11 th century (Incerti et al 2010) lasted in this new situation, taking into account that at least one famous artwork of the early 14th century, the Giotto’s “Adoration of Magi” in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, represented the P/Halley comet transits of 1301. Again in order to check the influence of astronomical events on 14 th Century art and society, we have examined the case of the “Ordre de l’Étoile”. At the end of 1351, John II of France (Jan le Bon, roi de France) founded an order of chivalry named “Ordre de Chevaliers de Notre Dame de la Noble Maison”, shortly after commonly called “Ordre de l’Étoile”. This last name takes origin from the white star on red enamel the knights had to show both in the collar and in the mantle buckle, as it appears in a late 14th-century miniature showing an Order’s meeting. Its motto “monstrant regibus astra viam” (“the stars show the way to the kings”) has a clear reference to the star which led the Three Wise Men (the tree kings) to Jesus and Saint Mary (the Notre Dame of the original name of the Order). We try to find some relevant contemporary astronomical event, in ancient European and Chinese chronicles, which could have been an inspiration source for the star in the garb of the knights and for the star in their motto. References 

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Incerti M., Bònoli F., Polcaro V.F.; 2010, Transient astronomical events as inspiration sources of Medieval and Renaissance art: the Star of the Magi, in “Astronomy and Power – How Worlds are structured”, International Conference on Archeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy, Société Européenne pour l’Astronomie dans la Culture, SEAC 2010, Gilching (Germany), Aug.30-Sep.4 2010 Le Goff J., 1977, Pour un autre Moyen Age. Temps, travail et culture en Occident, Gallimard, Paris. Geymonat L., 1977, Storia del pensiero filosofico e scientifico / L'Antichità-Il Medioevo, Garzanti, Milano

ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL VOYAGES IN MEDIEVAL TIME IN ORIENT AND OCCIDENT

SEAC2010 – Stars and Stones

Abstract Book

Évora, Portugal

A VOYAGE OF CHRISTIAN MEDIEVAL ASTRONOMY: SYMBOLIC, RITUAL AND POLITICAL ORIENTATION IN CHURCHES A. César González-García

Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias

According to the early canonical sources, churches must be oriented such that the priests are facing eastward while praying. However, such prescription was accommodated to particular circumstances in different environments across the Christendom. For instance, while it was common lore in England that churches were oriented towards the rising sun the day of the Saint, McCluskey found no clear evidence of such custom when studying the orientation of early medieval churches. In this presentation I will review the current knowledge on the subject with an up date of the different studies carried out in Europe and the Mediterranean in the past on early (medieval) Christian churches orientations. I will then focus on the particular situation of the Iberian Peninsula, where the peculiar local political circumstances determined the ritual and symbolic use of the orientation of churches. I will present a review of our study on the orientation of pre-Romanesque churches in the Peninsula, and I will draw some conclusions from that study. Finally I will focus on some particular examples where we will see that in some instances orientations were used to incorporate or erase pre-existent pagan customs and in other to reaffirm the independence from other areas or to stress new alliances. In some cases astronomical decorative motives or peculiar illumination effects of some iconographic scenes on special dates where incorporated to those churches. The subject is wide open and I will try to highlight some preliminary conclusions and delineate the future work on this issue.

ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL VOYAGES IN MEDIEVAL TIME IN ORIENT AND OCCIDENT

SEAC2010 – Stars and Stones

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Évora, Portugal

ENGLISH MEDIEVAL CHURCHES, FESTIVAL ORIENTATION AND WILLIAM WORDSWORTH Peter Hoare and Hans Ketel That some if not all English medieval churches display festival orientation, that is they are aligned with sunrise or sunset on the feast day of the saint to whom the building is dedicated, has been promoted in England since the seventeenth century. The role of William Wordsworth (7 April 1770–23 April 1850), ‘the father of the *English+ Lake School of Poetry,’ as a champion of festival orientation (specifically sunrise azimuth) stems from two poems written by him in 1822–1823 but not published until 1827. They anticipated the construction of St Mary’s chapel (1823–1824) close to the poet’s home, Rydal Mount, in the English Lake District. In one he explains how the orientation of the foundations is to be determined, and his views have been cited by numerous researchers on medieval church orientations ever since. Any attempt to prove festival orientation is fraught with uncertainties, but a number of investigators have been unable to find evidence in support of the proposal. Moreover, no single study of a significant sample of churches has found in favour of a unique explanation for their orientation; and many buildings appear to be aligned with Easter Day sunrise, a particular sunset azimuth or in other ways. We present a review of orientation data for approximately 500 medieval English churches. Wordsworth helped to choose St Mary’s steeply sloping, irregular site at Rydal, and he assisted in the design of the building. We describe our attempts to establish whether the alignment of the chapel preserves festival orientation, or if the poet, a central figure in the English romantic movement, was simply emotionally attached to this idea. In order to do this, we devised a novel way of reconstructing the form of the mountainous eastern horizon from large-scale maps, then undertook fieldwork at Rydal (some of it necessarily starting before dawn!) with still, video and web cameras, surveying equipment and a GPS instrument.

ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL VOYAGES IN MEDIEVAL TIME IN ORIENT AND OCCIDENT

SEAC2010 – Stars and Stones

Abstract Book

Évora, Portugal

SOLAR AND CALENDRICAL SYMBOLISM IN EARLY MEDIEVAL FINNISH CHURCH MURALS Marianna Ridderstad

University of Helsinki, Finland

The earliest church murals in Finland, painted from the 13th to the 15th century, represent the so-called ”primitive” style (Stigell 1974; Hiekkanen 2007). From the artistic style of the paintings it is clear that they have not been painted by professional artists. Most probably, they were painted by the builders of the churches. The paintings include many symbols and motifs, which can be recognized as non-Christian. The murals depict, e.g., different kinds of rota, spirals, concentric circles, swastikas, six- and eight-pointed crosses or stars, pentagrams, Saint John’s Arms, tursaansydän, labyrinths, ships, trees, horn blowers, animals like foxes and birds of prey, fantastical creatures, and knights fighting. Even the Christian motifs are most often combined with profane images, or represented in a peculiar context, which might allow a ”pagan” interpretation as well as a Christian one. The western and southern parts of Finland had officially been converted to the Christian faith in the end of the 13th century, and the eastern Finland until the end of the 14th century. The real situation, however, was more complex. The ethnic religion continued to live side by side with the new Christian faith. As late as in the early 20th century in the eastern parts of the country, and in the 17th century in the western Finland, pre-Christian deities were venerated and rites performed (Siikala 1992: 288-291). The most persistent parts of the old religion were related to the rituals of healing and obtaining good omens, and the annual fertility cult. The most important rituals were performed in connexion with the Christian festivals closest to the dates of the solstices and other ancient key dates of the solar year. The solar symbolism and the calendrical, originally non-Christian motifs of the early medieval Finnish church murals can be explained as Christianized remnants of the pre-Christian festival calendar. The Church actively transformed the old festivals by giving Christian meanings to the old symbols and by replacing the old deities by Christian figures. The ”primitive” church murals of the earliest stone churches of Finland are tell-tale of the process of Christianization in Finland and of the religious beliefs in the transition phase. The pagan motifs of the church murals can offer important glimpses into the pre-Christian religious beliefs of the late Iron Age Finland. References   

Hiekkanen, Markus, 2007: Suomen keskiajan kivikirkot. Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seuran toimituksia 1117. Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, Helsinki. Siikala, Anna-Leena, 1992: Suomalainen šamanismi. Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seuran toimituksia 565. Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, Helsinki. Stigell, Anna-Lisa, 1974: Kyrkans tecken och årets gång: tideräkningen och Finlands primitiva medeltidsmålningar. Suomen muinaismuistoyhdistyksen aikakauskirja 77. Finska fornminnesföreningen, Helsingfors.

ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL VOYAGES IN MEDIEVAL TIME IN ORIENT AND OCCIDENT

SEAC2010 – Stars and Stones

Abstract Book

Évora, Portugal

ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL VOYAGES IN CHALCOLITHIC, BRONZE AND IRON AGES

SEAC2010 – Stars and Stones

Abstract Book

Évora, Portugal

ASTRONOMICAL ORIENTATIONS IN SANCTUARIES OF DAUNIA E. Antonello; V. F. Polcaro; A.M. Tunzi Sisto and M. Lo Zupone Some years ago we begun a study of the possible astronomical orientations of tens of long rows of holes discovered in prehistoric sanctuaries of Daunia in Apulia, and the first results were presented at a previous SEAC meeting (Tunzi et al. 2008). The holes were dug in an extended calcareous layer located beneath the soil, and the archaeologists tend to exclude their use both as post-holes and for ancient and modern cultivations. The only possible explanation would be a ritual use, as suggested by the remains found in some holes of the “Madonna di Loreto” bronze age sanctuary of Trinitapoli. The three main orientations of the rows of that sanctuary were possibly based on the Sun and the Moon. The orientations of the rows of another sanctuary near Ordona (about thirty kilometres from Trinitapoli) could not be explained in the same way. We suspect that some stars were used, and possibly the setting of alpha Centauri was adopted. Moreover, the slight variation of the azimuth of the setting of the star suggested by the orientation of the rows could be interpreted in terms of precession (Antonello et al., 2010). The epoch of the rows estimated with this astronomical method, taking into account reasonable observing conditions (refraction, atmospheric extinction, sky background), is between the mid of the third millennium BCE and the end of the Bronze Age. However, no finds were found inside the holes of Ordona (apart from the soil), and therefore no archaeological dating was available for either supporting or excluding the astronomical interpretation. Recently, a new site was discovered in Trinitapoli (Mandriglia), far from the “Madonna di Loreto” sanctuary. The orientations of the rows of Mandriglia could not be explained with the Sun and the Moon, and they were interpreted in terms of the setting of alpha Centauri as in the case of Ordona. Taking into account the precession effect and reasonable observing conditions, a dating between the10th and the 8th century BCE was derived. Then the archaeologists informed us that a piece of pottery of the 9th – 8th century BCE was actually found in one of the holes of Mandriglia. The astronomical method predicted an epoch around 850 BCE for that row. Of course, this is a first interesting confirmation. The archaeological analysis of the content of the holes is going on in order to try to perform other verifications. References  

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Antonello E., Polcaro V.F., Tunzi A.M., Lo Zupone M., 2010, Prehistoric sanctuaries in Daunia, in Rappenglück M.A., Rappenglück B., Campion N. (eds.), Astronomy and power, SEAC 2010. Tunzi A.M., LoZupone M., Antonello E., Polcaro V.F. & Ruggieri F., 2008, The “Madonna di Loreto” Bronze Age Sanctuary and its Stone Calendar, in Rubiño-Martín, J.A. Belmonte, J.A., Prada, F. & Alberdi, A. (eds) Cosmology Across Cultures, ASP Conference Series, 409, 375. Antonello E., 2008, The collaborations between the Italian Society for Archaeoastronomy and the Archaeological Superintendences, in Rubiño-Martín, J.A. Belmonte, J.A., Prada, F. & Alberdi, A. (eds) Cosmology Across Cultures, ASP Conference Series, 409, 494.

ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL VOYAGES IN CHALCOLITHIC, BRONZE AND IRON AGES

SEAC2010 – Stars and Stones

Abstract Book

Évora, Portugal

RESULTS FROM THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATION IN THE ASTRONOMICAL SANCTUARY OF THE CELTIBERIAN TOWN OF SEGEDA (MARA, ZARAGOZA, SPAIN) Francisco Burillo-Mozota and Manuel Pérez-Gutiérrez The discovery of the astronomical sanctuary of the Celtiberian town of Segeda was presented in the 17 th Annual Meeting of The European Society for Astronomy in Culture, held in Alexandria in 2009. The sanctuary consists of a large platform bounded by walls built of large blocks of gypsum stone. Two of this stone walls converge in a cornerstone with a strange angle of 120º. Its interior was paved and covered by sun-dried bricks, with no evidence of other outstanding structures nor roof elements. The archaeoastronomical study demonstrates the existence of at least four interesting orientations concerning the sanctuary. 1st- The shortest side of the sanctuary has a perfect North-South astronomical orientation. 2nd- The angle bisection of the cornerstone points towards the hill called Atalaya and towards the sunset in the summer solstice. 3 rd- The spring and autumn equinoxes are aligned with the imaginary line crossing the cornerstone at an angle of 90º with the smallest side of the sanctuary. 4 th- The longest sides of the sanctuary have a direction of astronomical azimuth 58º, which coincides with moon position at its major standstill. This astronomical event is known as Metonic cycle and shows a connection to the Attic calendar. The archaeological excavation in 2010 has shown that the structure extension is about 420 m 2 and that it has two parts: the platform itself and two 4 m wide access paths coinciding with longest sides of the sanctuary. At the same time very badly preserved remains of some unidentified kind of structure have been exhumed next to the sanctuary. Archaeological excavation will go on this summer, as well as geophysical surveys to determine if there were former elements deposited before the sanctuary. Results of this investigation stages will be offered in this Congress. References  

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Burillo-Mozota, F., 2010, “Influjos helenísticos en la ciudad celtibérica de Segeda I”, Palaeohispánica, 10, 381-404. Burillo-Mozota, F.; Pérez-Gutiérrez, M.P. y López-Romero, R., 2010, “Archaeoastronomical Study of Monumental Plataform Segeda 1”, VIII Congreso Ibérico de Arqueometría, Teruel, 287-292. Pérez-Gutiérrez, M.P.; Burillo-Mozota, F.; López-Romero, R.& Arenas-Esteban, J., 2009, “The sactuary of the celtiberian town of Segeda ands its astronomical orientations”, The European Society for Astronomy in Culture 17th Annual Meeting, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt, 25–31 October 2009.

ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL VOYAGES IN CHALCOLITHIC, BRONZE AND IRON AGES

SEAC2010 – Stars and Stones

Abstract Book

Évora, Portugal

A MYTH IN CELTIBERIAN ASTRONOMY: THE RETURN OF THE SUN DURING THE NIGHT Mª Pilar Burillo-Cuadrado In Antiquity every culture attempted to solve a mystery: which was the path that the Sun followed every night in order to rise each morning in the same place? Egyptians and Greeks gave an explanation to this phenomenon by getting the Sun on board of a solar boat responsible for its backwards transportation. But, which was the Celtiberian explanation. We lack literary information about Celtiberian myths, so we must base our interpretation on iconography. We have carried out several studies of Celtiberian representations in embossed sheets and decorated potteries. These studies demonstrate a connection between the solar divinity and the horse among the Celtiberians. However there are no representations of boats or other means of transport responsible for the night return of the Sun. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relation between solar and fish representations. It is proposed that the fish is connected to the night return of the Sun. We are attempting move forward in the knowledge of the mythological explanation of this existential uncertainty: if the Sun was going to be able to come back by night and therefore if it was going to be possible to gaze at a new dawn. References  

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Burillo-Cuadrado, Mª.P., 2009, “A Sun God in Celtiberian Iconography”, California Celtic Colloquium. 31. Celtic Studies Association of North America Annual Meeting, California. Burillo-Mozota, F. y Burillo-Cuadrado, Mª.P., 2009, “Astronomy in Culture in Celtiberian Iconography”, The European Society for Astronomy in Culture 17th Annual Meeting. From Alexandria to Al-Iskandariya, astronomy and culture in the ancient Mediterranean and beyond, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt, 25–31 October 2009. Burillo-Mozota, F. y Burillo-Cuadrado, Mª.P., 2010, “Caballos y discos solares en la iconografía numantina. Una aproximación a la cosmología y ritualidad celtibérica”, VI Simposio sobre los Celtíberos: Ritos y Mitos, Fundación Segeda – Centro Celtibérico, pp. 485 - 497.

ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL VOYAGES IN CHALCOLITHIC, BRONZE AND IRON AGES

SEAC2010 – Stars and Stones

Abstract Book

Évora, Portugal

KRAKOW’S PREHISTORIC MONUMENTAL MOUNDS Joanna Kozakiewicz

Jagiellonian University

In Krakow and its vicinity, there is a large number of mounds dating back to various epochs, and the tradition of raising such features has been continued until the present day. Two of Krakow’s mounds: Krak’s mound and Wanda’s mound, are the largest prehistoric mounds in the region. They are forms in the shape of a truncated cone, respectively 16 m and 15 m in height. The mound of Krak is located in the southern part of Krakow; and Wanda’s mound, in the north-eastern part of the city. They are almost 8.7 km apart. Even though they draw widespread interest, the questions of their origin and purpose remain unanswered. According to the legend they were raised by prehistoric Slavs as the burial sites of Krakow’s founder, Krak, and his daughter, Wanda. It is only on Krak’s mound that archaeological investigations have been conducted, but they have not provided answers to the above questions. Nowadays, it is assumed that the mound of Krak was raised not earlier than 2nd century B.C. and not later than 10th century A.D. The studies of Krakow’s and Przemysl’s mounds conducted in the 1970s by professor Kotlarczyk showed that these features can be astronomically oriented. The azimuth corresponding to the line connecting the mounds of Krak and Wanda points to the sunrise on 1 May. Professor Kotlarczyk suggested that these features may be related to the Celtic culture, as this day marks an important festival in the Celtic calendar: Beltaine. The lay of the land in and around Krakow is very diversified. Natural hills constitute good viewing points, which could once have been used to observe the night sky. It can be shown that the azimuth corresponding to the line connecting the mound of Krak with the best viewpoint in the western part of Krakow – Sikornik Hill – points to the sunrise on 1 November. This date professor Kotlarczyk connected with the important Celtic festival – Samhain. In the 1990s, a team of researchers from the University of Science and Technology (AGH-UST) performed very accurate geodesic measurements of Krakow’s mounds. Based on these data, professor Góral confirmed the observations of azimuths previously made by professor Kotlarczyk. He also suggested that other features in the vicinity (both man-made mounds and naturally-formed hills) can be connected into a network of astronomical observatories. Should Krakow’s mounds be related to the Slavic or Celtic culture? What was their role? With the aim of further developing our knowledge of Krakow’s mounds, this study presents the findings of the latest archaeological, astronomical, geodesic, geomorphologic and historical research. Apart from historical and archaeological sources, the study also uses the information about traditions and legends connected with the mounds as well as with the surrounding area. Using calculations based on spherical trigonometry, azimuths of sun- and moonrises and sunand moonsets have been determined as observed in Krakow in considered periods. To collect more information about the surroundings of the mounds, field surveys were conducted, using geodetic observations, geomorphological mapping, and their results were analysed using GIS technique. References  

Góral Władysław (2006): Geodetical and astronomical aspects of Krakow’s prehistoric mounds. Reports on Geodesy, no. 2(77), pp. 53-60. Kotlarczyk Janusz (1979): Celtyckie święta i kopce małopolskie. Z Otchłani Wieków, no. 1, pp. 142-149.

ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL VOYAGES IN CHALCOLITHIC, BRONZE AND IRON AGES

SEAC2010 – Stars and Stones 

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Évora, Portugal

Żaki Andrzej (1974): Archeologia Małopolski Wczesnośredniowiecznej. Wrocław: Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolioskich.

ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL VOYAGES IN CHALCOLITHIC, BRONZE AND IRON AGES

SEAC2010 – Stars and Stones

Abstract Book

Évora, Portugal

SYMBOLS FOREVER? VOYAGES OF THE CELESTIAL SYMBOLS IN PREHISTORIC EUROPE AND OVER TIME Emília Pásztor Unlike other parts of Europe the Carpathian Basin is significantly rich in abstract motifs, symbols belonging to different periods of prehistory, especially the Bronze Age. Among the Bronze Age precious jewels, hoards of the Carpathian Basin there are several pendants which bear significant symbols whose nearest analogies can be found among the Near Eastern emblems of celestial divinities. The strong similarities support strong connection, in our case, with ancient Syria. Trade connections between the Baltic and ancient Syria are also evidenced by the prestige amber artifacts which were discovered in the kings’ tombs dated to 1340 BC in Syria. The raw material of Baltic amber used by local craftsmen may have been transported to Eastern Mediterranean ports crossing the Carpathian Basin on the later called Amber Route and ancient Greece. Beside the goods, beliefs, notions and knowledge must also have travelled along the trade routes all over the prehistoric Europe and the Carpathian Basin might have served as meeting point for many of them. These celestial symbols might already have been known from earlier time as they are also sparsely represented on Neolithic finds of Southeast Europe. These decoration motifs seem to be strongly related to the Near Eastern belief system. The crop protective role of one of these signs is proved by its application of plastic form on the inner side of the bottom of the big pots containing corn. It might have meant to protect the crop from the evil-minded powers. The presentation aims at presenting the opportunity of the identity of certain symbols with the sign(s) of Ishtar/Astarte, the most popular goddess of Near East, who must have been the personification of the bright Venus planet by then. Other symbols might have had strong relation to the Moon and the Sun. Some of these symbols have deeply permeated into the beliefs of the people living in the Carpathian Basin or even in Europe. There is no period in the history up to even the present days when they are not used. References  

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BLACK, J. A. - GREEN, A. 1992: Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia London. British Museum Publications. CAUBET, ANNIE 2000. Ugarit at the Louvre Museum. Near Eastern Archaeology 63:4. 216219.GOODNICK WESTENHOLZ, J. 1998: Goddesses of the Ancient Near East 3000-1000 BC in L. Goodison and C. Morris (eds) Ancient Goddesses. British Museum Press. 63-83. HONTI, SZ. – KISS, V. 2000: Neuere Angaben zur Bewertung der Hortfunde vom Typ Tolnanémedi. Acta Archaeologica Budapest: Akadémia Kiadó. 71-97.MOZSOLICS, A. 1967: Bronzefunde des Karpatenbeckens. Depotfundhorizonte vonHajdúsámson und Kosziderpadlás. Budapest. Akadémia kiadó. MUKHERJEE, A. J.- ROSSBERGER, E. - JAMES, M. A. – PFÄLZNER, P. – HIFFITT, C. L. – WHITE, R. – PEGGIE, D. A. – AZAR, D. – EVERSHED, R. P. 2008. The Qatna lion: scientific confirmation of Baltic amber in late Bronze Age Syria. Antiquity 82. 49 – 59.

ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL VOYAGES IN CHALCOLITHIC, BRONZE AND IRON AGES

SEAC2010 – Stars and Stones

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Évora, Portugal

OPEN AIR ROCK ART BETWEEN ALVA AND CEIRA RIVERS: A VOYAGE THROUGH MINING, TRADING AND TRANSHUMANCE ROUTES AND THE ORIENTATION IN THE LANDSCAPE Fernando Pimenta, Nuno Ribeiro, Andrew Smith, Anabela Joaquinito, Sérgio Pereira and Luís Tirapicos Open air rock carvings are art expressions made by the itinerant shepherds, miners and traders or by the resident populations, along trading and transhumance routes or in the nearby areas. These rock art sites were used as passage or territory possession marks and in some cases were associated with ritual celebrations. In this paper we will present the results of the topographic and orientation in the landscape study of 668 engraved outcrops in 11 mountain areas between Alva and Ceira rivers. We will address the possible relation with the Summer Full Moon of the isolated sites in V-shaped valleys and the orientation of podomorphs and segmented oblong circles. References  

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Pimenta, F. Ribeiro, N., Tirapicos, L. 2007. Lunar and solar connections at a rock art site in Central Portugal. Lights and Shadows in Cultural Astronomy, Proceedings of the SEAC 2005, Isili, Sardinia 28 June to 3 July, 264–271. Pimenta, F. Ribeiro, N., Smith, A., Tirapicos, L. 2009. The Sky and the Landscape of Rock Art in the Ceira and Alva Basins. Cosmology Across Cultures, ASP Conference Series, Vol. 409, 359– 363. Ribeiro, N. 2006. Open air Rock in the Ceira and Alva River Valleys. Some Symbols, Proceedings of the XV World Congress, Session WS34 (Lisbon, 4-9 September 2006), pp. 43-49. v. 25 BAR Internacional Series 1793. 2006. Ribeiro, N., Joaquinito, A., Pereira, S. 2009. Zoomorphic art in the open air rock art complex of the Ceira and Alva rivers basins and adjacent Unhais river basin– Portugal. IFRAO Congress 2009, GLOBAL Rock ART Ribeiro, N., Pereira, A. S., Pimenta F., Joaquinito, A., Ventura R. 2010a. O Sítio de Arte Rupestre da Eira do Piodão: Um caso de estudo. Arganil – Portugal. Conference Rotas naturais do Centro Interior de Portugal da Pré-História ao Século XX 1º CIAEE, Congresso Iberoamericano de Arqueologia, Etnologia e Etno-história Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brasil. Ribeiro, N., Joaquinito, A., Pereira, S. 2010b. The Symbolism of Open-Air Rock Art at the end of the Upper Palaeolithic in Central Interior Portugal and its Possible Relation With Natural Paths. Pleistocene Art of the World. IFRAO Congress September 2010 – Symposium: Signs, symbols, myth, ideology. Pimenta, F. Ribeiro, N., Smith, A., Tirapicos, L. 2011. Orientation in the Landscape of Open Air Rock Art in the Mountains between Alva and Ceira Rivers: The Podomorph Carvings. In Michael Rappengluck, Barbara Rappengluck and Nicholas Campion (eds.), Astronomy and Power (British Archaeological Reports, 2011).

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A PLACE ALONG THE WAY: CONTEXTUALIZING FINDINGS FROM THE IRON AGE POST ENCLOSURE AT LISMULLIN, CO. MEATH, IRELAND Frank Prendergast

College of Engineering, DIT, Ireland

frank.prendergast@dit.ie

The national monument at Lismullin is located 3 km north-east of the well known Hill of Tara and was discovered by archaeologists in 2007 during topsoil stripping for a section of the M3 motorway. Evidence of various phases of activity were discovered across the whole site, extending from the early prehistoric to the late medieval. However, the most significant finding was a series of buried sockets that indicated the former presence of a large c. 80 m diameter multi-ring structure with a formal entrance avenue and other pit and post features. This is now described as a rare example of a timber post-built ceremonial enclosure, is securely dated to the Iron Age in c. 600 BC, and to have had a probable ritual and ceremonial purpose rather than a burial or habitation function (O' Connell 2009). In order to better assess and understand the likely nature of the use and activities conducted at the enclosure, a series of geoarchaeological studies of the data were commissioned by the excavation director. These included an archaeoastronomical assessment of the site. The initial brief was to explore the alignment of the formal entrance avenue. However, and following a preliminary examination by the writer of the geospatial data for the whole complex, the investigation was broadened to include an analysis from a wider range of perspectives. This was precipitated by the obvious regularity, symmetry and formality inherent in the whole structure, the high quality of the excavation record, and the likelihood of a construction method that employed the simple use of a locally derived unit of measure. The findings from that analysis strongly support the hypothesis that the Lismullin enclosure was a carefully planned built structure consistent with its probable role as a place of ritual and assembly at auspicious times of the year (Prendergast forthcoming). This paper will summarise the findings of the archaeoastronomical, morphological and metrological analyses to date, and consider these in the wider context of other timber circles in Ireland and Britain (e.g. Gibson 2005; Hartwell 1998), and previous analytical approaches and findings relating to other types of prehistoric circular structures (e.g. Aveni and Mizrachi 1998; Esquivel and Navas 2005). References  

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Aveni, A. & Mizrachi, Y. (1998) 'The Geometry and Astronomy of Rujm el-Hiri, a Megalithic Site in the Southern Levant'. Journal of Field Archaeology, 25 (4): 475Esquivel, J. A. & Navas, E. (2005) 'The geometry and the metric used in the enclosure "Fortín 1" at Copper Age site of Los Millares (Almería, Andalusia)'. Journal of Archaeological Science, 32 (11): 1577-86. Gibson, A. M. (2005) Stonehenge and timber circles. Stroud: Tempus. Hartwell, B. (1998) 'The Ballynahatty Complex'. In Gibson, A. M. & Simpson, D. D. A.(Eds.) Prehistoric Ritual and Religion - essays in honour of Aubrey Burl. Sutton: Stroud. O' Connell, A. (2009) 'Director's first findings from excavations at Lismullin 1'. In Deevy, M. B. & Murphy, D. (Eds.) Places Along the Way: First findings on the M3 NRA SchemeMonograph 5. Dublin: The National Roads Authority. Prendergast, F. (forthcoming) 'An Iron Age Enclosure at Lismullin: Morphology, metrology and archaeoastronomy'. In O' Sullivan, M., Cunliffe, B., et al. (Eds.) Tara from the Past to the Future.

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ARCHAEOLOGY, HAGIOGRAPHY AND SOLAR ORIENTATIONS IN SANTA MARIÑA DE AUGAS SANTAS (OURENSE, ESPAÑA) Marco V. García Quintela; Yolanda Seoane Veiga; A. César González García and Rebeca Blanco Rotea The Galician parish of Santa Mariña de Augas Santas is located in the south of Galicia, next to several long term used communication routes. The site is characterised by a peculiar accumulation of archaeological remains from the Iron Age and the Roman period. At an unidentified moment of the early Middle Ages, the site was Christianized. Several feats of the legendary life and martyrdom of Santa Mariña were located in the local landscape, integrating several of the archaeological remains. In such a way the life and death of this Christian saint allowed the appropriation of the site by the new religion. The mnemonic relation of archaeology and religion have been the base for the long time stability of the legend and it has allowed to preserve the archaeological heritage thanks to the religious links as relics or as signal of the saint’s life and feats. The on-going investigation on site allowed us to verify how the change from paganism to Christianity in Santa Mariña done through the introduction of the new rites and saint, walks together with a change in the social perception of the local religious landscape reflected in the modification of the solar orientation of certain monuments. At an early stage, the landscape orientations of several archaeological remains imply a number of important solar dates. However, the introduction of Christianity implied a new interpretation of those festivals and new dates and orientations where incorporated to the monuments. This change should be understood in the process of introduction of the new faith and rites. The new dates are still present today and were incorporated in the monuments and in the new religious atmosphere. References   

M.V. García Quintela, Manuel Santos Estévez, Santuarios de la Galicia Céltica. Arqueología del paisaje y religiones comparadas en la Edad del Hierro. Ed. Abada, Madrid, 2008, M.V. García Quintela, A. César González García, “Arqueoastronomía, Antropología y Paisaje”, Complutum (Madrid), 20(2), 2009, págs. 39-54. M.V. García Quintela, Yolanda Seoane Veiga, “La larga vida de los petroglifos: dos ejemplos ourensanos”, en prensa

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MODELING AND ANALYSIS OF THE SUNDIAL OBSERVATORY OF GOBUSTAN, AZERBAIJAN Abasali Rustamov The well-known “sun boat" carvings of Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape with a crosses or strokes on board and solar image on rostrum are a calendar inscriptions and Stone no.1, known for his numerous boat carvings, is a solar observatory with a two vertical sundial niches carved on the east and northern side (Rustamov A., 2009). Recent studies revealed a new sundial device and helped to model the work of the Stone no.1 sundials. The front half of 36 crosses row of year “sun boat” of eastern niche used as a measuring ruler to determine seasons by the shadows of plumb-gnomon. 17th cross, distinguished with lying on the right and left human figures, is a mark of the summer solstice, if the plummet-gnomon hangs on the first slot in the cornice of the ceiling niches. This and coincide of plumb’s shadow with the first cross at the winter solstice sunrise time is a main argument of sundial property of eastern niche. But, the uniformity of crosses row does not give a constancy of time scale at summer and winter seasons. This says the East-facing sundial was used only to identify some marked dates. Such marked time for the summer solstice may be interpreted as a ceremony of human sacrifice or symbolic burial for the transport of dead’s soul to heaven. However, dozens of burial mounds around, dolmens and the ancient cemetery near testify to the sepulchral rites. Horizontal northern niche has three sections, illuminated by the morning sun rays sequentially from the spring to summer and back, to the autumn. Sometime the sundial calendar was supplemented with the solar leash property thanks to the round hole for sacrificial libations carved in the niche. The morning rays of winter sun do not reach this hole that constrains the sun to go back, to the north. Perspectives of the archaeoastronomical researches in Gobustan expands by three megaliths, standing near the sundial observatory, and clearly showing own astronomical appointment. Perhaps they formed a team with the Stone no. 1, providing sendings of souls to the stars. It should be noted that the Gobustan “seasons boats” have much in common with boats from Backa and Fossum Boguslahen, and Gobustan megaliths are typical Samic seits (Westling B., 1995). References   

Bo Westling DE FLYTTADE FLYTTBLOCKEN,1995 “Upplagda Stenblock” http://www.bowestling.se/Bakgrund.htm Bengt Hemtun, http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~catshaman/07timesym/07timesym3.htm Rustamov A. “Ancient Solar Observatory of Gobustan” Reports of International Conference “Across Time and Continents", August 26-29, 2009, Kazan, Russia

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ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL VOYAGES IN PALEOLITHIC AND NEOLITHIC CULTURES

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CRIMINOLOGISTS, STRUCTURALISTS AND ASTRONOMISTS: A BRIEF HISTORY ON THE STUDIES OF ROCK CARVINGS IN VALCAMONICA Monica Argenta, Giuseppe Brunod and Melchiorre Masali Rock art in Valcamonica has been attracting scholars for more than a century. Trying to cope with the difficult task of contextualizing, and above all, understanding the meaning of these engravings, each researcher has actively participated in the solving of a uppermost mysterious puzzle. This paper aims to offer a reflection on the history of different methodological approaches of three researchers and their cultural and biographical backgrounds have influenced them. We will start from theories stemming from Darwinian evolutionism as advanced by Giovanni Marro. We then explore ideas developed within the “symbolic” structuralist French school as offered by Emmanuel Anati. Finally, we will end with the latest archeo-astronomy techniques and theories proposed by Giuseppe Brunod and his group of professionals. Giovanni Marro, a physician and anthropologist from Limone Piemonte, arrived in Valcamonica in the late 1920' attracted by the discovery of some rock art engravings. Marro, colleague and friend of Lombroso, identifies the nature of these marks left by the ancients as a testimony of the "primitive thought", a cognitive model of thinking well far away from the "rational thought" of modern man. The repetitiveness of the signs in the rocks, he said, were comparable to the drawings of the mentally ill patients, as those gathered in the museum's collection of “Criminal Psychiatry” of Turin. According to the theories of the time, in fact, insane people and criminals were nothing more than the manifestation of "atavisms", ancient human characteristics from a distant past able to survive in modern times. Parallelism between rock art and the art brut was natural and taken for granted. No wonder that the methodology and the interpretations provided by Dr Marro focused more in supporting the theories in vogue at that time rather than in investigating facts. Here hence, it’s only during the 60’s that studies in Valcamonica rock art would assume a scientific character as we conceive now. Emmanuel Anati, an Italian anthropologist of Israeli origin, fresh from a PhD degree from the Sorbonne in Paris, began a systematic classification of the phenomena. Along with a group of colleagues and volunteers, he recorded thousands of printed charts and advanced a theory of interpretation witch favors the symbolic aspects. In his theories, rock art is seen as the result between material and cultural production. The methodological and interpretative paradigms given by Anati are still considered among the most comprehensive and authoritative within the subject. However, new methods and interpretations nowadays are leading to something different. Using tools which have been developed by mature “hard” sciences such as astronomy and topography, we are now dealing with totally new models of seeing the ancient graphs. Giuseppe Brunod, leading a group of research largely composed by astronomers, suggests us a purely practical meaning of rock engravings, opening a window over the great knowledge of the sky and the ecosystem of our ancestors. References    

Umberto Sansoni, "L'arte rupestre di Sellero", Edizioni del Centro, Studi Camuni, vol 9, Capodiponte 1987. Umberto Sansoni, Silvana Gavaldo, "L'arte rupestre del Pia' d'Ort, la vicenda di un santuario preistorico alpino", Edizioni del Centro, Archivi, vol 10, 1995 Umberto Sansoni, "Il nodo di Salomone, simbolo ed archetipo d'alleanza", Electa, Milano, 1998 Umberto Sansoni, Silvana Gavaldo, Cristina Gastaldi, "Simboli sulla Roccia, l'arte rupestre della Valtellina centrale dalle armi del Bronzo ai segni cristiani", Edizioni del Centro, Archivi, Vol 12, 1999.

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Maurizio Rossi, "Geografia dell'orante Neolitico", in "Antropologia alpina", Annual report 1, Torino, 1989 Mila Simöes de Abreu, Angelo Fossati, Ludwig Jaffe, "Breve guida all'arte rupestre di Dos sotto Laiolo, Paspardo", Valcamonica Preistorica vol.1, Nadro, 1988 Mila Simöes de Abreu, Angelo Fossati, Ludwig Jaffe, "Scolpito nel tempo", Valcamonica preistorica vol. 3 Nadro 1990 Giuseppe Brunod, "Alcune considerazioni sul significato della rosa camuna", in "Appunti", n° 8, Circolo Culturale Ghislandi, Breno, 1989 Giuseppe Brunod, Tiziana Doro, "Contributi per la storia della scoperta delle incisioni rupestri della Valcamonica", Marene, Lisbona, 1991 Giuseppe Brunod, "L'archeologia camuna e le scoperte di Giovanni Marro attraverso la stampa dell'epoca", in Notizie Archeologiche Bergomensi, Bergamo, 1994 Giuseppe Brunod, "Lo studio del masso di Cemmo 1 (Valcamonica) da parte di Giovanni Marro", in Ad Quintum, Collegno, 1996 Giuseppe Brunod, "Sulle stele camune, valtellinesi, asce ed alabarde incise", Ad Quintum notizie, Novembre-Dicembre 1997 Giuseppe Brunod, "Massi incisi in Valcamonica", Quaderni di Natura Nostra, n° 9, Marene, 1997 Giuseppe Brunod, "Les formes solaires des stèles chalcolithiques du Valcamonica", in "Actes du 2°ème colloque international sur la statuaire mégalitique", Saint-Pons-De-Thomières, 19971998 Giuseppe Brunod, Walter Ferreri, Gaudenzio Ragazzi, "La rosa di Sellero e la svastica, cosmologia, astronomia, danze preistoriche", Quaderni di Natura Nostra, n° 11, Marene, 1999 Cossard, Guido, "Il significato astronomico del sito megalitico", Tecnimage, Aosta, 1991 Guido Cossard, "Le spirali del sole nel cielo", in "Tutto scienze", La Stampa, Torino 27 marzo 1996 Walter Ferreri, "Le eclissi di Sole", edizioni Emme-Effe-Paim, Torino, Firenze, 1998 Franco Mezzena e Guido Cossard, "Dei di pietra, la grande statuaria antropomorfa nell'Europa del III millennio a. C.", Skira, Milano, 1999 A.A.V.V., "Le pietre degli dei, menhir e stele dell'età del rame in Valcamonica e Valtellina", Circolo Culturale Nicolò Rezzara, Bergamo, 1994. Francesco Fedele e altri, "Ossimo, 1 il contesto rituale delle stele calcolitiche e notizie degli scavi 1988-95", La Cittadina, azienda grafica, Gianico, 1995 Henry de Lumley, Jane Begin-Ducornet, edizione italiana a cura di Livio Mano, prefazione di Emmanuel Anati "Le rocce delle meraviglie: sacralita e simboli nell'arte rupestre del monte Bego e delle Alpi Marittime", Jaca book, Milano, 1996 Guido Cossard, Il significato astronomico delle incisioni a spirale, 1996 Giulia Castelli Gattinara, "Il tesoro del Wadi Ram", in "Airone", settembre 1999 Adriano Gaspani, Silvia Cernuti "L' astronomia dei celti: stelle e misure del tempo tra i celti", Keltia, Aosta, 1997

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BRAZILIAN PREHISTORIC MAN'S KNOWLEDGE OF ASTRONOMY Maria Beltrão Archaeologists and ethnologists, with few exceptions, are greatly detached from the concerns of art researchers, historians or critics. Between the anthropologist and the so-called real world there is an intermediary level called the culture of the individual that he is studying. This interdisciplinary work is justified, in the case of the Brazil, by the short geographical and temporal distance between the disappeared cultures and the historical or present cultures. The archaeological region of Central-BA covers 100,000 km2 of the state, with its rich range of archaeological-astronomical information. There is a visible Earth-sky relationship that demonstrates man's need to include himself within the universe. Indirect dating of many of the picturesque representations, are placed at between 1,000 to 10,000 years BC. Certain figures, have not been dated as they are located in canyons with no fixed sedimentation, they become rivers during the rainy season, these paintings, intimately show Pleistocene fauna, appear to go much farther back into antiquity and may even be as old as 30,000 years or more. What is intriguing is why man took so long to present the knowledge he had acquired about the sky picturesquely. One of the most marked characteristics observed at the sites is a frequent presence of the signs: the batons, the point and the semicircle. The first is presented in horizontal sequences, in which verticality is practically constant. There are records of intervals, when associated to the toppled semicircle (comb), possibly related to the number of lunar movements. The point can be seen either isolated or in grouped sequences, frequently horizontal, in minimum fractions of a day, a phase of the moon, etc. The semicircle, singularly and in doubles, tilted or not, like a "U" is rarely vertical or drawn as a "C", which may be a graphic representation of the moon as a reference to time. This knowledge, whether in its simplest or most complex form, does not include only records of astronomical observations; it also covers movements of the sun and the moon, new moons, solstices etc. There are a number of diverse geometric figures for relative simple classification such as on detailed toothed parallel lines, more or less complex trellises, circular shapes (Mandalas), honeycombed figures and strongly stylised or geometrically identified drawings. The interpretation of these geometric figures, like other more complex figures, such as the bear and the mocho-curupira, has been possible due to a mathematical model developed by Ermentroute Cowan in 1979, which details the cortex/visual – optic nerve/retina system. The better part of the representations of the sun originate from the workings of the human visual and nerve systems, and may be considered representations of phosphenic standards. Faria, 1997, corroborating Beltrão statements, compared a number of classes of Cave paintings from the central region with Tukâno Art. For him the “laws” of convergence between motives are universal for the species, yet the picturesque representation is strongly influenced by cultural regional aspects. References   

BELTRÃO, M. C. M. C. Ensaio de Arqueogeologia: uma abordagem transdisciplinar. Rio de Janeiro, M. da C. de M. Coutinho Beltrão, 2000. ERMENTROUT, G.B. & COWAN, J.D. A mathematical theory of visual hallucination patterns. Biological Cybernetics, Berlin, v. 34, n. 3, p. 137-50, Oct. 1979. FARIA, F.S. Comparação do registro rupestre do Médio São Francisco com motivos gráficos do grupo lingüístico Tukâno: um teste para a hipótese xamânica. Revista do Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia, São Paulo, v. 7, p. 23-47, 1997.

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A PROPOSED SEASONAL SUNDIAL AT GARDOM’S EDGE D. Brown and A. Alder Gardom’s Edge delimitates the western side of a broad shelf, forming part of the Eastern Moors of the Peak District National Park, a rural area close to Sheffield, UK. This region has shown evidence of many early settlements and a farmed landscape starting in the later Neolithic period. During the Neolithic period people in this region moved from summer pastures on higher hills to winter retreats located in valleys (Barnatt & Smith, 2004). Evidence of their activity includes a Neolithic enclosure, standing stone, and rock art as well as Bronze Age clearance cairns and round houses. A comprehensive six year field study has been carried as part of the Gardom’s Edge Project (Barnatt et al, 2001). Although the signs of occupation and stone circles are quite common in the general peak district, the occurrence of rock art and singular standing stones are fairly few in number (Edmonds & Seaborne, 2005). Many possible standing stones will have been removed and reused as gate posts for dry-stone walls in this area. Therefore, this example is ideal to study the setting of the standing stone in its original orientation. The Gardom’s Edge Project did not carry out any excavations in the close proximity of the standing stone or report on any survey work carried out. During 2010 members of the Nottingham Trent University and pre-16 work experience students from local schools surveyed and analysed the orientation of the stone, including its deterioration through erosion. The stone was found to be triangular in shape and supported by packing stones at its base. The stone has been selected for its flat side that is slanted up towards geographic south with a strike perpendicular to the slope of 922. The dip of the slope was measured as 584. Given its geographic latitude (53.3 North) and typical ecliptical inclination (23.9; Schlosser & Cierny, 1997) for the period of time when it was erected, the Sun reached a maximum altitude of 60.6. Given the orientation and the comparison of dip of the slope with the altitude of the Sun at mid-summer, we propose that this unique standing stone was a seasonal sundial. This does not infer the ability to determine time using the standing stone as a gnomon, but rather using the illumination of the slanted side as a marker for seasons. During the winter half-year the slanted side of the stone would remain in permanent shadow; during most of the summer half-year the slanted side would only be illuminated during the morning and afternoon, leaving it in shadow during midday. However, during the proximity of midsummer the slanted side would be illuminated during the entire day, including midday. A standing stone such as this may predate the surrounding settlements and be an example of a marker that migrating people would encounter seasonally, as Edmonds & Seaborne (2005) state: “Work has also suggested that for some stones at least, there was a seasonal pattern to the encounter that people would have had”. References   

John Barnatt, Bill Bevan, and Mark Edmonds (2001), A time and place for enclosure: Gardom’s Edge Derbyshire, in Neolithic Enclosures in Atlantic Northwest Europe, Oxford: Oxbow books John Barnatt and Ken Smith (2004), The Peak District – Landscape through time, Windgather Press, Macclesfield Mark Edmonds and Tim Seaborne (2005), Prehistory in the peak, Tempus publishing, Stroud

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Wolfhard Schlosser and Jan Cierny (1997), Sterne und Steine – Eine Praktische Astronomie der Vorzeit, Theiss

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CENTRAL ALENTEJO: BEYOND MEGALITHIC ORIENTATIONS Manuel Calado Megalithic archaeoastronomy is a quite consensual issue, whatever the different approaches available. In this paper, we suggest an enlargement of the focus beyond the ritual monuments, in Neolithic times, and argue for the permanence of the same kind of spatial concerns through Bronze Age and Iron Age. Actually, we find no literature, in Iberia, about matters like the orientation of the houses, or the settlements, with each other or with features in the horizon, while, at the same time, it is fully accepted that funerary and non-funerary megalithic monuments were imbued with such knowledge and meanings. On the other hand, we find, in recent works, some few examples, in Spain, connecting sanctuaries or burials with astronomic directions or motifs. As an argument for the eventual continuity of astronomic rituals (as well as the calendaric practices associated with them) we recall the motifs expressed on different supports (limestone idols, schist plaques, metallic jewels, rock art, stele), as well as the quite frequent phenomenon of reutilization of megalithic monuments. A revision of the published data will presumably increase the number of oriented monuments and other sites, mostly if we take in account not only the most regular astronomic events (solstices and equinoxes or lunar standstills), but also the most flexible directions implied in the concept of Spring Moon.

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DANISH PASSAGE GRAVES, “SPRING/SUMMER/FALL FULL MOONS” AND LUNAR STANDSTILLS Claus Clausen An early study by Hårdh and Roslund (H&R) in 1991 on the orientation of passage graves in Scania and north-eastern Zealand was made on a sample of 41 graves (47 directions). They found that most of the entrance passages pointed between east and south-east with a smaller number pointing south south-east. They argued in favour of a relationship between this orientation and the rising of the moon, identifying the south south-eastern direction with the southernmost ‘standstill’ of the moon. They concluded that “The distribution pattern of orientations is fully in line with a lunar explanation that the passages point at specific phases of the lunar cycle”. A later study by Clausen et al. took place in 2006 (published in 2008). The motivation for the 2006 study was to enlarge the initial sample of passage graves from previous studies in Denmark with a new set of determined directions (58 directions) of the entrance passages within a latitude interval of 0.5° (55.5° north to 56° north) to make a possible astronomical “signal” clearer. Furthermore, they wanted to use this larger sample to see whether conclusions made about the moon could be substantiated or whether other explanations were possible. The 2006 study confirmed the conclusion made by H&R. The latest investigation by Clausen in 2010 and 2011 very clearly underpins the tendency favouring a lunar explanation. To gain sufficient data at the locations on Zealand and the island of Fünen the latitude interval was extended to 1° from 55° north to 56° north. This new data set of 148 directions (including the initial H&R directions) reveals three strong peaks with azimuth around 100°, 123° and 150°. The peaks around 123° and 150° are, within the limits of uncertainty, fully consistent with the southern and southernmost lunar standstills at the actual latitude corresponding to the time period within which the Danish dolmens and passage graves are believed to have been built (3550 to 3100 B.C.). The author proposes and discusses a model for the azimuth distribution which involves directions aimed towards full moonrises occurring before lunar standstill eclipses and directions pointing to the beginnings of these eclipses combined with the criterion of a “spring full moon” (or a “fall full moon”) proposed by Marciano Da Silva (Journal for the History of Astronomy, 2004). The full azimuth distribution is obtained by adding the distributions of full moon azimuths between spring and fall for one lunar cycle (18.61 years) with the distribution of azimuths from the full moonrises before an eclipse in a standstill year (+/-1.861 years) including the direction aimed towards the beginning of the same eclipse for a period of about 100 years. References 

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Antonio César González-García and Juan Antonio Belmonte, “Statistical analyses of megalithic tomb orientation in the Iberian peninsula and neighbouring regions”, Journal for the History of Astronomy, xli (2010), preprint. Antonio César González-García and Lourdes Costa-Ferrer, “Orientation of TRB-west megalithic monuments”, Journal for the History of Astronomy, xxxvii (2006), 417–27.

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Antonio César González-García, Lourdes Costa-Ferrer and Juan Antonio Belmonte “Solarits vs. lunatics: modelling patterns in megalithic astronomy”, Lights and Shadows in Cultural Astronomy: Proceedings of the SEAC 2005: Isili, Sardinia, 28 June to 3 July, ed. by Mauro Peppino Zedda and Juan Antonio Belmonte (Isili, 2007), 23–30. Birgitta Hård and Curt Roslund, “Passage graves and the passage of the moon”, Acta archaeologica Lundensia, viii (1991), 35–43. Cândido Marciano Da Silva, “The spring full moon”, Journal for the History of Astronomy, xxxv (2004), 475 Claus Clausen, Per Kjærgaard and Ole Einicke, “The orientation of Danish passage graves”, Acta archaeologica, lxxix (2008), 216–29. Claus Clausen, Per Kjærgaard and Ole Einicke, “The orientation of Danish passage graves on the islands of Samsø and Zealand”, Journal for the History of Astronomy, xlii (2011), in press.

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ELEMENTS OF ARCHAEOASTRONOMY IN PORTUGAL Candido Marciano da Silva For a long time the survey of Portuguese menhirs, either isolated or in groups (enclosures, etc), was expected to be the main contributor to local archaeo-astronomical interpretations of the megalithic monuments. However, not only was it not so rich as initially expected, yet it seemed to be restricted to a few solstice lines and to some promising hints of equinoctial lines. The orientation of dolmens, long neglected, turned out to be more significant, particularly following Hoskin methodological survey, giving support to the Spring Full Moon interpretation. This view seems to provide new meaning to some large menhirs apparently without other plausible interpretation. References    

da SILVA, C. M. and CALADO, M.: New Astronomically Significant Directions of Megalithic Monuments in the Central Alentejo, Journal of Iberian Archaeology, 2003, Vol 5, 67-88. HOSKIN, M.: Tombs, temples and their orientations: A new perspective on Mediterranean prehistory (Bognor Regis, 2001). da SILVA, C.M.: The Spring Full Moon, Journal for the History of Astronomy, 2004, Vol 35, 475– 478. da SILVA, C.M.: Neolithic Cosmology: The Equinox and the Spring Full Moon, 2010, Vol 9, 2207– 2216.

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MEGALITHS AND GENETICS: IMPLICATIONS OF THE FRANCO-CANTABRIAN REFUGIUM THEORY Roslyn M. Frank and Sergio Cardoso Until recently archaeological investigations of megalithic sites along the Atlantic Façade have been informed by the premise that interpretations of the artifacts must be circumscribed to an examination of material remains and speculating on their possible meaning to the actors and agents of the time. In this paper it will be argued that recent research in the field of population genetics affords a new avenue for understanding the nature and movement of human groups along the Atlantic Façade in prehistory. While archaeoastronomers are often keenly aware of research going on in the field of archaeology, they tend not to be apprised of what is happening in the field of genetics, more specifically, the Franco-Cantabrian Refugium Theory put forward over the past decade to chart postglacial population movements in Western Europe or, even more narrowly, along the Atlantic Façade. The model asserts that ancestors of Europeans were mostly local Paleolithic hunters and gatherers, not descendents of Neolithic farmers who migrated into Europe from the Near East in comparatively recent times; that 75% or so of the current mitochondrial and Y-chromosome European lineages can be traced back to ancestral lineages originating in Paleolithic times (Torroni et al. 2001). According to Achilli et al (2004: 916), the resulting scenario “suggests that the Franco-Cantabrian refuge area was indeed the source of lateglacial expansions of hunter-gatherers that repopulated much of Central and Northern Europe from 15 kya.” In addition, a number of genetic markers suggest a close relationship between Basques and Celtic-speaking populations of Wales, Scotland and Ireland as well as England and Cornwall (Wilson et. al. 2001). Recent, even more fine-tuned analyses of the genetic data for the Franco-Cantabrian zone (Cardoso 2008) have confirmed these findings so that today, there is an increasing scientific consensus that Basques may represent the most direct descendants of the hunter-gatherers who dwelt in Europe before the spread of agriculture, based on both linguistic and genetic evidence (Dupanloup et al. 2004:1363). In conclusion, if the Atlantic Facade was, to a large extent, repopulated from the Franco-Cantabrian region during the period from 16,000 to 7,500 BP, the obvious corollary for archaeoastromers is that greater attention needs to be focused on charting the expansion and possible exchanges of cultural artifacts of astronomical significance in this same zone. References 

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Achilli, A. et al. 2004. The molecular dissection of mtDNA haplogroup H confirms that the Franco-Cantabrian glacial refuge was a major source for the European gene pool. American Journal of Human Genetics 75 (5): 910-918. Cardoso Martín, Sergio. 2008. Diversidad del genoma mitocondrial en poblaciones autóctonas de la Cornisa Cantábrica: Huellas de la recolonización postglacial de Europa.: Doctoral Dissertation. University of the Basque Country. Dupanloup, I., et al. 2004. Estimating the impact of prehistoric admixture on the genome of Europeans. Molecular Biology and Evolution 21(7): 1361-1372. Torroni, A., et al. 2001. A signal, from human mtDNA, of postglacial recolonization in Europe. American Journal of Human Genetics. 69:844-852. Wilson, J. et al. 2001. Genetic evidence of different male and female roles during cultural transitions in the British Isles. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 98(9): 5078-5083.

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A VOYAGE AROUND THE RECUMBENT STONE CIRCLES OF NE SCOTLAND Liz Henty

University of Wales Trinity Saint David

Since the publication of Ruggles’ Astronomy in Prehistoric Britain and Ireland, little archaeoastronomical research has been carried out on the Recumbent Stone Circles (RSCs) of NE Scotland, though a major new archaeological account is due to be published by The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) in the summer of 2011.[1] The outstanding nature of the recumbent stone and its flanking pillars has meant that research to date has focussed on the recumbent arrangement. The major theorists such as Thom, Ruggles and Burl, proposed that the recumbent and flankers are aligned to astronomical events, particularly the lunar standstills or the passage of the moon over the recumbent.[2] My research took a different voyage around the circles, which included checking all the stones of the circle for solar and stellar alignments as well as lunar ones. This was a journey prompted by preliminary research, reported on at SEAC 2010, which detailed the results of fieldwork completed at three sites. That work questioned the accuracy of established plans, so to address fieldwork errors two sets of plans were used for this project. The sites chosen were nine of the RSCs for which Thom had published detailed plans in 1967.[3] The second set of plans was the set of archaeological plans drawn by RCAHMS between 1994 and 2005.[4] In addition the recumbent azimuths measured by Ruggles were also checked. Because the recumbent is usually found in the SSW quadrant of the circle, the RSCs have generally been interpreted in terms of a lunar narrative. By contrast, the aim of my research was to examine the circle in its entirety. The study examined each circle stone, not just the recumbent, for possible solar, lunar and stellar alignments using the dates of 2500 BCE and 2000 BCE. These dates fall within the span of 3000 BCE to 1500 BCE, the period of the circle building currently estimated by Burl.[5] My earlier study found that theoretical positions of risings and settings are different from visible positions because of the horizon properties, so panoramic photographs were taken through 360° to establish the horizon altitude behind each stone. Each site had a hill top nearby, the height of which could be found on an Ordnance Survey map. Having calculated one or preferably more than one horizon altitude, lines could be drawn on the photographs by half degree intervals up to the measured hills. The altitudes along the entire horizon profile could then be worked out by extrapolation. Having established each of the stones’ azimuths and the horizon altitude behind it for each site, the azimuths were converted to declination. The project then checked the sun’s solstitial and equinoctial risings and settings and those for the moon’s major and minor standstills, six positions for the sun and eight for the moon. To date there seems to be little evidence that the sites have been checked for stellar alignments. The declinations of 48 of the brightest fixed stars were also checked against the azimuths of the stones.[6] The research, though primarily based on alignments, also includes a phenomenological description of each site to look for correlations between the alignments and the symbolism of the stones. The results summary below uses the word alignment to denote a position where the azimuth of the stone matches the declination of a celestial body. It is not a statement of intentionality.

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Table 1. Results summary for the sun and the moon Overall, the results for solar alignments look far more promising than expected given the weight of the lunar theory. Although the overall percentage for winter solstice setting is 55.6%, only 33.3% relates to the recumbent or flankers. When the whole circle (not counting the outliers) is analysed, the percentage of summer and winter solstice risings is 61.9% compared to 52.8% for the summer and winter settings. Additionally, 6 out of the 9 circles or 66.7% show pairings of solar risings and settings. The stars which share the sun’s and moon’s declinations could have been used as horizon markers but there were other stars which had percentage occurrences which are as great as the sun and the moon. For 2500 BCE these are Schedar, Capulus and Bellatrix and for 2000 BCE these are Denebola and Denib Algedi. There was also some correlation between red stones and red stars. One of the most problematic features of the research is the reliance on the circle centre to determine the azimuths and therefore the alignments. There is no evidence that the builders used this method but our modern understanding of both celestial mechanics and terrestrial geometry has made this the prescribed method. However in order to compare the results from this research with earlier studies, azimuths were calculated from the circle centre. Ruggles acknowledges the problem and his results include the azimuth derived from the line perpendicular to the long axis of the recumbent and well as the centre line azimuths.[7] The publication of The Moon and the Bonfire by Richard Bradley has called the previous convention of taking measurements from the centre into question.[8] He found that the internal ring cairns were the earliest structures and that the RSCs were a secondary development. So in a departure from the method of using the circle centre, this research also looked for alignments opposite the recumbent and flankers, across the circle. In the first project, alignments had been found to landscape features opposite the recumbent giving rise to the idea that the sky opposite the recumbent, as viewed from behind it, might be important. So the positions opposite the recumbent through both centre and perpendicular lines were checked. As the recumbent is often placed tangentially to the circle, the sightlines did not necessarily cross through the centre. The results suggest that the view opposite the recumbent towards the NE, as viewed from outside the circle, may be just as significant as the view behind the recumbent. The conclusions drawn from this research into 9 circles can only be regarded as tentative in relation to establishing an overall theory which seeks to explain the archaeoastronomy of the 61

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RSCs. However, phenomenology did back up the results of the statistical study in finding markers for the sun, moon and stars in the circles. Landscape features did not appear to be incorporated into the design though the altitude of the horizon seemed critical in the positioning of the stones. Only the cup-marked stone at Castle Fraser shows no lunar alignment. The cup marks found at the other five circles do match the moon’s declinations either at major or minor standstills but the moon is more likely to have been observed across the circle, opposite the stone, as opposed to observation from the centre. This finding reinforces the suggestion that the sky in front of the recumbent was as important as that behind it. Looking at the results overall, it is difficult to assess whether it was the position of the sun or the moon or both, that influenced the placements of the stones. The theory that the moon was preferred depends on using both major and minor standstills which is problematic to some archaeoastronomers. Malville notes that the major standstills are important because the moon reaches limits on the horizon that the sun can never reach.[9] He remarks that at minor standstills, ‘the moon is doing nothing unusual, rising at places the sun reaches two times a year’.*10+ Also, amalgamating the results and converting them to percentages can give a distorted picture as some circles may have more solar than lunar alignments and vice versa. Not counting the outliers, all the circles have alignments to at least one of the sun’s solstices and one of the moon’s major standstill limits. Theories that lunar events viewed from the circle centre to the sky behind the recumbent have dominated archaeoastronomical theory for decades. Although Ruggles concludes at the end of his study of 64 circles that this lunar event is more likely to be the passage of the midsummer moon high over the recumbent rather than the observation of the standstill, his theory remains a lunar theory.[11] Whilst it is difficult to ignore the outstanding nature of the recumbent arrangement, this study reveals that if the circle is taken as a whole, a different cosmological pattern emerges. Although this was not a cultural study the overall findings suggest that the movements of the sun, the moon and the fixed stars were incorporated into the design, perhaps as a microcosm of the sky. References             

[1] Clive Ruggles, Astronomy in Prehistoric Britain and Ireland, (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1999), [hereafter Ruggles, Astronomy]. Adam Welfare, ed., Great Crowns of Stone: The Recumbent Stone Circles of Scotland, The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, due to be published Summer 2011. [2] Alexander Thom, Megalithic Sites in Britain, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1967). Aubrey Burl, The Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany, (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2000), [hereafter Burl, Stone Circles]. [3] A & A S Thom, Megalithic Rings, collated with archaeological notes by A Burl, BAR British Series 81, (Oxford: BAR, 1980). [4] Plans kindly provided by Adam Welfare, Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. [5] Burl, Stone Circles, p.221. [6] Star lists provided by Bernadette Brady using Starlight software. [7] Ruggles, Astronomy, p.93. [8] Richard Bradley, The Moon and the Bonfire: An Investigation of Three Stone Circles in Aberdeenshire, (Edinburgh, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 2005). [9] J McKim Malville, Prehistoric Astronomy in the Southwest, (Colorado: Johnson Books, 2008), [hereafter Malville, Prehistoric Astronomy], p.38. [10] Malville, Prehistoric Astronomy, p.38. [11] Ruggles, Astronomy, p.98.

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POSSIBLE ASTRONOMICAL INTENTIONALITY FOR THE MNAJDRA SOUTH TEMPLE IN MALTA Tore Lomsdalen

University of Wales Trinity Saint David

The aim of this field research programme is to argue whether the Neolithic Mnajdra South Temple was deliberately built as a sacred site for religious worship and to pay respect and obeisance to the power of the cosmos. Based on horizon astronomy and field observations, an investigation of the temple’s eastern orientation and solar alignment at the time of the equinox and the solstices was conducted to establish if it was intentionally built for estimating time and season. The Maltese territory consists of the two main islands, Malta and Gozo. It is located some 80 km south of Sicily, 290 east of Tunisia and 350 north of Libya. Most archaeologists agree today that the Maltese archipelago was first settled permanently by Sicilians around 5.000 BCE (Trump 2002), however, during the seventh and the sixth millennia BC, the Maltese islands might have been noticed by groups of hunter-gatherers in southern Sicily and seafaring coastal foragers (Trump 1980). Based on good weather conditions, Gozo can just be seen from the most south-easterly point of Sicily and the return voyage to Sicily would have been navigable, since the smoking summit of Mount Etna can be seen on the horizon from Gozo and the higher hills of Malta. (Skeates 2010). Although the first settles were farmers, they were also sailors (Trump 1972). Furthermore, iconographic relief showing fish (the sea) and animals (the land) within the temple demarcations, representing an islander’s two important components of cosmology (Grima 2001). About a millennia after the first settlers came to the islands, megalithic freestanding structures appeared. These are generally known as: The Prehistoric Megalithic Temples of Malta. Although the denomination, ‘temple’, might be circumstantial, as there are no written evidences to their true purpose (Magli 2009). However, the culture lasted for about another millennia, then suddenly went into an inexplicable decline around 2.500 BCE. How and why this culture came to an end and why nothing survived from the temple period apart from the megalithic structures themselves, is as much a mystery as to how and why it began (Zammit 1995). These questions make it even more intriguing as there are no apparent freestanding megalithic structures in Sicily. Furthermore, there seem to be no traceable links between the temple period inhabitants and the newcomers (Parker 1988). The early immigrants maintained some contact with Sicily and beyond, however, the settlers pursued their own culture, their pottery being recognisably different from any produced elsewhere (Trump 1972). Retrieved artefacts indicating the sun, the crescent moon and an apparent celestial division of the stars, could indicate a cosmological connotation. Out of the about 10 extant prehistoric Maltese temples, the Mnajdra South seems to be the only one with a defined eastern orientation. In modern times the architecture of the south temple allows a cross-jamb view of sunrise around the time of the solstices. At the equinox, the central corridor and a niche at the head of the temple, possibly an altar, is fully illuminated. Nevertheless, the illumination never reaches above a table or a shelf at a height of about 130 cm from the temple floor. A deliberate orientation could have been found by bisecting the position of the midsummer and midwinter sunrise (Agius and Ventura 1980). In the period of 3.000 BCE, the same view would have coincided with the rising point of the Pleiades, and would have seen the heliacal rising of this star group close to the time of the

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spring equinox, a remarkable coincidence of targets for an astronomical theory (Fodera Serio et al. 1992; Hoskin 2001; Ventura 2004; Cox and Lomsdalen 2010). This presentation is based on work in progress. References             

George Agius, Frank Ventura, 1980. Investigation into the Possible Astronomical Aligments of the Copper Age Temples in Malta, Malta, University Press. Giorgia Fodera Serio, Michael Hoskin, Frank Ventura. 1992. The Orientations of the Temples of Malta, Journal for the History of Astronomy xxjii, 107-119. Grima, Reuben. 2001. An Iconography of Insularity: A Cosmological Inerpretation of some Images and Spaces in the Late Neolithic Temples of Malta., Institute of Archeology, vol 12, 4865. Hoskin, Michael, 2001. Tombs, Temples and their Orientations: A New Perspective on Mediterranean Prehistory, Cambridge, Ocarina Books Ltd. John Cox, Tore Lomsdalen. 2010. Prehistoric Cosmology: Observations of Moonrise and Sunrise from Ancient Temples in Malta and Gozo Journal of Cosmology, Vol. 9. Magli, Giulio, 2009. Mysteries and Discoveries of Archaeoastronomy From Giza to Easter Island, New York, Copernicus Books. Parker, Rowland, 1988. Malta's Ancient Temples and Ruts, London, The Institute for Cultural Research. Skeates, Robin, 2010. An Archaeology of the Senses, Oxford, Oxford University Press. Trump, David H., 1972. Malta: An Archaeological Guide, London, Faber and Faber Ltd. Trump, David H., 1980. The Prehistory of the Mediterranean, London, Yale University Press. Trump, David H., 2002. Malta Prehistory and Temples, Malta, Midsea Books. Ventura, Frank, 2004. Temple Orientations. In: CILIA, D. (ed.) Malta Before History. Malta: Miranda Publisher. Zammit, Themistocles, 1995. The Prehistoric Temples of Malta and Gozo, Ing. Karl Mayrhofer.

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DITCHED ENCLOSURES IN SOUTHERN PORTUGAL: AN ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL POINT OF VIEW OF THE PORTGUESE NEOLITHIC AND CHALCOLITHIC J. Mejuto, A. Carlos Valera and G. Rodríguez-Caderot Although there is a quite big structural variety, probably reflecting their different uses, we can talk of a ditched enclosure (Trnka, 1991) as monuments with a tendency to circularity in shape with several concentric ditches from a few meters up to several hundred meters in diameter. The prospection works discovered an initial distribution over a large part of Europe -mainly Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Italy, France and Germany- but nowadays we have an increasing number of this type of monuments all over Iberian Peninsula. Particularly in Southern Portugal the number of these archaeological contexts has changed from just a few to more than twenty sites in last fourteen years. This fact is supported by undertake of several building works in the South of Portugal and some research projects. In this country (Valera and Filipe, 2004; Valera, in print) the variety in these enclosures appears in different shapes, topography, situation of sites, dimensions of the site and of the structures, complexity, the year of construction, length of use and the context they contain. These differences and the new archaeological sites appeared have opened a big interpretative plurality completely new in this type of sites (Valera, 2008). One of these new interpretative lines is the astronomical one, a completely new approach in Portuguese enclosures. In this framework appears the project “Ditches enclosures' plans and Neolithic cosmologies: A landscape, archaeoastronomical and geophysical point of view” founded by Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (Valera and Becker, in print). The complete study that appears in these lines has been made inside this project. The work starts with a catalog of the known sites and the description of the ones we used which represents a quarter of the whole amount of the sites of this kind in Portugal at the moment. One of the aims of the project is to get a whole image of the Neolithic cosmologies (LewisWilliams and Pearce, 2005) inside an interdisciplinary research. This way, the present paper presents the methodology followed in our studies inside an interdisciplinary work. The properties of the enclosures give us a particularly good opportunity to make a long period topoastronomical and archaeoastronomical study with statistically significant results. We show the brand new results and conclusions of this project, these results give us important information about: the role of the enclosures in the management of the death, the cosmological foundations in the their design, the way that cosmologies and ideologies remains recorded in architectural structures, the role of astronomy is the management of the landscape and the different ways of social organization in Neolithic and Chalcolithic communities. References  

Lewis-Williams, D. and Pearce, D. (2005) “Inside the Neolithic mind”. Thames & Hudson, London. Trnka, G. (1991) “Studien zu mittelneolithischen Kreisgrabenanlagen”, Mittlg. d. Prähist. Komm. d. Öst. Akad. d. Wiss., vol. 26. Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien.

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Valera, A.C. and Filipe I. (2004) “O povoado do Porto Torrão (Ferreira do Alentejo): novos dados e novas problemáticas no contexto da calcolitização do Sudeste peninsular”, Era Arqueología, 6: 26-6, Lisboa. Valera, António Carlos (2008), “Mapeando o Cosmos. Uma abordagem cognitiva aos recintos da Pré-História Recente”, ERA Arqueologia, 8: 112-127, Lisboa. Valera, A.C. and BECKER, H. (2011), “Cosmologia e recintos de fossos da Pré- História Recente: resultados da prospecção geofísica em Xancra (Cuba, Beja)”, Apontamentos de Arqueologia e Património, 7: 23-32, Lisboa. Valera, António Carlos (in print), “Fossos sinuosos na Pré-História Recente do Sul de Portugal: ensaio de análise crítica”, Actas do V Encontro de Arqueologia do SW Peninsular. Valera, A.C. and BECKER, H. (in print), “Arqueoastronomía, geofísica e recintos de fossos e recintos de fossos da Pré-História Recente no Sul de Portugal”, Actas do 8o Encontro de Arqueologia do Algarve, Silves.

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STARS AND STONES: THE INTERPRETATION OF MEGALITHIC CUP-MARKS FROM SOUTH INDIA K.P.Rao

University of Hyderabad, India

South India is dotted by numerous megalithic sites. We see regional variations in the construction of the megalithic monuments, while still confirming to the global megalithic phenomenon. Some of these monuments are dated up to 2000 BC.[1] though most of them are dated between 300 – 800 BC. One of the intriguing aspect relating to the south Indian megaliths is the association of cup-marks on some of the megalithic monuments. Usually, these cup-marks are found on the megaliths distributed in the Deccan part of south India. These cup-marks, usually very shallow, measure from 1 to 5 cm. across. These marks seems to have been executed by rubbing with a rotating device, resulting in a smooth finish to the surface. These marks are arranged in groups, numbering from 3 to as many as few hundreds. So far, no detailed study of these cup-marks was taken up by any scholar. Till recently, the purpose of these cup-marks was also not known. Such cup-marks are also reported from Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Sulawesi, Java, etc.[2] Investigations by the present author in the recent past has resulted in identifying depiction of two star constellations. The first constellation is from a place known as Mudumal, where a depiction of ‘Ursa Major’ was detected.*3+ Ursa Major is a easily identifiable constellation that is entwined significantly with the culture and tradition of many ancient communities. The constellation is used for identifying the Pole-star. Investigations by the author indicate that the megalithic people aligned many of their monuments to north without much deviation. The indication is that they used Pole star for determining north. Another important depiction that has come to light recently depicts several constellations like Gemeni, Orion, Pisces and Pegasus. The study also includes documentation of cup-marks including the aspects like the direction, the depth and diameter of the cup-marks etc.

References   

[1] Thomas, P.J., et al, “Optically stimulated luminescence dating of heated materials using single-aliquot regenerative-dose procedure: a feasibility study using archaeological artifacts from India”, Journal of Archaeological Science 35, 2008, 781-790. [2] Byung-mo Kim, Megalithic Cultures in Asia, Hanyang University Press, Seoul, 1982, p.182. *3+ Rao, K.P., “Archaeoastronomy and South Indian Megaliths: Recent Evidence from Andhra Pradesh” Proceedings of the Andhra Pradesh History Congress, 33rd Session, 2009, pp.4-6.

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NEW ORIENTATIONS IN THE GIANT’S CHURCHES Marianna Ridderstad and Fabio Silva The giants’ churches (GCs) are sub-Neolithic (3000-2000 BCE) large stone enclosures located in Ostrobothnia, Finland. Most of them are rectangular and have two or more gates. Originally, they were built on rocky hills or drumlins on the seashore and on small islands, with prominent views towards both the western and the eastern horizon. It has been suggested that the function of the GCs was ritual, and their use may have been connected to the purposes of building other Neolithic enclosures around Europe (Okkonen 2003: 131-133, 184, 223, and references therein). Orientations to the sunrises and sunsets of the main solar dates of the year were detected in the GCs in 2008-2009 (Ridderstad & Okkonen 2009). Most of the orientations measured were deduced being towards the sunrises and sunsets on the solstices, or the solar mid-quarter days. In summer 2010, orientations of new structures were measured, and a new analysis of both the axis and the gate orientations of all the GCs has been performed. The axis orientations show, in addition to solar orientations, peaks suggesting lunar events, the most prominent of these being the winter last crescent event (Silva & Pimenta 2011). There also is a prominent peak towards an unidentified event. The orientations of the gates of the GCs mostly show the same peaks as the axis orientations. However, there are some important differences, e.g., there are gate orientations towards the spring full moon (see Marciano da Silva 2004), and an unidentified peak. References   

C. Marciano da Silva, 2004: ”The Spring Full Moon”. Journal for the History of Astronomy xxxv: 457-478. J. Okkonen, 2003: Jättiläisen hautoja ja hirveitä kiviröykkiöitä — Pohjanmaan muinaisten kivirakennelmien arkeologiaa. Acta Universitatis Ouluensis Humaniora B 52. University of Oulu. M. Ridderstad & J. Okkonen, 2009: ”Orientations of the Giants’ Churches in Ostrobothnia, Finland”. Proceedings of SEAC 2009, Alexandria 2009. Submitted.

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STONES OF EARTH AND SKY: MEGALITHIC MONUMENTS, THE VOYAGE OF IDEAS, AND THE ‘COSMOLOGICAL PACKAGE’ Morgan S. Saletta The megalithic structures of Europe are some of the most enduring monuments on the planet – whether they be barrows, cromlechs, menhirs, dolmens, passage mounds, hypogées, or other are solid embodiments of a permanence of place – unmoving and seemingly unchanged in their monumentality. Using as a starting point my research into the equinoctial alignment of the Arles/Fontvieille monuments (presented at SEAC 2010) I will present my ongoing research and frame it within a larger interrogatory framework: is the use of megalithic passages and apertures to produce light and shadow plays within the context of sacred ritual spaces an example of the voyage of an idea? It will be my contention that it is. The ‘grave goods’ we find near and in some megalithic monuments and elsewhere: stone tools, polished axe heads, Spondylus shell ornaments, beads and in some cases, metal goods these are all portable goods which were circulated widely in prehistoric Europe. These tangible, material items and their distribution allows archaeologists to map prehistoric trade routes, to visualize in space and in time the voyage of, for example, a Spondylus shell ornament from the Aegean coast to a river bank settlement in Northern Germany. In the many instances where burials are associated with a monument, the skeletal remains can provide in some instances evidence of population migration. But it was not only material goods or genes that spread, ideas spread as well. Pottery design, agriculture and agricultural techniques – these are evidence of the spread of ideas, part of what is sometimes called the ‘Neolithic Package’. Indeed, the exact relation between population migration, trade routes, and the diffusion of ideas is the subject of some of the most interesting debates in prehistory (Cavalli-Sforza et al 1994; Bellwood 2001). And the same goes specifically with respect to megalithic monuments. Whether distinct regional groupings of megalithic monuments such as those of the Boyne River valley in Ireland and those of Brittany, France represent local innovation and invention – with similarities being an example of convergent cultural evolution – or whether the differences represent divergent evolution from a common original source is an ongoing subject of debate and discussion. What relation the many different types of megalithic monuments bear to each other and a possible common ancestral structural form(s) is an even larger question which is far from answered. In the presentation of my research concerning the equinoctial alignment of the Arles/Fontvieille monuments and the presence of stellar representation in the form of rock art at one of the sites – I suggested that despite the hitherto emphasized differences in architecture, the Arle/Fontvieille monuments belong in a functional class with passage mounds such as those of the Boyne Valley. I will argue that this functional similarity – the production of light and shadow hierophanies (and possibly the projection of focussed solar images) is evidence of the diffusion, the voyage if you will, of a set of interrelated ideas regarding sacred space and architecture, the cosmos, the measurement of time, astronomical phenomena, and measurement. As I suggested at SEAC 2010, this functional similarity is crucial to the important question of understanding the origins 69

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of the Arles/Fontvieille monuments and their relation to the larger European context (Daniel, 1960; Hoskin 2001). I will argue that archeoastronomers studying megalithic Europe need to consider the idea that astronomical knowledge and technique (site-lines, shadow and light hierophanies, gnomon sticks, the use of stars for time telling and navigation as well as more abstract calendrical concepts) were part of the so-called ‘Neolithic package’, or at least travelled and in much the same way and along the same migratory routes. Generally held to comprise such things as pottery and its decoration, various farming techniques and the use of domesticated animals, the ‘Neolithic package’ is fundamentally a package of ideas and techniques which, together with genes and materials was spread – diffused- across Europe from the Near East and the Levant. I will argue that there was also a ‘Cosmological Package’ that spread across Europe, encountering as it did the cosmological knowledge and conceptions of Mesolithic peoples, changing and adapting both across distance and through time and embodied in some instances in rock art and megalithic monuments whose voyage through time has allowed us to study them and attempt to unravel their enigmatic meanings. This package may have contained such things as techniques of measurement (gnomon sticks, site-lines, the use of the human body as measuring stick, counting and so on) combined with concepts regarding the nature of time, the nature of celestial bodies, phenomena, and the structure of the world together with calendrical concepts, techniques to produce shadow and light hierophanies, as well as (possibly) the use of pinhole apertures, which may well have already been known to Mesolithic peoples (Gatton et al, 2010). Lastly, and with yet another twist on the idea of voyages and a meeting of different worlds, I will discuss how my explorations into the idea of the use of apertures and pinhole effects relates to my ongoing research methodology and through the use of pinhole cameras as a means to capture both the movement of the sun at a location as well as the movement of light within the monuments themselves. References      

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Bellwood, Peter (2001). "Early Agriculturalist Population Diasporas? Farming, Languages, and Genes". Annual Review of Anthropology 30: 181–207. Cavalli-Sforza, Luigi Luca, Paolo Menozzi, and Alberto Piazza. (1994). The History and Geography of Human Genes. Princeton University Press. Daniel, G. The Prehistoric Chamber Tombs of France: A Geographical, Morphological and Chronological Survey. Thames and Hudson, London. 1960 Bradley, R. 1989, ‘Darkness and light in the design of megalithic tombs’, Oxford Journal of Archaeology, vol. 8 no3, pp. 251-259. Bradley, R., and Edmonds, M. 1993, Interpreting The Axe Trade, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Gatton, M., Carreion, L., Cawein, M., Brock, W. & Scott, V. (2010) 'The Camera Obscura and the Origin of Art: The case for image projection in the Paleolithic', Official Proceedings of the XV World Congress of the Union Internationale des Sciences Préhistoriques et Protohistoriques (UISPP) 35, Global State of the Art--SO7 (Giriraj Kumar and Robert Bednarik, eds.). Archaeopress, Oxford. Hoskin, Michael. Tombs, Temples and their Orientations: A New Perspective of Mediterranean Prehistory. Ocarina Books, Bognor Resis (UK) 2001.

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THE SUN AND MOON’S VOYAGES ALONG THE HORIZON: CROSSOVERS, STONES AND CALENDARS Fabio Silva and Fernando Pimenta In horizon astronomy, i.e. when one is interested in the voyages of the Sun and Moon as they rise and/or set along the horizon and throughout the year, there are times when the two luminaries swap places. As an example, in the northern hemisphere, during Winter, the Sun rises in the southeast, travels low in the horizon and sets in the southwest; whereas the Full Moon rises in northeast, is always very high, and set in northwest. The situation is reversed during Summer which, logic alone dictates, there must be an intermediate point in time in which they crossover. This is empirically observed for the first time at the Equinoctial Full Moons, and its observation is completely independent, not requiring multiple conditions (as the Paschal Full Moon requires the Equinox to be observed first) nor the introductions of abstractions. This Crossover concept was first introduced by Da Silva (2004) as an explanation for the “megalithic equinox” of Alexander Thom. Thom, in his studies of monuments in the British Isles, had noticed a prevalence of alignments close to zero degrees of declination, but not so close that observational or architectonical errors would account for the deviation from zero. There seemed to be an intentionality to direct the alignments towards those values. Da Silva proposed that the Spring Full Moon, defined by the crossover described above when it happens close to the Spring Equinox, would account for some of these. Using ephemeris simulation he found that the predicted peak was at a declination of -5.7º which would account for the primary peak in the distribution of orientations of megalithic dolmens in South Portugal as measured by Hoskin (2001). Improved simulations were developed by Pimenta et al (2008, 2011), who found the main axis of the megalithic enclosures of the same region to be aligned to the Autumn Full Moon peaks. These simulations were commented and expanded upon by this author (Silva, submitted), who also found two groups of dolmens in Central Portugal, that had been previous interpreted as having sunrise alignments, who are now seen to exhibit the expected peaks in their histograms for the two Equinoctial Full Moons. In this paper the notion of Crossover is reintroduced and expanded upon. Crossovers can be observed for the Moon in any phase of its synodic cycle, not just the Full Moon. These will occur at different times in the year, and most likely only in one direction (rise or set) as waxing or waning Moon is best observed on the horizon respectively setting or rising. As the Crescent Moons, particularly the First Crescent, are well-attested in the ethnographical and historical records, we’ll be presenting the Crossovers of these Moons, which occur around the Solstice and thus provide the other “extreme” case. Preliminary ethnographical evidence supporting that such events were noted by pre-literate, small scale contemporary societies will also be presented. The authors have expanded on previous simulation algorithms and will present the declination and chronological distributions for all Crossover events. Some preliminary archaeoastronomical case studies, now seen to exhibit alignments to these events, will be discussed. The nature of the Crossover events is of a non-gaussian distribution, unlike the Solstices and the Standstills, which can be fully described by a single declination value. This calls for a new way of looking at histograms which will be presented and debated. Finally, an alternative interpretation for minor Lunar Standstill alignments is proposed in light of the findings. 71

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References      

Da Silva, C. M., 2004. The Spring Full Moon. Journal for the History of Astronomy, xxxv, 1-5. Gonzalez, C., Costa, L., Belmonte, J., 2007. Solarists vs. Lunatics: modelling patterns in megalithic astronomy. In M. Zedda and J. Belmonte (eds) “Lights and Shadows in Cultural Astronomy” Hoskin, M., 2001. Tombs, Temples and their Orientations, Bognor Regis, Ocarina Books. Lévi-Strauss, C., 1978. The Origin on Table Manners. New York, Harper & Row. Pimenta, F., Tirapicos, L. and Smith, A., 2009. A Bayesian Approach to the Orientations of Central Alentejo Megalithic Enclosures. Archaeoastronomy, XXII. Silva, F., (submitted). Equinoctial Full Moon Models and Non-Gaussianity: Portuguese Dolmens as a Test Case. In Rappengluck, M., Rappengluck, B. and Campion, N. (eds.), 2011. “Astronomy and Power.” British Archaeological Reports.

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THE JOURNEY OUT OF AFRICA: Lionel Sims

Évora, Portugal

THE SOLARISATION OF THE MOON

University of East London

Modern humans evolved in Africa by about 250 thousand years ago and first successfully migrated out of Africa about 80 thousand years ago. They eventually displaced all pre-modern hominids that had left Africa earlier. This palaeo-anthropological model of our origins is known as ‘Out of Africa II’, or Rapid Displacement Theory (Stringer & Andrews 2005). Modern humans had fully symbolic culture in Africa by at least 125 thousand years ago with a lunar- entrained ritual syntax which included blood symbolism, an economy based upon the logistical hunting of mega-fauna and socially organised in matrilineal/matrilocal clans coalitions(Knight et al. 1995). All archaeological models of the late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age (EBA) NW Europe monument building cultures assume that they were male dominated. They characterise these cultures as semi-sedentary ancestor worshipping cattle pastoralists who continued to forage and occasionally cultivated crops. A number of models have been suggested to account for this, most of which assume a cultural origins scenario which ignores Out of Africa II, and instead posit a primordial male dominance at the root of our being. Many also assume that the ancestor worshipping rituals at these monuments were foundational of culture, and do not elaborate any link with earlier Mesolithic or Palaeolithic cultural precursors (Renfrew 1991). A number of anthropological models can accommodate both the palaeo-anthropology of Out of Africa II and the late reversal of matrilineal/matrilocal clans into patrilineal/patrilocal organisation. The simplest and most widely accepted model contrasts the gender dynamics of bride-service to bride-price systems. A hunter, to earn marital rights, has to service his ‘wife’ and her relatives with hunted meat for much of his life. A herder can purchase a wife with a one-off payment of an agreed quantity of cattle to her in-laws. In bride-service a woman retains much power and independence, since she conditionally gives herself in return for years of successful hunting services. In bride-price, her relatives give her away in return for receiving an agreed payment of meat ‘on the hoof’ from affines. While the two systems display continuity through the giving of animal meat in return for a man receiving marital rights, they also display reversal through woman’s power being undermined with their oppression and dominance by their husband(Holden & Mace 2003). Over the last decade I have developed a model of ‘lunar-solar conflation’, which predicts that a primordial engagement with lunar scheduled rituals was gradually displaced by solar symbolism when foragers switched to pastoralism (Sims 2006). This paper explores the gender and archaeoastronomical dimensions of this shift through a critique of an archaeological model of the gender of the stones in the Avebury and Stonehenge late Neolithic/EBA monuments in Wiltshire, England. References    

Stringer, C. & Andrews, P. (2005), The complete world of human evolution. London: Thames & Hudson. Holden, C.J. & Mace, R. (2003), ‘Spread of cattle led to the loss of matrilineal descent in Africa: a coevolutionary analysis.’ Proceedings of the Royal Society, London. B. 10.1098.rspb.2003.2535. Knight, C., C. Power & I. Watts (1995),‘The human symbolic revolution: a Darwinian account’. Cambridge Archaeology, 5: 75-114. Renfrew, C. (1991), Archaeology: Theories, Methods and Practice. London, Thames and Hudson.

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Sims, L.D. (2006), ‘The solarisation of the moon: manipulated knowledge at sarsen Stonehenge’. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 16:2, 191-207

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ASTRONOMICAL AND TOPOGRAPHICAL ORIENTATIONS OF KREISGRABENANLAGEN IN LOWER AUSTRIA Georg Zotti

Vienna University, Austria

In the past years, the entrance orientation of Neolithic circular enclosures (Kreisgrabenanlagen, KGA) with respect to their potential astronomical significance has been discussed by several research groups, mirroring the extensive distribution of their occurrence in a wide area of central Europe. [Becker 1996, Iwaniszewski 1996, Bertemes&Schlosser 2004, Pav˙k&Karlovsk˝ 2004, P·sztor 2008+.The discussed structures typically consisted of 1-3 circular ditches and up to several palisade rings, all dating from about 4850-4550 BC and usually interpreted as multifunctional cult place. They have disappeared from the surface long ago. Archaeological publications typically show drawings and maps of ditches and palisade outlines with gaps in the ditches and palisades representing entrances, as far as can still be detected by magnetic surveys and excavations, but usually give no hint about the topogaphy or surrounding horizon. In 2003-04, a map study supported by externally created virtual reconstructions indicated a connection not only with the sun, but also with a few selected stars, awaiting confirmation by on-site horizon surveys. [Zotti 2004/2011, Zotti 2005, Zotti 2008, Zotti 2010a] Our current project (ASTROSIM, supported by the Austrian Science Fund, FWF P21208-G19) uses virtual reconstructions of all 32 KGAs in Lower Austria for which magnetic surveys exist to visualize archaeological structures based on their traces in the magnetic surveys. These reconstructions of ditches and palisades are embedded in a digital elevation model, which, combined with a horizon profile measured in-situ and a diagram of diurnal tracks of sun, moon, brighter stars and declinations, appears to be an optimal way to simulate, analyze and demonstrate the appearance and possible astronomical significance of entrances and probably intentional gaps in the palisade walls. [Zotti&Neubauer SEAC2010, Zotti&Neubauer Oxford-IX]. One part of the simulation effort also consists in a new plugin for the open-source desktop planetarium software Stellarium. With this plugin, correctly modelled and oriented threedimensional structures and landscapes of alleged astronomical significance can be explored interactively in combination with a pretty simulation of the starry sky. However, instead of solving the final questions, the current re-investigation surprisingly and unfortunately delivers a very convoluted result. While several sun-related orientations can be confirmed, entrances outside the solar or lunar arcs, where we previously had suggested stellar orientation, can frequently be explained away by following terrain slope, i.e., forming "upper" and "lower" entrances. Given the accurate survey of the horizon and modelling in the local terrain, our previously most prominent exponent of the stellar hypothesis had to be demoted to a purely topographically oriented structure. In other KGAs, the previously proposed stellar orientation vexingly remains, only to coincide with terrestrial targets. Frequently, terrain slope also coincides with one of the "solar" directions (solstices or crossquarter day risings or settings), making it hard or even impossible to decide which criterion, slope or solar alignment, may have been followed by the builders. Maybe even this very coincidence was intended, i.e., a correctly oriented location (with respect to the sun) was chosen to build a KGA there. In any case, this result shows the importance of the inclusion of the surrounding landscape in such studies.

ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL VOYAGES IN PALEOLITHIC AND NEOLITHIC CULTURES

SEAC2010 – Stars and Stones

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Évora, Portugal

ETHNOASTRONOMICAL VOYAGES IN NORTH AMERICA, MESOAMERICA AND SOUTH AMERICA

SEAC2010 – Stars and Stones

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Évora, Portugal

SKY TRAVELERS: COSMOS’ EXPERIENCES AMONG EVANGELICAL INDIANS FROM ARGENTINEAN CHACO Agustina Altman

a_altman@hotmail.com

The Guaycurú aboriginal groups located in the Argentinean Chaco region have traditionally had a rich mythology regarding sky traveling. Celestial beings that descend from the sky to earth or humans that visit the sky are not only common in their myths but also, in the narratives about their personal experiences. In this paper, we aim to address the new ways in which these traveling experiences through the sky are taken in the context of the growing evangelical presence among these groups. In pursuing this objective, we will analyze the discourses and practices that these aboriginal groups produce. We will use our own ethnographic material and also we will explore written productions by the evangelical missionaries. Originally hunters and gatherers, the Guaycurú (Toba, Mocoví, Pilagá, etc.) inhabit the southern area of the Chaco region. In the 17th century the horse was introduced and they began to trade cattle. Historical and ethnographic studies have shown the importance of the Catholic missions established in the region in the mid eighteenth century (Paucke 1900[17481767]; Furlong 1938; Paucke 1942-44[1749-1767]; Dobrizhoffer 1967-69[1783]; Susnik 1972; Giordano 2003; Nesis 2005; Paz 2005; López 2009; Medrano and Rosso 2009). These, tried to evangelize and civilized the aboriginal people by enforced settlement, farming and agriculture practices and literacy (Iñigo Carrera 1979; Cordeu and De los Ríos 1982; Damianovich 1992; Lagos 2000; Trinchero 2000; Gordillo 2004; Gonzalez 2005; López and Giménez Benítez 2009). As indicated by Lucaioli and Nesis (2007) the establishment of the missions resulted in the transformation of leadership and the different political strategies developed by the aboriginal groups. These changes arose from the combination of some traditional practices with new political and economic elements. Also, the presence of the missions meant a historical process of disciplining bodies and stigmatization of some traditional festive rituals. Regarding disciplinary mechanisms and their relationship with changes in labor processes, Soich (2007, 2006) analyzed from the political economy of the embodiment the transformations in performances and body representations related to the working discipline. During the process of evangelization, an overlapping of catholic festivities with the traditional calendars took place. The processes of change deepened the tensions and by the early twentieth century various millenarian movements leaded by the Toba and Mocoví occurred (Cordeu and Siffredi 1971; Bartolomé 1972; Greca 2008). During the decades of 1930s and 1940s the Evangelio movement emerged from the encounter between a group of Toba people with evangelical missionaries. This phenomenon creatively combined, not without contradictions, elements of shamanism and Evangelical Christianism thus forming, a religious experience with ecstatic contents –songs, dances, healing sessions, glossolalia, etc.- (Miller 1975; Wright 1984; Wright 1988; Braunstein 1990; Wright 1990; Idoyaga Molina 1994; Terán 1995; Wright 1997; Wright 2002; Ceriani Cernadas and Citro 2005; Ceriani Cernadas 2008; Wright 2008; López 2009; Altman 2010; Altman and López 2010; Altman en prensa). Both Christian denominations (Catholicism and the evangelio movement) have played a key role in the resignification of the Guaycurú’s worldview, the symbolic refunctionalization and the changes in moral standards of these ethnic groups. In addition, the Evangelio configured –as it still does today- in the churches an encounter between two 77

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different “habitus” (Bourdieu 1971; Algranti 2010). As noted by Wright (2003) in his investigation about the ontological dimensions of the Christian membership among the Toba of Formosa, the religious position of being-evangelical or being-catholic expresses a different views and interpretations about some key events such as the relations with the white society. Our investigation is linked to a series of inquiries about the Guaycurú’s ideas about the sky in the context of these complex processes of changes (Giménez Benítez, S. and Lopez, AM 2004, Giménez Benítez, S. et al. 2002, Giménez Benitez, S. et al. 2004, Giménez Benítez, S. et al. 2006, López, AM and Giménez Benítez, S. 2008, López, AM 2009a, López, AM 2008, López, AM 2009b, Gómez, CP 2006, Tola 2006). We are particularly interested in the transformations and continuities among the practices and representations of the sky related to the impact of the Evangelio in these groups. Traditionally the sky and the earth were conceived as highly related regions. In fact, the sky has been thought as a source of abundance and a place where women were originated (Giménez Benítez, López et al. 2006). For that reason, sacred specialists such as pi'xonaq or shamans, had to establish contact with powerful celestial beings (Wright 2008; López 2009). This frequently involved travels through the upper levels of the cosmos, which often included power struggles with these entities. Simultaneously, the powerful beings of the sky regularly descended to the earth and “encounter” with human beings. These "encounters" (Wright 2008; López 2009) were key moments for the establishment of pacts and the places for the conformation of agreements and the delivery of special gifts. That’s why, the “encounters” were foundational experiences for the Guaycurú person and his notion of the cosmos. The arrival of evangelical churches supposed a rupture with these shamanic practices. The evangelical missionaries sought to eliminate them by identifying with demonic action. In addition, they seek to suppress catholic practices, such as the worship of saints’ images, which had allowed the continuity of many shamanic experiences. However, the ecstatic nature of the cult in many of the evangelical churches provided new ways for the resignification of the shamanic experience (Ceriani Cernadas and Citro 2005; Citro 2009) . In the context of cult experience the polisemic category of “gozo” -joy- has been useful to create a legitimate sphere for the experiences of contact with powerful beings. In this way, the “visit” of the Holy Spirit and even the “demoniac possessions” give place to the resignification of many characteristics of the traditional shamanic experience. In the same way, the evangelical conversion narratives are related to important visionary experiences associated to encounters with celestial beings. The believer travels to some of the “skies” and there meets with angels, Jesus, celestial cities, luminous beings, etc. Other extreme experiences such as death or illness of a family member involve narratives about the descent of celestial beings and strange astronomical and meteorological phenomena. The social role of these contacts with the celestial world is essential as they are sings of prestige that shows the believer’s faith. Therefore, the own experience of each believer tends to be thought in the context of the narrative structures learned during the socialization in the church. These structures are social, ideological and creative constructions that rely on an archetypical discourse (Beckford 1978; Citro 2000: 38; Prat i Carós 1997). Furthermore, these discourses are not autonomous because they are related with a wider religious discourse whose boundaries have been established by the society that the narrator and the audience belongs (Lévi-Strauss 1958). In the case of Pentecostal churches, the practice of “testimony” is very important for the circulation and legitimization of these narratives (Citro 2000). People who attend cults become familiar with this discursive genre and begin a process of acquiring a 78

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specific religious language that, over time enables them to develop their own testimony (Harding 1987). In this context, the missionary praxis (through biblical circles, preaching and writing material) has favored a process of resignification of important categories, traditionally linked to the celestial space such as “luminosity”. Successive changes in the meaning of the words and negotiations around the nuances and emphases have generated a new and complex vision about the travels to sky regions. This process is not unidirectional since in some interesting cases evangelical missionaries themselves have undergone changes in their experiences of contact with celestial things. The aboriginal evangelical discourse about the sky enters into a relationship of tension and continuity not only with the traditional discourse but also, with the scientific discourse about the sky incorporated by the aboriginal people through school and mass media. In our paper we aim to show that conceptions about travels to and from the celestial space are highly important to these groups since they are deeply related to the social and political changes they face (Barth 1987; Capiberibe 2007). That’s why, the growing importance of the evangelical movement not only does not involve the loss of this important topic but instead, lends a new relevance. References    

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Algranti, J. M. (2010). Política y religión en los márgenes. Nuevas formas de participación social de las mega-iglesias evangélicas en la Argentina, Fundación Centro de Integración, Comunicación, Cultura y Sociedad -CICCUS-. Altman, A. (2010). `Ahora son todos creyentes´. El evangelio entre los mocoví del Chaco Austral. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras Buenos Aires, Universidad de Buenos Aires. Licenciatura en Antropología. Altman, A. (en prensa). "Historia y Conversión: el Evangelio Entre Los Mocoví Del Chaco Austral." Runa. Archivo para las Ciencias del Hombre. Altman, A. and A. M. López (2010). Cuando los números no son lo único que cuenta: Evangélicos y católicos en una comunidad mocoví del Chaco. VI Jornadas Ciencias Sociales y Religión y V Reunión Científica CLACSO: Religión, sexualidades y poder, 18-19 Noviembre, Buenos Aires, Área Sociedad, Cultura y Religión del CEIL-CONICET y Grupo CLACSO “Religión, Sociedad y Política en América Latina” (publicación en CD). Barth, F. (1987). Cosmologies in the making: A generative approach to cultural variation in inner New Guinea. Great Britain, Cambridge University Press. Bartolomé, L. J. (1972). "Movimientos milenaristas de los aborígenes chaqueños entre 1905 y 1933." Suplemento Antropológico, Revista del Centro de Estudios Antropológicos, Universidad Católica, Asunción 7(1-2): 106-121. Beckford, J. A. (1978). "Accounting for Conversion." The British Journal of Sociology 29(2): 249262. Belmonte Avilés, J. A. (2006). La investigación arqueoastronómica. apuntes culturales, metodológicos y epistemológicos. Trabajos de Arqueoastronomía. Ejemplos de Africa, América, Europa y Oceanía. J. Lull. Valencia, Agrupación Astronómica de La Safor: 41-79. Bourdieu, P. (1971). "Genese et structure du champ religieux." Revue Français de Sociologie(XII): 295-334. Braunstein, J. (1990). "El espacio en la misa mataca." Scripta Ethnologica Supplementa(8): 149154. Capiberibe, A. (2007). Batismo de Fogo. Os Palikur e o Cristianismo. Sao Paulo, Annablume editora, FAPESP, NUTI. Ceriani Cernadas, C. (2008). Establecidos y marginados en el campo religioso toba. 26a Reuniao Brasileria de Antropología. Porto Seguro, Brasil.

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Ceriani Cernadas, C. and S. Citro (2005). El movimiento del evangelio entre los tobas del Chaco argentino. Una revisión histórica y etnográfica. De indio a hermano. Pentecostalismo indígena en América Latina. B. Guerrero Jiménez. Iquique, Chile, Ediciones Campus, Universidad Arturo Prat y Ediciones El Jote Errante: 111-170. Citro, S. (2000). "La materialidad de la conversión religiosa: del cuerpo propio a la economía política." Revista Ciencias Sociales 10: 37-55. Citro, S. (2009). Cuerpos significantes. Travesías de una etnografía dialéctica. Buenos Aires, Editorial Biblos. Cordeu, E. and A. Siffredi (1971). De la algarroba al algodón. Movimientos milenaristas del Chaco argentino. Buenos Aires, Juarez Editor. Cordeu, E. J. and M. De los Ríos (1982). "Un enfoque estructural de las variaciones socioculturales de los cazadores recolectores del Gran Chaco." Suplemento Antropológico 17(1): 147-160. Damianovich, A. (1992). "Los indios de la guerra ofensiva contra mocovíes y abipones: las campañas santafesinas de 1728 y 1729." Revista Oficial LVIII: 153-167. Dobrizhoffer, M. (1967-69[1783]). Historia de los abipones. Resistencia, Universidad Nacional del Nordeste, Facultad de Humanidades, Departamento de Historia. Furlong (1938). Entre los mocobíes de Santa Fe: Según las noticias de los misioneros jesuitas Joaquín Camaño, Manuel Canelas, Francisco Burgés, Román Arto, Antonio bustillo y Florián Paucke Buenos Aires, Amorrortu e hijos: 236. Giménez Benítez, S., A. M. López, et al. (2006). "Sun and moon as marks of time-space among Mocovies from the Argentinian Chaco." Archaeoastronomy. The Journal of Astronomy in Culture XX: 54-69. Giordano, M. (2003). "De jesuitas a franciscanos. Imaginario de la labor misional entre los indígenas chaqueños." Revista Complutense de Historia de América(29): 5-24. Gonzalez, S. A. (2005). Etnicidad y discriminación en la provincia del Chaco. La comunidad mocoví de las tolderías en el período 1980-2002. Facultad de Humanidades. Formosa, Universidad Nacional de Formosa. Tesis de Licenciatura: 90. Gordillo, G. (2004). Landscapes of Devils. Tensions of Place and Memory in the Argentinean Chaco. Durham& London, Duke University Press. Greca, V. (2008). El proceso de rebelión mocoví de San Javier de 1904. Una reconstrucción de sus distintos momentos. IX Congreso Argentino de Antropología Social, Fronteras de la Antropología, Mesa de trabajo `Memoria y patrimonio: una mirada antropológica e histórica´. Posadas, Misiones, Argentina, Departamento de Antropología Social, Programa de Postgrado en Antropología Social, Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Nacional de Misiones publicación electrónica (CD). Harding, S. (1987). "Convicted by the Holy Spirit: The Rhetoric of Fundamental Baptist Conversion." American Ethnologist. Frontiers of Christian Evangelism 14(1): 167-181. Idoyaga Molina, A. (1994). Movimientos Sociorreligiosos. Una esperanza milenarista entre los Pilagá (Chaco Central). Religiosidad y resistencia indígenas hacia el fin del milenio. A. Barabas. Quito, Abya Yala. Iñigo Carrera, N. (1979). La violencia como potencia económica: Chaco 1879-1940. Buenos aires, Centro Editor de América Latina. Lagos, M. (2000). La cuestión indígena en el Estado y la Sociedad Nacional. El Gran Chaco 18701920. Jujuy: Unidad de Investigación en historia Regional, Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Nacional de Jujuy. Lévi-Strauss, C. (1958). El hechicero y su magia. Antropología Estructural. Buenos Aires, EUDEBA: 151-167. López, A. M. (2009). La Vírgen, el Árbol y la Serpiente. Cielos e Identidades en comunidades mocovíes del Chaco. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Buenos Aires, Universidad de Buenos Aires. Tesis de Doctorado: 385. López, A. M. and S. Giménez Benítez (2009). "Bienes europeos y poder entre los mocovíes del Chaco argentino." Archivos. Departamento de antropología Cultural IV-2006: 191-216. Medrano, C. and C. N. Rosso (2009). “San Francisco Javier, mocobí patroncito” La fiesta patronal de la reducción de San Francisco Javier como parte del proceso de evangelización en el Gran Chaco siglo XVIII. XII Jornadas Interescuelas

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Miller, E. S. (1975). "Shamans, Power Symbols, and Change in Argentine Toba Culture." American Ethnologist 2(3): 477-496. Nesis, F. S. (2005). Los grupos Mocoví en el siglo XVIII. Argentina, Sociedad Argentina de Antropología. Paucke, F. (1900[1748-1767]). Memorias del P. Florián Paucke. Misionero de la Compañía de Jesús. Buenos Aires, A.V., Sociedad Propagación de Buenos Libros. Paucke, F. (1942-44[1749-1767]). Hacia allá y para acá (una estada entre los indios mocovíes). Tucumán, Universidad de Tucumán. Paz, C. D. (2005). "El nudo gordiano de las políticas indígenas de los grupos chaqueños. Misiones, misioneros y guerras en la génesis de una sociedad de jefatura, segunda mitad del siglo XVIII." Revista História UNISINOS 9(1): 35-48. Pereira, G. (2004). Persistencia y renovación: La Vía Láctea entre los Guaraníes del Chaco Boliviano. Etno y Arqueo-Astronomía en las Américas. Memorias del Simposio ARQ-13: Etno y Arqueoastronomía en las Américas, 51º Congreso Internacional de Americanistas, Santiago de Chile. M. Boccas, J. Broda and G. Pereira. Santiago de Chile. Prat i Carós, J. (1997). El estigma del extraño. Un ensayo antropológico sobre sectas religiosas. Barcelona, Editorial Ariel Susnik, B. (1972). Dimensiones migratorias y pautas culturales de los pueblos del Gran Chaco y de su periferia. Enfoque etnológico. Resistencia, Chaco, Instituto de Historia, Facultad de Humanidades, Universidad Nacional del NordEste. Terán, B. (1995). "El pentecostalismo y las culturas tradicionales." Casa Tomada(nº 1). Tola, F. (2006). "`Después de muerto hay que disfrutar, en la tierra o en el mundo celestial´. Concepciones de la muerte entre los tobas (qom) del Chaco argentino." Alteridades 16(32): 153-164. Trinchero, H. H. (2000). Los dominios del demonio. Civilización y Barbarie en las fronteras de la nación. Buenos Aires, EUDEBA. Wright, P. (1990). "Crisis enfermedad y poder en la Iglesia Cuadrangular Toba." Cristianismo y Sociedad XXVIII/3(105-Pentecostalismo y milenarismo): 15-37. Wright, P. G. (1984). "Quelques formes du chamanisme Toba." Bulletin Société Suisse des Américanistes(48): 29-35. Wright, P. G. (1988). "Tradición y Aculturación en una organización socio-religiosa Toba contemporánea." Cristianismo y Sociedad(95): 71-87. Wright, P. G. (1997). "Being-in-the dream". Postcolonial explorations in Toba Ontology. Department of Anthropology, Temple University. Ph.D. dissertation. Wright, P. G. (2002). "L´ `Evangelio´: pentecôtisme indigène dans le Chaco argentin." Social Compass 49(1): 43-66. Wright, P. G. (2003). "`Ser Católico y Ser Evangelio.´ Tiempo, historia y existencia en la religión toba." Anthropológicas 13(2): 61-81. Wright, P. G. (2008). Ser-en-el-sueño. Crónicas de historia y vida toba. Buenos Aires, Biblos

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ASTRONOMY AND THE CALENDARS OF THE INCA EMPIRE: LECTURE IN HONOR OF ROBERT M. SADOWSKI (1947-2010) Mariusz Ziolkowski

University of Warsaw, Poland

Robert M. Sadowski, an astronomer and historian of astronomy, was one of the SEAC founding members. Several of his works were devoted to different topics of archaeoastronomy and history of astronomy from the study of astronomy in England in the 17th century, through the analysis of the orientation of Pomerania Stone Circles (of the first century to III century AD) to finish with the analysis of astrological symbolism of some works of Hieronymus Bosch. But perhaps his most remembered works are the contributions to the study of astronomy and calendars of the Hispanic cultures of the Americas, especially the Incas. In studies conducted mainly in collaboration with Mariusz S. Ziolkowski, addressed issues such as the identification of astronomical phenomena (eclipses and comet apparitions) reported in the chronicles on the history of the Inca Empire, the astronomical function of the orientation of the Inca ceremonial assemblies, like Ingapirca (Equator) and, in particular, the complex problem of the structure and functioning of the state calendar of Tawantinsuyu. Especially this last issue is of particular interest today because the most widely used model of this calendar system, proposed several years ago by Reiner Tom Zuidema (and repeatedly re-drawn since then by this researcher), was severely criticized by Ziolkowski and Sadowski, who proposed an alternative model to Zuidema (Sadowski was very critical especially to the part called by Zuidema, Sidereal Lunar Calendar). Other investigators like Brian Bauer and David S.P. Dearborn, among others, contributed also to this discussion. It thus seems appropriate to recall in a text dedicated to the memory of Robert M. Sadowski, their contribution to this issue, as extensively discussed two decades ago as today.

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SHAKING EDEN: VOYAGES, BODIES AND CHANGE IN THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF SOUTH AMERICAN SKIES Alejandro Martín López South America presents a clear example of the importance of displacements and exchanges in shaping human societies. Nevertheless, the academic production, following the ideas of the first European visitors, has tended to see it in terms of an undisturbed Eden in "state of nature." For too long, South American societies were thought as small units without history, isolated from each other. The reaction to the excesses of diffusionism helped to reinforce that image. But in recent years this static and "natural" representation has collapsed. New works from the most varied perspectives show us a changing and interconnected South America, where the notions of body, person and territory are complex social constructions and not the expression of an "unmediated" experience of the world. We discuss the implications of this new way of thinking South America for the study of the ways of perceiving and representing the sky in this region. To begin, the process of settlement in South America, yet opened to multiple debates, gives displacements a key role. The situation of the pre-Columbian South American groups shows the enormous importance of networks of exchange and mobility between them. Objects, people and ideas seem to have circulated in abundance. Large agricultural states and huntergatherer bands were not isolated; instead, they interact in complex ways. Many of the cosmological fragments we have from this period refer to displacements and changes, such as creation myths associated with the establishment of the Inca state. This is not something exclusive to the highlands, an example of this is the abundant Guarani’s cosmological material around the theme of pilgrimage to the “Tierra sin Mal” -Land Without Evil-. That’s why, in the pre-Columbian South America, voyages, displacements and exchanges are fundamental for the construction of cosmologies and worldviews. Following Kusch’s line of thought, we can say that, in South America’s societies, “being” is not only “be standing”, but “be walking”. Besides, studies make it increasingly clear the relation between body and territory. Bodies and territories that are conceived as fluid, multiple and porous. What has the sky to do with this? Behind the explicit cosmological structures -holding and substantiated- there is a complex web of perceptions, representations and practices in every society that are a sort of basic substrate of assumptions about reality. Habitus, body and social trajectories are fundamental elements of the construction process of these worldviews and cosmo-praxis. Thus, the conceptions and practices about the body and the territory are directly linked to particular notions about the cosmos and the sky. Furthermore, and despite of what is usual in many cultural astronomy studies, we can not stop with the arrival of Europeans to South America. And if we do not, we must consider the enormous impact of it. This tremendous event added a dramatic series of changes to this already dynamic situation. The demographic impact, the military actions, the slave labor systems, the process of evangelization, the addition of European and African populations, the breakdown of state structures and their replacement by others, the territorial reorganization, the massive population displacement, the arrival of new ways of production, new technologies, plants and animals -including horse-, increased the role of change and mobility. New conceptions about the body, the territory and the cosmos burst on the scene. All of them increased the resignification processes and symbolic struggles.

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Then, the South American independence process and the conformation of national states, the presence of protestant missionaries and other religions, economic globalization, the mass media, etc., introduced major changes. In recent years, the debate about the relations between change and continuity, myth and historical consciousness have burst in South American studies. This implies a new context to understand the social processes of construction of perceptions and representations of the sky. A rich scientific production has addressed these issues from different disciplinary matrices. In this direction, we intend to explore new perspectives about the social construction of the sky in South America that are related to the discussion about these tensions between change and continuity.

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IS THE MAYAN TZOLKIN CLOSING A GAP BETWEEN THE LUNISOLAR METONIC CYCLE AND THE LONG COUNT? Sepp Rothwangl

CALENdeRsign Austria

In the scientific literature upon the Maya calendar system the origin of the 260 day Tzolkin is discussed controversial and a conclusion unconfirmed. Systematic archeoastronomical research show numerous Mayan monuments, which are frequently in a nonrandom distribution aligned to directions of the rising or setting Sun at horizon at certain days of the tropical year. These days are separated by significant periods, in particular 260 days, the period of the Tzolkin, a ritualized calendar, composed by 13 numbers and 20 different symbols. Another Mayan calendar is the so-called Long Count, a daily count composed by the number 18 and the vigesimal system, which constitutes the units k'in, uinal, tun, k’atun, and b'ak'tun. There exists a surprising bottom-of-the-range nexus between Long Count and the Metonic cycle, which can explain the emergence or existence of the Tzolkin, like a missing link. Two Teotihuacan monuments, the Sun pyramid and the Cuidadela, both show up in their horizontal orientation the 260-day Tzolkin, but with a difference of two days. This 2-day difference can also be explained by the missing link between Tzolkin and Long Count. References 

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Aveni, Anthony: Observations on the pecked designs and other figures carved on the South platform of the pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan. Journal for the History of Astronomy, Vol. 36, Part 1, No. 122, p. 31 – 47. 2005 Aveni, Anthony: The End of Time: The Maya Mystery of 2012. University Press of Colorado. 2009 Braswell, Geoffrey E.: The Maya and Teotihuacan: Reinterpreting Early Classic Interaction. University of Texas Press, 2004 Milbrath, Susan: Star gods of the Maya: astronomy in art, folklore, and calendars. University of Texas Press, 2000 Iwaniszewski, Stanislaw: Mesoamerican cross-circle design revisited. Archeoastronomy in the 1990s, edited by C. Ruggles, pp 288-297. Group D publications, Loughborough. UK Sprajc, Ivan: Astronomical Alignmants at Teotihuacan. Latin American Antiquity, Vol 11 (4) 2000, pp. 403 – 415 Sprajc, Ivan: Astronomical and Cosmological Aspects of Maya Architecture and Urbanism. Cosmology across Cultures. ASP Conference Series Vol 409. pp. 303-314. 2009 Sugiyama, Saburō: Human Sacrifice, Militarism, and Rulership: Materialization of State Ideology at the Feathered Serpent Pyramid, Teitihuacan. Cambridge University Press. 2005

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ASTRONOMICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF ARCHITECTURAL ORIENTATIONS IN THE MAYA LOWLANDS: NEW DATA, ANALYSES AND INTERPRETATIONS Ivan Šprajc; Pedro Francisco Sánchez Nava and Krištof Oštir The paper summarizes the results of a recently accomplished systematic study of orientations in the ancient Maya architecture. The architectural alignments we measured at a number of archaeological sites in the Maya Lowlands, applying a rigorous methodology that had never been applied in the Maya area, reveal the existence of orientation patterns that were widespread during prolonged periods. In order to analyze the distribution of alignment data, several statistical methods have been employed (Ruggles 1999). Basic tests have been performed with automatic data classification, in order to find natural clusters. The K-means and the Circular K-means (CK-means), a modified K-means algorithm for circular invariant clustering, have been tested (Charalampidis 2005). We have used the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS, Press et al. 2007) test to analyse the orientation data distributions. Additionally, Kuiper’s and Rayleigh’s tests, two standard methods for testing uniformity in directional data, have been applied. Kuiper’s test is universal, consistent against all alternatives and relying on ideas similar to those of the K-S procedure (Press et al. 2007; Cuesta-Albertos et al. 2009). On the other hand, Rayleigh’s test is not universally consistent but is rather designed to detect unimodal alternatives; it is asymptotic but can be applied for directional samples of any dimension; in fact, it is a likelihood ratio test for testing a simple hypothesis within the von Mises family. It can be adapted to the case that the mean direction of the alternative distribution is given in advance (Cuesta-Albertos et al. 2009). The results of the analyses of the alignment data indicate that the use of astronomical references at the horizon represents the most viable rationale for the greater part of orientations in the sample. On statistical grounds and considering contextual evidence we can also conclude that the most important civic and ceremonial buildings were oriented predominantly to sunrises and sunsets on certain dates of the tropical year separated by calendrically significant intervals. Analogies from central Mexico suggest the use of easily manageable observational calendars, intended to monitor the slippage of the calendrical year with respect to the year of the seasons, apparently with the purpose of ensuring a proper scheduling of agricultural activities in the yearly cycle. While most orientations must have been solar, there is evidence suggesting that some buildings were oriented to Venus extremes and lunar standstills. References  

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Charalampidis, D., 2005. A Modified K-Means Algorithm for Circular Invariant Clustering. IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell. 27 (12): 1856-1865. Cuesta-Albertos, J.A., A. Cuevas, and R. Fraiman, 2009. On projection-based tests for directional and compositional data. Statistics and Computing 19 (4): 367W.T. Vetterling, and B.P. Flannery, 2007. Numerical Recipes: The Art of Scientific Computing. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Ruggles, C., 1999. Astronomy in Prehistoric Britain and Ireland. Yale University Press, New Haven.

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ETHNOASTRONOMICAL VOYAGES IN AFRICA, ASIA, EUROPE AND OCEANIA

SEAC2010 – Stars and Stones

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STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF TEMPLE ORIENTATION IN ANCIENT INDIA Alba Aller and Juan Antonio Belmonte Archaeoastronomy in India and, particularly, the orientation of Indian temples, have been scarcely studied to date from a purely scientific point of view. In contrast to many other cultures like the Egyptian or Mayan ones, where extensive studies have been made (e.g. see Belmonte and Shaltout, 2009), Indian culture seems to be hidden from our western eyes. But, what is concealed behind their stones and under their stars? In this work, data collected in situ for a total sample of 107 Indian temples, geographically distributed over the whole Indian land, have been analysed, obtaining remarkable results. For this purpose, a deep analysis of the main deities who are worshipped in each temple, as well as of the different dynasties (or cultures) who built them, has also been conducted. Hindu temples are like a miniature universe and, to be in harmony with the large scale Universe, they must be built with the correct geometry, orientation and alignments, according to religion architectural concerns (Champakalakshmi, 2001). Thus, most of the temples show approximately cardinal orientations, being the principal axis usually oriented along the E-W direction. Our analysis verifies this fact and tries to find an explanation for it. After an exhaustive study of the temples, based on the main deities worshipped in each of them, a curious fact has been found. We discovered that, with a remarkable few exceptions, there is a clear orientation to the east cardinal point in the temples dedicated to Lord Shiva. However, cardinal east-west orientations are more significant for those dedicated to Lord Vishnu. Furthermore, there is a large number of Jaina temples orientated to the north, although we have not yet found a clear explanation for this peculiar fact. However, a voyage to the origins of Hinduism and, in particular, to the Vedic religion, helps us to understand the alignments of Hindu temples. In this analysis, an explanation for the correlation between the cardinal points and Vedic gods is suggested. Vedic religion gave great importance to the rituals because their correct execution keeps the Universe in order. Especially significant are both the moment and the place where ceremonies are carried out. Thus, some privileged directions are considered (among them, the cardinal points), each one of which is connected with a particular deity. Hence, orientation is an essential element of the ritual. A classification of the temples according to dynasties (Lo Muzio and Ferrandi, 2009) also puts new insights in the alignments that we have found. The clearest example is in the Chola dynasty of Tamil Nadu. In this particular case, there are no temples facing west, possibly because their main deity was Shiva, and Vishnu worship was even harshly persecuted. In addition to these cardinal orientations, clear solar orientations were also found for 74 temples, mainly at equinoctial declination δ=0o. This is not surprising as, like in most cultures since the beginning of times, the Sun is one of the most worshipped divinities (god Surya) in India. In these temples, the light of the rising or setting sun enters the sanctuary, frequently near the equinoxes. This event has been partially studied and it is known as Surya Puja (Malville and Swaminathan, 1996). References

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C. Lo Muzio and M. Ferrandi, 2009, Los diccionarios de las civilizaciones: India, Electa, Madrid. R. Champakalakshmi, 2001, The Hindu Temple, Roli Books, Delhi. J.A. Belmonte and M. Shaltout, 2009, In search of cosmic order: selected essays on Egyptian archaeoastronomy, SCC Press, Cairo. K. McKim Malville and R.N. Swaminathan, 1996, ''Surya Puja Temples of South India'', Archaeoastronomy JOC, XII-XIII, 310-319

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Évora, Portugal

THE INTANGIBLE AND TANGIBLE HERITAGE OF THE INTERWOVEN RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE STARS, ENVIRONMENT, LAW, ART AND PEOPLE IN AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLAND CULTURES. Marea Atkinson

University of South Australia

This paper concentrates on three regions, the Torres Strait Islands, the Yolnu people of north eastern Arnhem Land and the Ngarrindjeri people in South Australia, their knowledge of the integrated relationship between the sea, land and the constellations gives a deep insight into the traditional and ongoing relationship and stewardship of their world, while providing reflection for the wider Australian and world communities to rethink and re-evaluate our own connections. The emergence of contemporary indigenous artists of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples has been a fascinating development, sharing the traditions of the integrated knowledge of the stars and their culture in art works, the significant Saltwater exhibition of Yirrkala Bark Painting of Sea Country sought to bring attention to the sacred site of Garranali the home of the Baru the Ancestral Crocodile. According to Howard Morphy, the appreciation of Aboriginal art has allowed them ‘…to receive recognition for the value of their culture, history and way of life.’ (Morphy p 25) The Creation Ancestors have taught indigenous peoples how to respect and understand the connections between the lands, waters and the sky. (Bell p 25) However in 1995 in a South Australian Royal Commission, the activities of the Seven Sisters (Pleiades) in Ngarrindjeri ruwi was contested and determined that there was no basis of tradition or shared belief. In contrast, the stars of Tagai constellation were first studied and recorded by scholars, lead by A.C. Haddon of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to the Torres Strait Islands in 1898. Decades later the success and influence of establishing traditional rights in the Mabo and Malo cases have encouraged an enriched cultural revival and renewed interest in the traditional ways of life and thus Haddon’s research has became an important resource for a generation of contemporary artists. (Kickarts) In the Malo law case, in 1992, the Meriam people of the Mer Islands (Eastern Torres Strait) established that their ancestral spirit Malo had given the law about their land, its stewardship and ownership was handed down through the generations and was akin to the laws of the Tagai constellation claiming that the stars followed the footprints of their ancestors. This significant case invalidated the assertion of terra nullius first announced by Captain Cook and continued by successive governments and historians (Bhathal p5.30) and thus became an important nexus for Australia’s emerging identity with its past. This paper is to be accompanied by an exhibition titled Parallel Worlds of prints and artist books by Marea Atkinson. References  

Bell, D., (Ed) Listen to Ngarrindjeri Women Speaking/ Kungun Ngarrindjeri Miminar Yunnan, Spinifex Press, Melbourne, 2008. Bhathal, R., Astronomy in Aboriginal culture, London, Astronomy & Geophysics, 47, (Royal Astronomical Society) Published Online 2006, 5.27 – 5.30.

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KickArts Contemporary Arts., Urapun Kai Buai exhibition by Billy Missi, Education Package, Cairns,( KickArts) 2009, Morphy, H., Aboriginal Art, New York (Phaidon Press) reprinted 2006.

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Évora, Portugal

THE COSMIC TREE. PROBLEMS OF ITS ORIGIN, DIFFUSION AND TYPOLOGICAL AREAS Jörg Bäcker As a worldwide image of the cosmos, the Cosmic tree occurs in many variants and contexts. Here I will focus on three problems which I have been occupied with during the last years in connection with my studies on mythology and archaic worldviews, especially that of Asian shamanism. 1.) The connection of the C. T. with the horse. In Northeast Siberian Yakut mythology, First Man is placed in its vicinity within a context reminiscent of the Garden of Eden. Likewise, the C.T. is here the horsepole of the God of Heaven which is also the case in ancient Germanic mythology as well as Southern Siberia and ancient India. There are also bronze age rock paintings from Siberia showing this subject. How to explain all this? What does this tell us about the origin and the age of the C. T.? 2.) The C. T. as calendar tree. What is the relationship between the "star-tree" at night and the "sun-tree" and the "calendar tree"? We know of the C. T. as a (solar) calendar tree from Central European as well as Latvian, Lithuanian and Russian folklore. Likewise, in the mythology of some peoples of Yunnan province (SW China) the C. T. , after it has been cut down, is found to represent the model of the (solar) calendar with 12 branches and 365 leaves. Ancient China knows the Fusang tree from which the sun-birds start their flight over the world, each day of the ten days week starting from another branch. Up to now, I have been unable to find the C. T. connected with the lunar calendar. What may we conclude from this? 3.) The problem of the oblique axis mundi. In folktales the C. T. is usually called "the tree reaching to the sky", and the connection with the celestial pole is not evident. In myths, however, there are many examples of this. The Indian Mount Meru, though at a northern latitude of about 30°, is supposed to be located under the Polar Star. Even the inverted C. T. of the Central African Dogon is still connected with the Polar Star. In these cases, one should expect to find an oblique axis mundi mentioned in myths. This is, however, hardly ever the case. The only clear example for an oblique axis mundi and how it came about I found in Chinese mythology. I wonder whether there are more examples to be found. Besides, my conclusion would be to assume a rather northern origin of the various forms (pillar, pole, tree, mountain etc.) of the axis mundi.

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ON THE INTERCOURSE BETWEEN INDIAN AND ARABIC/PERSIAN ASTROLOGY Audrius Beinorius

Vilnius University, Lithuania

In this paper I am discussing the relations (intellectual voyages) between Indian and Arabic / Persian astrological traditions from historical and cultural perspectives. Portions of Indian literature and sciences reached the Arabs either through direct translations from original Sanskrit texts with the help of Indian scholars or indirectly through Persia. From the Indians the Sassanians derived the interrogational (Skr. praśna) branch of astrology and the techniques of military astrology. When the province of Sindh came under the direct rule of Khalif Mansur (753–774 A. D.), there began a direct intercourse between India and the Arabs, and embassies from Sindh paid regular visits to Baghdad; these included scholars who brought with them Sanskrit texts. Works of Indian astronomer Brahmagupta were translated into Arabic and in the following way for the first time introduced the Arabs to astronomy even before Ptolemy’s system. Under Hårūn (786–808 A.D.) another influx of Indian learning took place, and Sanskrit texts on astronomy, mathematics and astrology were translated into Arabic. One of the most important transmitters of a knowledge of Indian astrology to the Arabs was Abū Ma’shar, (787–886 A.D.), who had some direct contact with India and was an early representative of Hellenistic and Iranian astrology among the Arabs. His treatise Kitåb al-madkhal al-kabīr contains Indian material and is, in fact, one of the principle conduits for the transmission of genuine Indian astrological doctrines to the West. According to Aby Warburg, the iconography of decans (Skr. drekåṇas) and horås, as described by Abū Ma’shar, had a considerable impact on astrological illustrations in the West. Indian astrological ideas were spread to Sasanian Iran mainly through the translation of Buddhist texts (like Sårdūlakarṇåvadåna), which contains a summary of the Babyloniainfluenced astronomy and astrology, which was current in India between 500 B.C. and 100 A.D. Furthermore, a number of Indian astrologers visited Baghdad in the Abbåsid period. The most notable of these was Kanaka whose name became a favorite symbol used by intellectuals of the Islamic tradition to indicate the partial dependence of some of their sciences upon Sanskrit sources. Some Muslim astrologers used electional astrology of Indian origin, which consists in deducing the fitting moment for action from the place which the moon then occupies in one of the 28 lunar mansions (manåzil). Al-Bīrūnī, who visited India and composed his account known as Kitåb-ul-Hind in the first half of eleventh century A. D., shows all admiration for the great Indian astronomer Varåhamihira. Al-Kindī, this ‘philosopher of the Arabs’, regarded astrology as an integral part of philosophy (ḥikmah, falsafah), he seeks its basis not only in the mathematical, but in the physical and metaphysical doctrines as well. Although medieval Arabic astrology and astronomy began with the translation of Indian, Iranian and Greeks works, its history after the early ninth century may be said to be a history of the interpretation and improvement of the Ptolemaic theory. After centuries of development of astrology in India, it was joined by a new form of genethlialogy entiteled tåjika, which reveals that Hindus and Muslims shared common intellectual interests. As the name for a branch of genethlialogy the term tåjika refers to Indian adaptations of Arabic/Persian astrology, which was itself a combination of elements from Greek, Syriac, Sasanian, and Indian science. The most noteworthy and popular book on tåjika is the Tåjikanīlakaṇṭ hī composed by Nīlakaṇṭ ha at Kåśī in 1587. This work has spread the knowledge of tåjika throughout all of India, and made it one of the most common systems of genethlialogy in use in the Indian subcontinent in the 17 th and 18th centuries. 93

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Thus, the various examples from Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian sources and a visual material be used it this presentation to display an intimate scientific exchanges between two geographically close but in religious and philosophical sense very different cultural areas. References       

David Pingree, From Astral Omens to Astrology, From Babylon to Bīkåner, Roma: Instituto Italiano per L’Africa e L’Oriente, 1997. E. S. Kennedy, Astronomy and Astrology in the Medieval Islamic World, Aldershot, Ashgate, 1998. David Pingree, Jyotiõùàstra: Astral and Mathematical Literature, A History of Indian Literature, Vol. VI, Wiesbaden, 1981. Sergei Tourkin, “Astrological Images in two Persian manuscripts”, in Pearls of the Orient: Asian Treasures from the Wellcome Library, Edited by Nigel Allan, London: Serindia Publications, 2003, pp.73-85. Arabic Astronomy in Sanskrit. Al-Birjandi on Tadhkira II, Chapter 11 and its Sanskrit Translation, edited, commented and translated by T. Kusuba and D. Pingree, Leiden, Brill, 2002. Srīnīlakaṇṭ hadaivajñaviracita Tåjikanīlakaṇṭ hī, 2nd ed. by M. Jha, Banaras, 1950. (English translation: Acharya Neelakantha’s Tajik Neelkanth, Translation from Sanskrit and Commentary by D. P. Saksena, New Delhi: Ranjan Publication, 2001.) Abū Ma'šar, The Abbreviation of the Introduction to Astrology, edited and translated by Charles Burnett, Keiji Yamamoto, Michio Yano, Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994.

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“WHEN THE GIANT FISH LEAVES THE SKY IT IS TIME TO TRAVEL” Alex Cherney and John Morieson When the Boorong clan in south-eastern Australia saw Otchocut the giant fish set with the sun they knew that the cod in Mille, the big river to the north, had spawned and it was a good time to visit their cousins who lived there to feast on the cod. By now the spring snowmelt had made the river rise and the onset of summer had made the water temperature compatible with successful hatching and a message would have come to invite the families to visit their relations. Thus the Boorong clan would walk northwards to the river, at night to avoid the increasing heat of the day. As they travelled they noted the progression of totemic creator beings from east to west and there would have been great joy at each heliacal rising from those who bore the name of the constellation about to appear. Like their cousins on the river, Boorong marriage law required exogamy, marrying out, so this visit would consolidate such arrangements and also provide an opportunity for gossip for both men and women, competitive pastimes like spear throwing for the warriors and at night-time, the young men would vie with each other at dance, showing off their spectacular techniques. The Boorong might stay for several weeks especially if there was ceremony to take place, such as first initiation for boys or girls. By now the full heat of summer was upon them so on their journey home to proceed at night was the only option. If the northern sky was a progression from east to west, the southern sky was a revolving scene where all the named ancestral heroes were visible for all the time, but sometimes hidden in the treetops. Bunya the possum was very evident at the top of the Southern Cross and every woman’s totem, Yerredetkurrk, the owlet nightjar, is directly opposite in what we call Achernar. Halfway between the two is south so all the Boorong had to do was to keep in line with the halfway point and in three to four days they would be home. This paper will be presented using Stellarium software. In 2010 Alex Cherney, a software programmer and amateur astronomer and John Morieson, a cultural historian who is the chief researcher of the astronomy of the Boorong, decided to put this astronomy into the Stellarium mode. With a small financial grant and some help from skilled designers they completed the task. Both John and Alex are keen to see the astronomy of the Boorong live again by bringing this wonderful gift from the New World back to the Old.

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EVIDENCE OF ASTRONOMY IN MONOLITHS: A CASE STUDY OF ASTRONOMICAL ORIENTATION IN IKOM STONE MONOLITHS, SOUTH EASTERN NIGERIA. Barth Chukwuezi

National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Nigeria

Some stone monoliths and other ancient cultural monuments have the tendency to reflect astronomical alignment and orientation. It is part of the evidence that the ancient were quite aware of varying forms of astronomical knowledge. Ikom is a town in south eastern Nigeria located some kilometers from Calabar in Cross River State Nigeria. In this town, there have been mysterious stone monoliths in the villages of Ikom especially within the Alok community that number over three hundred with phallic and mysterious engraving. The Ikom stone Monoliths have aroused some level of intellectual consciousness and discourse among scholars. Initially it was the discovery of the monoliths that caused stare among intellectual community (Eyo 1980) The findings of such well carved stone monoliths caused a lot of curiosity. It has equally raised a lot of questions such as, who carved them? Were they brought from outside and what are they really meant for or for what purposes were they made? Later there was a follow up of the encoded mysterious symbols of the monoliths which Acholonu has been trying to unravel. Acholonu. (2005) has postulated various historical developments concerning the Ikom monoliths. Part of her theories include that the area where the monoliths are found is the original home of mankind and represents a high degree of past civilization. The monoliths are seen as store house of ancient books and cave library. She equally claims that she could decipher some of the writings on the monoliths which bears semblance of arhmaric language of the East (Asia). There has not been any serious study to examine the astronomical orientation deciphered in the Monoliths. This study is meant to fill that gap and expose the nature of astronomical knowledge encoded in the Ikom monoliths. This paper will be an attempt to discuss the various configuration of astronomical orientation on the Ikom monoliths. Abu Edet (nd) had earlier made a passing remark that there is an aspect of the monoliths which seems to resemble the galaxy in concentric circles. The paper will try to discuss the Ikom Monoliths from astronomical perspective noting the various inscriptions related to astronomical knowledge that could be discerned from the monolith symbols. There is the need to study the various configurations of the monoliths and see how the inscription alignments on the various monoliths respond to astronomical knowledge since there are some monoliths that have a form of astronomical bearing. The study is based on field research that is undertaken on Ikom monoliths and the nature of their astronomical relationship. The monolith is a natural cultural heritage and treasure that is under the preservation of the National Museum where I work. References   

Ekpo Eyo (ed) (1980) Treasures of Nigeria, New York. Ekpo Eyo (1990) Two Thousand Years of Nigerian Art, London. Edet Abu (nd) Ikom Monoliths, unpublished, Doctoral Dissertation, Hokkardy University of Japan. ETHNOASTRONOMICAL VOYAGES IN AFRICA, ASIA, EUROPE AND OCEANIA

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Acholonu C. Probhakar J. (2005) The Gram Code of African Adam, Stone Book and Cave Libraries Abuja. Alfa Publishers.

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HISTORY, CULTURE, MYTHS AND ASTRONOMY:

Évora, Portugal

CONNECTING DOTS

FOR AN INQUIRY BASED SCIENCE EDUCATION Rosa Doran The history of humankind is filled with the wonder of discovery. The minds of kids are prepared for this journey but are not always well tutored to find the path between deep rooted misconceptions. How to build a success story bridging their active inquiry minds to the current knowledge about the Universe that surrounds us. This is a mission the Galileo Teacher Training Programme is undertaking in support of many educators that need to learn how to tutor young minds into the path of discovery. Mixing history, culture and astronomy is a perfect stage to successfully accomplish this mission.

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BASQUE STONE OCTAGONS: OUTLINES OF A FOSSILIZED CELESTIAL AND TERRESTRIAL NAVIGATION SYSTEM R. M. Frank Until now investigations into the nature of Basque stone octagons have focused on their geometry and symbolic architecture, emphasizing, for example, the precise nature of the septarian units of measurements used to lay out the figures themselves, e.g., their radius and perimeter, as well as the way that across the centuries Basque law codes themselves have stipulated that the eight outer stones had to be placed so that they aligned with the cardinal and intercardinal directions. At the same time those stone octagon sites that have been carbon-14 dated, go back nearly 2000 years, revealing considerable cultural continuity across a relatively long period of time (Frank 1999a, b; Frank & Patrick 1993). The carbon-14 dates also indicate that at that early date the conceptual design of the sites was already firmly in place, suggesting that the cognitive origins of the sites go back even further in time. In short, the geometry and architectural design of the octagons can be viewed as one manifestation of a larger cultural complex which, quite remarkably, also included a coordinate system and techniques of celestial and terrestrial navigation whose geographical reach appears to have extended far beyond the Basque Country (Zaldua 1996). Given the complexity of the coordinate system and the unfamiliarity of the units of measurement employed in it, rather than attempting to describe the entire system, this paper will serve to bring into focus several aspects of the investigative process itself and point out possible conceptual parallels holding between the units of measurement used in the coordinate system and older septarian units of measurement found in the Mediterranean zone along with a little studied celestial unit of measurement, the so-called “astronomical stade”, which continued to be employed in astrology, e.g. by Manilius in his Astronomica. Possible future directions for the research project and bibliographic resources will also be discussed. The paper will be divided into four parts: 1) overview of the architectural design of the sites (orientation of the stones, overall geometry and units of measurement employed in their construction); 2) questions raised by the possible relationship of the Basque sites to other megalithic monuments along the Atlantic Façade; 3) description of the septarian units of measurement and how they fit into the celestial coordinate system; and 4) review of bibliographic resources and suggestions for future research.

References    

Frank, R. 1999a. The Basque septuagesimal system. Part I. In: Arnold Lebeuf and Mariusz S. Ziólkowski (eds.), Actes de la Vème Conférence Annuelle de la SEAC, 119-142. Gdansk Frank, R. 1999b. An essay in European ethnomathematics: The social and cultural bases of the vara de Burgos and its relationship to the Basque septuagesimal system. ZDM 31(2): 59-65: http://www.fiz-karlsruhe.de/fiz/publications/zdm/zdm992a.html#frank]. Frank, R. and J. Patrick. 1993. The geometry of pastoral stone octagons: The Basque sarobe. In: Clive Ruggles (ed.), Archaeoastronomy in the 1990’s, 77-91. Loughborough, England: Group D. Publications. Zaldua, L. 1996. Saroeak Urnietan / Seles en Urnieta / Stone Octagons in Urnieta. Urnieta, Gipuzkoa: Kulturnieta, S.A.

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READING ALIEN LANDSCAPES: THICK DESCRIPTION VERSUS EURO-CENTRISM J. McKim Malville

University of Colorado, USA

The ethnographic approach known as “thick descriptions of human behavior” was championed by the anthropologist Clifford Geertz in his The Interpretation of Cultures (1973). Geertz aims to describe (and perhaps explain) not only behavior, but the multiple reasons behind those actions. Or, stated more formally, thick description emphasizes the emic signification of social action. Applied to analysis of astronomy in culture, one may view the sun and moon as signifiers, which can lead the investigator into a deeper understanding of culture. This paper considers examples from three separate culture areas in which the interpretation of astronomical phenomena, guided by modern western scientific perspectives, appears to lead to serious misrepresentations of meaning and function within those cultures. The western perspective that is probably the most dangerous in archaeoastronomy is one that allows consideration of astronomical activities uprooted and analyzed separately from the cultures in which they are embedded. It seems we are able understand much of the today’s research in the natural sciences without reference to the societies that support them, but such is not the case in traditional cultures. Another serious challenge to interpretation arises when there is a different ontological understanding of the natural world, such as within Andean cultures (Bray 2009) Our work in India includes temples, in which measurements of orientations might suggest worship of the equinox sun, were we not informed by interviews with temple priests, consultation of temple texts, or analysis of the solar-lunar calendar (Malville and Swaminathan 2009). In Chaco Canyon excessive attention to orientations of the back walls of great houses, rather than to their primary axes, has led to claims that these structures were primarily aligned to minor lunar standstills (Malville and Munro 2011). A wider perspective spanning the 700800 year time period from Basketmaker III to Pueblo III suggests powerful and persistent symbolic connections with ancestors and migration pathways. Finally in Peru, measurements of soil temperatures on the terraces of the great circular geoglyphs of Moray led to the suggestion that the four terraced basins (muyus) served as an agricultural research station of the Inca. Recent investigations of the hydrology of Moray have shown that such an interpretation can not be correct (Wright et al. 2011). An alternate interpretation suggests that muyus functioned as both huacas and ushnus and may have been places for public ceremonies celebrating the zenith and June solstice sun (Malville 2009, Zawaski and Malville 2010). References      

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Bray, T. (2009). An Archaeological Perspective on the Andean concept of Camaquen: Thinking Through the Late Pre-Columbian Ofrendas and Huacas. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 19, 357-366. Geertz, C. (1973). The Interpretation of Cultures. Basic Books, New York. Malville, J. M. (2009). Animating the Inanimate: Camay and Astronomical Huacas of Peru. In Rubino-Martin, J. A., Belmonte, J. A., Prada, F., Alberdi, A. (Eds.). Astronomy Across Cultures. Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series, San Francisco, pp. 261-266. Malville, J. M, and A. Munro, “Cultural Identity, Continuity, and Astronomy in Chaco Canyon” Archaeoastronomy: The Journal of Astronomy in Culture, in press Malville, J. M. and R. N. Swaminathan 2009, Surya Puja Temples of South India. In Von del Chamberlain, John B. Carlson, and M. Jane Young (eds), Songs from the Sky: Indigenous Astronomical and Cosmological Traditions of the World, Archaeoastronomy: The Journal of the Center for Archaeoastronomy, XII-XIII: 310-319.

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Wright, Kenneth R, Ruth M Wright, and Alfredo Valencia Zegarra, 2011, Moray: Inca Engineering Mystery, ASCE Press, Baltimore, 2011. Zawaski M., Malville J. M. (2007-2008). An Archaeoastronomycal Survey of Major Inca Sites in Peru, Archeoastronomy: The Journal of Astronomy in Culture, XXI: 20-38

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THE COSMOS IN PORTUGUESE POPULAR TRADITION: A BIBLIOGRAPHIC AND FIELD WORK APPROACH Catarina Oliveira Shepherds, farmers and fishermen knew the sky, the stars and constellations, by the same name as their ancestors: setestrelo, morning-star or shepherd's star, the three Marys, Saint Peters Chair or North star. Their observation often provided orientation clues to find their way at sea or inland, predict the weather, and to reckon time, particularly for sowing, harvesting or fishing. Also, Iberian popular tradition, in the form of talismans, prayers and recitations, testifies to former beliefs about the Moon and its malignant influence on children, unless they were protected with proper amulets, or entrusted to its protection as a godmother as in “Oh! Moon, Oh! Moonlight/ Take my little one/ And help me rear/ I am the mother, you are the nurse/ You bring him up/ And I give my breast”. The lunar determinism also found its way into popular awareness of its influence on vegetation growth, weather, tides or childbirth, as in “Full Moon/ New Moon/ High Tide at Noon”, “Start nothing on a waning Moon” or “Moon to bed, sailor up/ Moon up, sailor to bed”. Many such references or proverbs can be found in a rural Almanac “Borda d’Água”, widely distributed and published since early 19th Century, and constitute an example in popular wisdom persistence in the meteorological and agricultural areas, particularly those involving the Moon. Also, the Sun (popularly recognised as ambiguous: it creates and kills, it heals and deteriorates) persisted in rural societies as an object of cult in the form of prayers or festivities. All over the country it is still saluted at sunrise as “There comes Manel/ the creator”, and some practices are prohibited (do not point your finger at the Sun or do not look straight at it). Excessive exposure results in evil deeds, particularly in children (“sun-hot-head”), and may require a healer to bless away the spell. From the sky man also derived the various cycles, organized calendars and celebrated ritual festivities (as Christmas, Easter and S. John's) at solstices and equinoxes. Popular astronomy and meteorology were relevant topics in pioneer Portuguese ethnography between late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and some valuable documents referring to celestial bodies were then produced. Presently, very few researchers have devoted their attention to this significant literature, except perhaps that involving the Moon. New research, particularly systematic fieldwork, is needed. Oriented interviews, amongst present day shepherds, farmers and fishermen, in well defined regional areas, where astronomical or meteorological phenomena are relevant to their trade, calendar or popular religiosity, will certainly contribute to evaluate the present stage of this knowledge and of its relation to ancient beliefs, and on how social groups have perceived and integrated their knowledge about the sky into their day-to-day life and cosmic-vision. References 

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Belmonte, J. A. y Sanz de Lara, M. 2011, El Cielo de los Magos, La Marea, Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

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Espírito-Santo, M. 1990, A Religião Popular Portuguesa, 2ªed, Assírio & Alvim, Lisboa. Junqueiro, A. 1902, “Astronomia e meteorologia rústica” e “Astronomia e meteorologia pastoril” in A Tradição. Revista mensal d’ethnographia portugeza, Vol. IV, nº 7, Julho, Serpa. Lopes, A. 1996, O Percurso de Selene. A Lua na Tradição Popular, Santarém. Vasconcelos J.L. 1986, Tradições Populares de Portugal, 2ª edição, INCM, Lisboa.

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EAST ASIAN ASTRONOMY-ASTROLOGY: WHICH WAY DIFFUSION, IF ANY? David Pankenier

Leigh University, USA

This talk will explore the question of mutual influences between the cultural astronomies of China and West/South Asia in the early period. Earlier studies, influenced strongly by the PanBabylonianism of the first part of the 20th century, claimed to discern significant influence on Chinese astronomy and astrology from Mesopotamia and/or India. We will re-consider the possibility of mutual influences, whether east to west or west to east, in the light of more recent research.

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BOSCOVICH, THE BRERA OBSERVATORY AND THE ENLIGHTENMENT Elio Antonello During the 17th and 18th century many observatories were builded in Europe by the Jesuits in their schools (Collegii). On1762 the Abbé L. Lagrange moved from that of Marseille to Milan to start professional researches in astronomy and meteorology at the Brera Collegium, where some teachers were interested in astronomical observations. One year later the University of Pavia, nearby Milan, appointed R.G. Boscovich (1711-1787) to the chair of mathematics. At that time the Jesuit Father Boscovich was one the most renowned European scientists; he had just published the second edition of the Theoria Pilosophiae Naturalis. He leaved from the Collegium Romanum on 1764 and when he was in Milan he undertook with much enthusiasm the design of an observatory for Brera. Thanks to the financial resources of the Jesuits themselves and to the political support of the Viennese court (Milan was part of the Habsburg Empire), the Observatory was builded quickly in 1764-1765 and it became one of the most important European observatories of the18th century. It is remarkable that right in those years there was the so-called Milanese Enlightenment (C. Beccaria, P. Verri), a very significant period for the whole Italian culture. In 2011 we are celebrating the third centenary of the birth of the Dalmatian scientist Boscovich, “one of the most remarkable and neglected figures in the history of modern European science” and whose “influence was wide and deep, especially in Britain, where Faraday, Maxwell and Kelvin would record their indebtedness to its inspiration” (Barrow, 2007). From 2005 a project is going on in Italy for the publication of all his works, books, papers, manuscripts and letters (National Edition); see e.g. www.edizionenazionaleboscovich.it (in Italian) and the international conference site (Boscovich Conference 2011; in English). www.edizionenazionaleboscovich.it/index.php/conference.html References 

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Barrow J.D., 2007, New theories of everything, Oxford University Press

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ASTRONOMY AND THE “AZULEJOS” OF PORTUGUESE JESUIT COLLEGES Rosário Salema de Carvalho, Samuel Gessner and Luís Tirapicos In Portugal several religious orders used tile panels (azulejos) to decorate various areas of their colleges, especially in the second quarter of the eighteenth century. Particularly, the colleges of the Society of Jesus in Lisbon and in Évora present large scale use of this decoration technique. The iconography addresses diverse philosophical, historical and mathematical topics, allegories and gentry life. But to some extent it was directly illustrative of the subject matters taught in various chairs. In Lisbon, in the Aula da Esfera (Hall of the Sphere) of the Santo Antão College, astronomy is one of the major subjects. In Évora, at Espírito Santo College, there is also a class room adorned with astronomy and geometry topics. In this presentation we will analyze the iconographical program of the Jesuits for these parietal decorations and relate them to the Society’s astronomical practice and teaching. In particular, we shall reveal various printed sources used by the artists in the compositions of these panels. The College of Évora is the best example of a massive application of tiles in class rooms or ceremonial halls, which are all distributed around a cloister. The art historian Santos Simões (1979) had proposed to distinguish two distinct periods of intervention, separated by the year 1748. The first set of panels would have been ordered between 1744 and 1747 and the second from 1749 onwards. However, in 1994 the discovery of new documents allowed dating the decorative intervention to an earlier period. According to Sanches Martins (1994), the annual letters allow us to conclude that the tile panels were ordered and applied some years before, between 1734 and 1737, and last 1749. During these years, each room class was modified and benefited from a new cathedra for the professor and from tile panels that covered the walls depicting the topics studied during the respective courses. Unfortunately, we do not have any documents to date the tile panels of the Aula da Esfera in Lisbon, but it is probable, given their stylistic features, that they were executed during the decade of 1740. Although the themes are similar and the same engravings were used for the composition of both sets of tile panels, in Lisbon and Évora, we think that there are many differences between these two iconographic programs. These differences seem to be related to the distinct study programs. In Évora, each class room features its own summary of the matters studied within it. Nevertheless the depictions were merely illustrative and not for didactic use, and actually the students sat down on the benches with their backs to the tiles. In Lisbon, the tile panels with scientific themes are applied only (at least they are the only that survived the great earthquake of 1755) at Aula da Esfera, which has a magnificent appearance and can be understood as equivalent to a stage decoration for the public events realized in the college, not only aimed at the students but equally at the attending nobles of the city. So these tiles are communicating a more comprehensive message, related with the exaltation of the Society's role in history. The tile panels from the Évora and Lisbon Colleges, which cannot be exhaustively studied here, will be approached from an interdisciplinary viewpoint that links History of Science, Scientific Instruments Studies and Art History, in order to clarify and explain the iconographic programs of the classrooms. We hope that this research about the iconography of astronomy in both colleges is another important step towards a complete study of these tile panels. 107

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ALMASQUÉ, Isabel; António José Barros VELOSO, Hospitais Civis de Lisboa: história e azulejos, Lisboa, INAPA, 1996. LEITÃO, Henrique, “Azulejos que testemunham uma tradição de ensino científico”, Azulejos que ensinam, Coimbra, Museu Nacional de Machado de Castro/Universidade de Coimbra, 2007. LEITÃO, Henrique, A Ciência na «Aula da Esfera» no Colégio de Santo Antão 1590-1759, Lisboa, Comissariado Geral das Comemorações do V Centenário do Nascimento de São Francisco Xavier, 2007. MARTINS, Fausto Sanches. A Arquitectura dos Primeiros Colégios Jesuítas de Portugal: 15421759 – Cronologias – Artistas – Espaços, PhD thesis, Universidade do Porto, 1994. MECO, José, O azulejo em Portugal, 2ª ed., Lisboa, Publicações Alfa, 1993 [1989]. MENDEIROS, José Filipe. Os azulejos da Universidade de Évora. Évora, Universidade de Évora, 2002. SIMÕES, João Miguel dos Santos, “Alguns azulejos de Évora”, A Cidade de Évora, Ano II, n.º 5,, Évora, Dezembro de 1943, pp. 3-17; n.º 6, Março de 1944, pp. 78-86; n.º 7-8, Junho/Setembro de 1944, pp. 41-52; n.º 9-10, Ano III, Setembro/Dezembro de 1945, pp. 91-104, publicado em Estudos de Azulejaria, Lisboa, INCM, 2001, p. 44 and ff. SIMÕES, João Miguel dos Santos, Azulejaria em Portugal no século XVIII, Lisboa, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 1979.

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EVANGELISTA TORRICELLI AND ASTRONOMY Rosa María Herrera

APYCE, Madrid

rosam.herrera@telefonica.net

In the classical history of science, Evangelista Torricelli (1608-1649) appers inextricably linked to the "origin of modern science" and so he is the prototype of pure Galilean. Convinced Copernican, but officially devoted to other scientific activities less risky. In my opinion, he was more interested in some aspects of Astronomy than is usually thought (and probably he worked hard). In this talk I will present three main aspects: a) On the one hand, in the daytime Evangelista Torricelli was the court mathematician in Florence, academic, lecturer, prestigious mathematician... and simultaneously an important telescope-lenses maker, craftsman and businessman perfectionist and competitive; in the two tasks he was a meticulous man. b) On the other hand, at night „he looked at the stars‟ . He was well acquainted with the ideas of Descartes, which was probably closer than his own mentor, Galileo Galilei. c) And thirdly, although he demonstrated the existence of a vacuum in his most famous work “The Barometric Experiment”; it is not clearly observed that he had made use of this finding in their astronomical studies and also it not seems to me that he would have considered the rich range of ideas that his own discovery put at their disposal and did not benefit intellectually in his cosmological conceptions about the structure of the Universe. These aspects will be applied to the study of his scientific contributions to the field of Astronomy (specifically to astronomical observation: telescope lenses).Finally I propose a question: how far he would have been reached by combining their ideas about the vacuum, with Kepler ideas on planetary motion? References      

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Belloni, L. Torricelli, Evangelista “Scienziati e tecnologi: dalle origini al 1875, vol III”, Mondadori, Milán, 1976 Ghinassi, G. Lettere fin qui inedite di Evangelista Torricelli precedute dalla vita di lui, Faenza, 1864 Herrera, R.M. Evangelista Torricelli, el peso del aire, en preparación, Madrid, 2011 Monconys, B. de Journal des voyages de Monsieur de Monconys, chez Horace Boissat et George Remeus, Lyon 1665 Taton, R. L’annonce de l’expérience barométrique en France Revue d‟ histoire des sciences et de leurs applications T. 16, 1963 Torricelli, E. Opera geometrica, Landi e Massa, Florencia, 1644; Lezione accademiche, Giuiducci e Franchi, Florencia, 1715

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MANUEL DIAS AND THE TIANWENLÜE: A 17TH CENT. DIALONGUE ON ASTRONOMY BETWEEN EUROPE AND CHINA Henrique Leitão and Rui Magone

Universidade de Lisboa

The Tianwenlüe (Epitome of Questions on the Heavens, 1615) is a summary of European cosmographical and astronomical knowledge written in Beijing by the Portuguese Jesuit missionary Manuel Dias (1574-1659) and Chinese collaborators. It is a text in the tradition of the commentaries on Sacrobosco’s Sphere with the special interest of presenting for the first time in Chinese a description of Galileo’s telescopic observations. Written as a dialogue between two scholars, a Western and a Chinese, it is one of the very first texts produced by the European missionaries in China that is not merely a translation of Western materials but truly a new composition that reflects a good acquaintance of Chinese astronomical tradition and tries to engage in dialogue with it. Not surprisingly it turned out to be a very influential text with wide diffusion and several editions. The Tianwenlüe stands out as an exceptional example of the complex process through which two scientific traditions tried to understand and to come to terms with each other.

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GODS, DEMONS AND DECEIVERS:

Évora, Portugal

JESUITS FACING CHACO SKIES

Alejandro Martín López During the 18th century, the Jesuits established a series of missions in what nowadays is the Argentine Chaco (such as San Javier in 1743, San Jerónimo del Rey in 1748, San Ignacio de Ledesma 1756, San Pedro in 1764, Jesus of Nazareth Inspín in 1766). This missions are lees known that the ones among the Guarani and also had a shorter duration. However, they were extremely important because they were located at a border area, which was thought by the Europeans and creoles of that time as a wild and unknown region. In this territory lived huntergatherers aboriginal groups which were organized in small bands; these groups had adopted European cattle and the use of horses. Also, they had complex relationships with colonial society: on the one hand, they frequently made armed raids against Creole border towns and on the other hand, they traded -especially cattle and horses- with colonial settlements. In this context, several Jesuits who settled in this region produced texts that describe their experiences. In them, they discussed sky conceptions of the aboriginal groups that lived in Chaco region. These reports were made in the context of the evangelization task. One of the concerns that these texts expressed was the search for local deities or vocabulary referring to divinity. Many of these authors referred that they did not found any of them. This strange fact certainly had an impact in the Jesuits descriptions about aboriginal skies. Jesuits’ opinions about the aboriginal celestial space were not only mediated by Christian ideas about heaven but also, by the baroque view of the Greco-Roman conceptions of the sky, especially the ones suggested by Ovid. Moreover, these texts were written mostly after the Jesuits’ expulsion and thus they had an apologetic intent. Certainly, they sought to honor the work of the Jesuits missionaries, which sometimes leaded them to exaggerate the difficulties of the missionary task. However, they also tried to show the aboriginal people as beings that, with the right guidance, could be good Christians and loyal subjects. This intent also influenced the ways they used to present the aboriginal conceptions about the sky. Framed by these tensions, the Jesuits descriptions of Chaco skies range from the evemeristic opinion that the aboriginal skies were populated by old and heroic ancestors, to the idea that it was the devil who these groups worshiped in the stars. Halfway between these positions, we can locate the argument of “the warlocks as deceivers”, which is widely used in the context of the struggle against shamanism. References     

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Acosta, J. d. (1954[1590]), Historia natural y moral de las Indias, Madrid, Atlas. Báez-Jorge, F. (2000), "La satanización de las deidades mesoamericanas (perversiones y fantasías en el imaginario colonial)", Revista Académica para el Estudio de las Religiones, Tomo III: Ritos y Creencias del Nuevo Milenio: 19-40. Cañizares Esguerra, J. (1999), "New World, New Stars: Patriotic Astrology and the Invention of Indian and Creole Bodies in Colonial Spanish America, 1600-1650", The American Historical Review, 104(1): 33-68. Dobrizhoffer, M. (1967-69[1783]), Historia de los abipones, Resistencia, Universidad Nacional del Nordeste, Facultad de Humanidades, Departamento de Historia. Guevara, J. (1969[1764]), "Historia del Paraguay, Río de la Plata y Tucumán", Colección de obras y documentos relativos a la historia antigua y moderna de la Provincias del Río de La Plata. Ilustrados con Notas y Disertaciones por Pedro De Angelis [1836]. Con prólogo y notas de Andrés M. Carretero, P. De Angelis, Buenos Aires, Editorial Plus Ultra, Tomo I: 499-830.

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Jolis, J. (1972 [CA 1789]), Ensayo sobre la Historia Natural del Gran Chaco, Resistencia, María Luisa Acuña (trad.), Ernesto J. A. Maeder (estudio preliminar), Universidad Nacional del Nordeste, Facultad de Humanidades, Instituto de Historia. Lozano, P. (1941[1733]), Descripción Corográfica del Gran Chaco Gualambá, Tucumán, Departamento de Investigaciones Regionales, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Paucke, F. (1942-44[1749-1767]), Hacia allá y para acá (una estada entre los indios mocovíes), Tucumán, Universidad de Tucumán. Sánchez, S. (2002), "Demonología en Indias. Idolatría y mímesis diabólica en la obra de José de Acosta", Revista Complutense de Historia de América, 28: 9-34. Santamaría, D. (1994), Del tabaco al incienso. Reducción y conversión en las Misiones Jesuitas de las selvas sudamericanas siglos XVII y XVIII, Jujuy, Argentina, Centro de Estudios Indígenas y Coloniales. Schofield Saeger, J. (1985), "Another View of the Mission as a Frontier Institution: The Guaycuruan Reductions of Santa Fe, 1743-1810", The Hispanic American Historical Review, 65(3): 493-517. Vitar, B. (2001), "La evangelización del Chaco y el combate jesuítico contra el demonio", Andes(12): 201-222.

HISTORY OF ASTRONOMY: AN ENCOUNTER OF CULTURES

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ARCHAEOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY: A 300-YEAR VOYAGE Jody Morellato This presentation contributes to a wide-ranging scholarship over several years involving various advanced academic institutions, mainly in the UK and European context. Institutions such as the British Academy or Royal Society, and the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (in Italy) have acted as forums for the bringing together of the two themes, Archaeology and Astronomy, organizing regular meetings with distinguished colleagues from around the world in order to establish a point of convergence and the promotion of interdisciplinary research. Integration is necessary not only among scholars of archeology and astronomers, but also across disciplines historical, anthropological, ethnographic and topographic. This text attempts to describe the attempts to form links which took place from the beginning of the eighteenth century to 1980s. By opening with a citation of a controversial text, it will be shown how the origins of this research are lost in the ambivalent histories of its early pioneers: eclectic characters (John Aubrey, William Stuckeley, William Chapple) representatives from the distant scent of simple modern mirages imaginative. As the presentation develops, it will be noted how the work takes an increasingly precise and authoritative form. Quotations and texts consulted (Clive Ruggles and Michael Hoskin, Juan Antonio Belmonte, Giuliano Romano, Vittorio Castellani) combine to create a history that develops not only in a linear time, but also a growth in complexity and tone. Through two interesting moments: during the early twentieth century (Norman Lockyer, Heinrich Nissen, Francis Penrose), but especially at the turn of the 1970s (Alexander Thom, Gordon Childe, Richard Atkinson) it almost seems that a dialogue may be possible and that the wall of separation between the arts and the sciences might be, at least in this field, overcome. Are we at the threshold of a new discipline? From the 1980s until the present this question has been prudently left open, in favour of the preparation and relation of an accurate bibliographical survey covering most of the interventions developed by international authors in the field. The submission therefore will consider the congresses on Archaeoastronomy and Cultural Astronomy conducted by the various international scientific societies, at European and national level (ISAAC, SEAC, SIA, ALSSA) and the scientific journals developed by the same (Archaeoastronomy JAC, Archaeoastronomy JHA, Italian Journal of Archaeoastronomy, Culture and Cosmos). The conclusion of this presentation will seek to integrate the history of high academic studies in a broader historical and social context, considering whether it makes sense to admit a role (and possibly what kind of role) to the pseudo-scientific writings with especially high circulation among the public. Although these writings are often an obstacle to a real understanding between the two fields under scrutiny here, they cannot be overlooked when undertaking a more balanced and globally encompassing view seeking a meaning both more complex and consistent with reality, as well as its social phenomena and in the "role" of man in the Cosmos. References  

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ACCADEMIA NAZIONALE DEI LINCEI (2001), L’uomo antico e il Cosmo, 3° Convegno internazionale di Archeologia e Astronomia, Roma, 15-16 Maggio 2000, Roma, Atti dei Convegni no. 171. CASTELLANI V., (2001), “L’uomo antico e il cielo: archeoastronomia e astroarcheologia”, in L’uomo antico e il Cosmo, 3° Convegno Internazionale di Archeologia e Astronomia, 15-16 Maggio 2000, Roma, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Atti dei Convegni no. 171, p. 9-18. HAWKINS G. S., (1963), “Stonehenge Decoded”, in Nature, no. 200, p. 306-308.

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HAWKINS G. S., (1964), “Stonehenge: A Neolithic Computer”, in Nature, no. 202, p. 1258-1261. HOSKIN M., (2001), Tombs, Temples and their orientations. A new perspective on Mediterranean Prehistory. Ocarina Books Ltd, United Kingdom. trad. it. HOSKIN M. (2006), a cura di CODEBO’ M., Stelle e Stele. Orientamento di tombe e templi preistorici del Mediterraneo. Ananke, Torino. LOCKYER N. J., (1906), Stonehenge and Other British Stone Monuments Astronomically Cosidered, MacMillan, London. PEDERSEN O., (1982) “The present position of Archaeo-astronomy”, in HEGGIE D. C., (1982), Archaeoastronomy in the Old World, papers presented at international symposium on archaeoastronomy Oxford 1st, Queen’s College, 4-9 September 1981, Cambridge University Press, Oxford, p. 265-275. PROVERBIO E., (1989), Archeoastronomia. Alla ricerca delle radici dell’astronomia preistorica, Grafiche Milani, Segrate, Milano. RUGGLES C. L. N., (1999), Astronomy in Prehistoric Britain and Ireland, Yale University Press, New Haven and London. RUGGLES C. L. N., (2000), “Ancients Astronomy - Ancients Worlds” in Archeoastronomy Supplement to Journal for the History of Astronomy (JHA XXXI, 2000), Science History Publications ltd., Cambridge, no. 25, p. S65-S76. RUGGLES, C. L. N. 2005. Ancient astronomy: an encyclopedia of cosmologies and mith, ABCCLIO, Santa Barbara, California. THOM A., (1955), “A Statistical Examination of the Megalithic Sites in Britain”, in Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series A (General), London, vol. 118, no. 3, p. 275-295.

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Évora, Portugal

THE ROLE OF CULTURAL ASTRONOMY IN BRIDGING SNOW’S “TWO CULTURES”: SOME ITALIAN EXPERIENCES V. F. Polcaro Cultural Astronomy is an interdisciplinary science, needing the knowledge of astronomers and the one of human scientists, such as, according to the specific topic under study, archaeologists, historians, linguists, anthropologists and sociologists. On the other hand, Cultural Astronomy can give strong contributions to all these disciplines. It has been often highlighted the great importance that the ancient civilizations attributed to celestial phenomena and the analysis of the testimonies of this interest can greatly help the understanding of the mankind past history. The documented coincidence with identified astonishing astronomical events (such as eclipses, transits of periodical comets, etc.) is a powerful way to date historical events. The comparison between the descriptions of the same astronomical phenomenon by observers of different cultural environments allows to identify the differences and the analogies in their “world vision”. Furthermore, Historical Astronomy, devoted to the recovery of astronomical information from pre-telescopic age documents, is a powerful tool for astrophysical studies, giving precious information concerning historical supernovae, novae and "Luminous Blue Variables" outbursts, the orbits of periodic comets, ancient meteoric impacts and, in general of all the astronomical events bright enough to be observed “naked eye”, extending of centuries the data bases available for these studies (Polcaro & Polcaro, 2009). However, Cultural Astronomy can have a further, essential role: it can actually be of great benefit in bridging the Snow’s “Two Cultures” (Snow, 1956). Actually, to date, the breakdown of communication between sciences and humanities is a major hindrance to solving the problems of modern society: more and more often, present world’s problem have scientific and human aspects (it's enough to think of ecology!) and attempts of a merely technical or “political” solution can have sometimes disastrous results. Cultural Astronomy shows as scientific knowledge is a figment of the needs of the society where it is produced, exposing the claim of the “neutrality of science” (see, e.g. Geymonat, 2006). On the other hand, Cultural Astronomy also shows as mankind, since the beginning of civilization, made use of precise observations and sophisticated technical devices in order to solve his material and cultural problems, thus proving also the futility of an anti-scientific approach to the present day problems. Furthermore, Cultural Astronomy can be an instrument to introduce basic concepts of Positional Astronomy, Statistics, Theory of Measurements and other mathematical and physical sciences by using fascinating examples from ancient monuments and not boring lessons and blackboards filled by formulas, giving a strong help to the diffusion of the “scientific literacy”. This work will present a number of experiences of the author in promoting the knowledge of Cultural Astronomy within teachers and students of Italian upper-schools, as well as to inhabitants of many Italian towns where important cultural heritage of astronomical interest is often neglected. These experiences include public lectures on various topic concerning Cultural Astronomy and the confutation of pseudo-sciences in some ways connected with Astronomy (such as the so-called “2012 Maya prophecy”), naked eye observations of the sky, guided visits to megalithic complexes in Southern Italy, lesson of Statistics for PhD courses in Archaeology and “hand-on” experiences of Positional Astronomy for schoolboys. 115

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References   

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Polcaro A, Polcaro VF. (2009). Man and Sky: Problems and Methods of Archaeoastronomy. Archeologia e Calcolatori, vol. 20; p. 223-245 Snow, C. P., 1956, “The two Cultures”, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (U.K.) Geymonat L., 2006, Lineamenti di filosofia della scienza, UTET Università, Turin.

HISTORY OF ASTRONOMY: AN ENCOUNTER OF CULTURES

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Évora, Portugal

FROM CONFRONTATION TO ACCOMMODATION: THE CULTURAL DIMENSION OF EUROPEAN ASTRONOMY IN CHINA (1583-1840) Yunli SHI

University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei

The arrival of Jesuit Missionaries in China in the late 16th century marked the beginning of the very first direct cultural contact between China and Europe, and astronomy became a key medium in this grand dialogue between the two major different cultures on this planet. Except the inevitable conflicts in technical aspects of the Chinese and European astronomical systems which were easier to negotiate and resolve on an empirical base, the most difficult clashes occurred in the cultural dimension, where different values in essential ideology and world view were involved. In this presentation I will first review the process of the dissemination and official adoption of European astronomy in China, and then focus on the cultural impacts incurred by this process. Based on a number of Chinese ideologues’ criticism of European astronomy, I will try to show the cultural issues caused not only by the European concepts such as the rotundity of the earth and the division of the heaven into different celestial spheres, but also by the question whether it was legitimate to adopt an astronomical system invented by a people far removed from the center of Chinese civilization. Finally, I will try to discuss how these issues were resolved which successfully turned the cultural confrontation into a cultural accommodation. I will venture to conclude that except resorting to the belief in the “Chinese origin of Western Sciences”, the most important step was the direct intervene of the Kangxi Emperor, who with the power of the “son of the heaven” claimed to have built an new “imperially made” system of calendrical astronomy by casting both Chinese and Western traditions into one mold.

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ASTRONOMICAL NAVIGATION: AN ENCOUNTER OF WORLDS

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STAR LINES AND STONES Bernadette Brady

University of Wales Trinity Saint David

The archaeoastronomy approach to ancient monuments tends to focus on the calendrical horizon events of the sun and the moon and, largely due to problems with precession, ignores the stars. However, locating the positions of the sun’s solstice points on the horizon can have other uses apart from calendar and/or spiritual purposes. In the 3rd century BCE the Greek poet Aratus wrote the Phaenomena, one of the early works which described the heavens and the constellations. In one section of this poem Aratus traced the lines of the equator and the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn through the starry heavens, pointing out the lines of stars whose declinations defined these great circles [1]. However, in 1999 Zhitomirsky argued that many of Aratus’ star positions were not from his era (the 3rd century B.C.) but rather from the 3rd-2nd millennia B.C.E. Zhitomirsky found around half of the stars listed by Aratus were only at the declinations of the great circles of the celestial sphere for times of far earlier epochs. Based on this evidence Zhitomirsky suggested that Aratus was actually recording a much earlier oral tradition [2]. Further evidence of this ancient view of the heavens as bands or lines of stars is contained in the Enuma Elish, the Babylonian creation myth, where the three gods or sky entities appear to be a mythic description of the equator and the two tropics [3]. This paper therefore proposes that ancient monuments with alignments to, for example, the solstices were also aligned to tracing out the line of stars which all had the same declination and thus would rise or set at that the same azimuth. These markers would give navigational knowledge, for knowledge of such a star line would enable travel in unknown landscapes as well allow the orientation of one site to another. Indeed Lewis points out that such a system of star and stone alignments was a feature of Polynesian and Micronesian astronomy and navigation where stones were used to point to bearings of distant islands in order that the band of stars marking this azimuth could be studied [4]. Additionally this paper argues that this use of stars and stones would have been immune to the problems of precession, as the sites themselves would allow for a continual re-calibration of the star lines at a particular azimuth. Finally this paper puts forward the idea that such orientations of stones and landscape would not be limited to marking calendar events but could be markers of star lines that defined other locations, other communities, and other voyagers. References    

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[1] Aratus. Phaenomena. Translated by Aaron Poochigian. Baltimore, USA: John Hopkins University Press, 2010. [2] Zhitomirsky, S. "Aratus' "Phaenomena": Dating and Analysing Its Primary Source." Astronomical & Astrophysical Transactions 17 (1999): 483-500. [3] Hunger, Hermann, and David Pingree. Mul.Apin: An Astronomical Compendium in Cuneiform, Archiv Für Orientforschung. Beiheft 24. Austria: Verlag Ferdinand Berger & Sohne Gesselschaft M.B.H, 1989. [4] Lewis, D. "Voyaging Stars: Aspects of Polynesian and Micronesian Astronomy." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences 276, no. 1257 (1974): 133-148.

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THE PROBLEM OF LONGITUDE IN THE 18TH CENTURY:

JORGE

JUAN, ANTONIO DE ULLOA AND THE EXPEDITION OF THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES TO THE KINGDOM OF PERU Manuel Pérez Gutiérrez

University of Salamanca

Jorge Juan and Antonio de Ulloa, captains of the Spanish navy the Midshipmen's Royal Academy were named by Pa o, the secretary of the king Felipe V of Spain, to take part in one of the most important scientific expeditions of the 18th century. The question of the shape of the Earth, of vital importance for navigation, was solved by the Academy of Sciences of Paris by request of Louis XV of France in 1735. The objective was to determine the form of the ellipsoid that Newton had described for any spherical and homogeneous body in rotation about an axis in the 17th century. Two expeditions were prepared for the geodesic measure of an arc of meridian in high latitudes (Lapland) and in the equatorial zone (the kingdom of Peru), of the first one Pierre Louis Maupertuis took charge whereas the second one, in which Jorge Juan and Antonio de Ulloa took part, took charge to La Condamine. The results obtained by the Spanish were gathered in a publica on Observaciones astronómicas y sicas hechas en los Reinos del Perú (astronomic and physical observations done in the Kingdoms of Peru). In it, they dedicate a chapter to the determination of astronomic longitude with the only technology that was providing certain precision in the moment: the simultaneous observation of an astronomic phenomenon in two different places. Specifically, in the above-men oned work, Jorge Juan and Antonio de Ulloa explain with very much detail in the Book IIIrd Las Observaciones de la Inmersiones y Emersiones de los satélites de Júpites, como asimismo de los eclipses de Luna; de las cuales de deduce la Longitud de los Lugares, incluyendo las correcciones a efectuar por la variación de la declinación diaria del Sol (The Observations of the Immersions and Emersions of Jupiter’s satellites, since likewise of the eclipses of Moon; of which of it deduces the Local Longitude, including the corrections to effecting for the variation of the daily declination of the Sun). The principal object of this work is to analyze the method and the results obtained in the determination of the length of the principal places of the meridian arc of almost 8o of that they measured in Peru. References  

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Observaciones astronómicas y sicas hechas en los Reinos del Perú. Jorge Juan y Antonio de Ulloa. Madrid, 1748 A voyage to South America: describing at large the Spanish cities, towns, provinces,..., on that extensive continent. Jorge Juan y Antonio de Ulloa. London 1807

ASTRONOMICAL NAVIGATION: AN ENCOUNTER OF WORLDS

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Évora, Portugal

CELESTIAL NAVIGATION IN THE USA, FIJI AND TUNISIA Jarita Holbrook

UCLA

Celestial navigation continues to be a viable form of navigation in communities today. This presentation focuses on the celestial navigation practices found in the curriculum of the United Stated Naval Academy, among fishermen in Tunisia, and among the people living on Moce Island in Fiji. Though practiced today, these celestial navigation traditions have undergone and continue to undergo changes. New navigational technologies are part of the stimulus for change, thus ‘a meeting of different worlds’ is symbolized by peoples encounter with these technologies.

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THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE NAUTICAL ASTROLABE: NEWS FROM A SHIPWRECK IN NAMIBIA José Manuel Malhão Pereira The sea or mariner’s astrolabe has been in use for more than a century and a half, and its physical characteristics were known mainly on account of maritime archaeological findings. This instrument (the adaptation for use at sea of the well known planispheric astrolabe), although very simple, is intimately connected to European maritime expansion and demonstrates that what is needed at sea is the simplest way to perform the difficult task of knowing the ship’s position or at least its latitude with sufficient accuracy. When the pioneer work of David Waters, The Sea or Mariner’s Astrolabe, was published in Coimbra in 1966, the Department of Navigation and Astronomy of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich listed 21 astrolabes. Waters in fact listed 19 when he read his paper in Coimbra. Some years later, in 1983, Alan Stimson read his important paper in Lagos, Portugal, during the IVth International Reunion for the History of Nautical Science and Hydrography, entitled The Mariner’s Astrolabe, a Survey of 48 Surviving Examples. Five years later his well known book, The mariner’s Astrolabe, listed already 66 instruments, being 23 of them of Portuguese origin. And Captain Estácio dos Reis, who has studied deeply this subject, is the person responsible for Portugal to be the country which has the biggest number of marine astrolabes on its museums. The purpose of my paper will be to summarise what is the situation since that time and to call the attention of the scholars present for the importance of marine archaeology for the history of navigation and astronomy applied to navigation, informing the audience on some detaikls about a recent finding in Namibia of a Portuguese ship, which grounding near the foz of the Orange River on its way to India. That ship has probably the earliest known astrolabes, and its almost intact cargo, which has been preserved by the sands of the South West African coast, is waiting the investigation of experts. Owing to the special character of this meeting, I will finally give my own interpretation of the star of Bethlem that guided the Magi to the place where Jesus Christ was born.

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PROTOHISTORIC AND HISTORICAL ATLANTIC NAVIGATION: UNPUBLISHED ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES IN AZORES AND ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL ORIENTATION OF SOME MONUMENTS RIBEIRO, Nuno1 e 2, JOAQUINITO, Anabela1 e 2. PIMENTA, Fernando. 3, SAUREN, Herbert4 RODRIGUES, António Félix.5, COSTA, Antonieta.6, PEREIRA, António Sérgio1., JULIANO, Maria de Fraga5, FERNANDES, Joaquim. 7, FREITAS, Ricardo. 8, VENTURA, Ricardo, 9 TIRAPICOS, Luís.3 e 10 , SMITH Andrew11 1 – Archaeologists of Portuguese Association for Archaeological Investigation (APIA) 2 – Phd students in Prehistory and Ancient History at the University of Salamanca (Spain) and "Autónoma de Lisboa" (Portugal). 3 – Co-Director of the APIA Archaeoastronomy Department 4 – PhD University of Louvain (Belgium) 5 – PhD Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of the Azores (Portugal) 6 – Ph.D. in Social Psychology of Organizations, at ISCTE (Higher Institute of Labour and Company), 1998 CITCEM – Center for Transdisciplinary Research, Culture, Space and Memory - (Portugal) 7 – PhD University Fernando Pessoa (Porto) 8 – Architect - APIA – Santa Maria Island (Azores) 9 – Architect – Department of Architecture of the APIA 10 – Investigator MCUL - Museum of Science University of Lisbon, CIUHCT – Inter-Universitary Center for History of Science and Technology (Portugal) 11–PhD University of Adelaide (Australia), currently part of the Pierre Augin Collaboration, working in the University of Adelaide

The aim of this paper is to present the possibility of sailing in ancient times in the Atlantic, namely in the Proto-historic and Roman period and the contribution of astronomy for the same. We will also present some unpublished data on archaeological sites that are located in the Azores. These data may indicate that in ancient times men did navigate between the Mediterranean and Atlantic in particular between the islands of the Azores, Africa and Britania. We will also present the results of the study of astronomical orientation of some of those archaeological sites. References        

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Agostinho, José 1946: ‘Achados Arqueológicos nos Açores’, Açoreana, volume IV, fascicle. 1,p. 101-102. Agostinho, José 1947: ‘As Moedas Cartaginesas do Corvo’, Boletim do Instituto Histórico da Ilha Terceira, Angra do Heroísmo. Casson, Lionel, 1990: ‘Archaeological Exploration at Corvo’, in Archaeology, May/June 1990, p. 50-55. Frutuoso, Gaspar 1590: ‘Saudades da Terra’ volume VII. Góis, Damião 1567. ‘Chronicles of Prince D. João’, chapter IX. Gomes, Francisco Pimentel 1997: ‘A Ilha das Flores: da Redescoberta à Actualidade’, Câmara Municipal das Lajes das Flores, Lajes das Flores, p. 18-19. Hennig, Richard, 1927: ‘Archäologischer Anzeiger’ p. 11-19. Hennig, Richard, 1953: ‘Erreichnung der Azoren durch die Karthager und die Frage einer Fruher Kenntniss Amerikas’, Terrae Incognitae, vol. III, chap. 19, p. 138, Leiden.

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Humboldt, Alexander von, 1881: ‘Examen Critique de la Geographie du Nouveau Monde’, in File Azores, University of Azores, Ponta Delgada, 1981, facsimile edition by 1881, vol. III, pp. 111112. Isserlin, B.S.J.1984: ‘Did Carthaginian Mariners reach the Island of Corvo (Azores)? Report on the Results of Joint Field Investigations undertaken on Corvo in June 1983’. Rivista Di Studi Fenici Sommari Del Volumi XII,1-1984, p. 31-46. Manfredi, V. 1993: ‘Le Isole Fortunate. Topografia di un mito’. L’Erma di Bretschneider. Roma.113,115. Martin, Alfredo Mederos and Cobo, Gabriel Escrivano 2000: in ‘El Périplo Norte Africano de Hannon y la Rivalidad Gaditano-Cartaginesa de los Siglos IV-III B.C.’, Gérion, nº18: 77-107. ISSN: 0213-0181, p. 92 MEDEIROS, Carlos Alberto, 1987: ‘A ilha do Corvo’, second edition, updated and remodeled, Livros Horizonte, Lisboa. (1st edition, 1967). Millán León, J.,1998: ‘Gades y las navegaciones oceánicas en la Antigüedad (1000 a. C.-500 d. C.)’. Gráficas Sol. Écija-Sevilla, p.138. Pimenta, F. Ribeiro, N., Smith, A., Tirapicos, L. 2009. The Sky and the Landscape of Rock Art in the Ceira and Alva Basins. Cosmology Across Cultures, ASP Conference Series, Vol. 409, 359– 363. Pimenta, F. Ribeiro, N., Smith, A., Tirapicos, L. 2011. Orientation in the Landscape of Open Air Rock Art in the Mountains between Alva and Ceira Rivers: The Podomorph Carvings. In Michael Rappengluck, Barbara Rappengluck and Nicholas Campion (eds.), Astronomy and Power (British Archaeological Reports, 2011). Ribeiro, N. M. DA C. and Huttu, J.1998: ‘«Corredor dos Mouros» – Investigation Report’. In Techne 3 (1997). Arqueojovem. ISSN N.º 0872-6817. Tomar. P. 99-111. Ribeiro, N. 2006. Open air Rock in the Ceira and Alva River Valleys. Some Symbols, Proceedings of the XV World Congress, Session WS34 (Lisbon, 4-9 September 2006), pp. 43-49. v. 25 BAR Internacional Series 1793. 2006. Ribeiro, N., Joaquinito, A., Pereira, S. 2009. Zoomorphic art in the open air rock art complex of the Ceira and Alva rivers basins and adjacent Unhais river basin– Portugal. IFRAO Congress 2009, GLOBAL Rock ART. Ribeiro, N., Joaquinito, A., Pereira S. 2011. ”Phoenicians in the Azores, Myth or Reality? In Abstract book. 15th Symposium on Mediterranean Archaeology Catania University – Sicily. March 3-5th, 2011. Podolyn, Johann Frans 1778: ‘Some notes on the voyages of the Ancients, based on several Carthaginian and Cyrenaican coins found in 1749 on one of the Azores' islands’ in the Göteborgske Wetenskap og Witterhets Samlingar” Volume I, p.106. Sauren, Herbert, 2011:‘Inscriptions Rupestres, ‘Les Exemples dans l’Europe Occidentale’ in,. 7th. International APEC Congress:.Space and Landscape, in the Classical Antiquity and in the Classical Heritage to the Contemporary”2008, Évora Portugal, p.1-60.

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ROUND TABLE: TO WHERE IS ARCHAEOASTRONOMY VOYAGING? ARCHAEOASTRONOMY, CULTURAL ASTRONOMY AND EDUCATION

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NAVIGATING BETWEEN THE SCYLLA OF SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVISM AND CHARYBDIS OF LOGICAL EMPIRICISM: THE CONSTRUCTION OF FACTS IN CULTURAL ASTRONOMY Stanisław Iwaniszewski My intention is to navigate through the debate that can be implicitly found in cultural astronomy today. My question concerns the ‘facts’. ‘Facts’ are literally meaningless unless they become defined or situated within explanations and interpretations of cultural astronomers. Depending on theoretical positions, ‘facts’ are invested with meanings and placed within a context which then leads the researcher to construct ‘facts’. However, this process of contextualization, with the researcher constructing a meaning by uniting apparently unconnected data, is not determined by the nature of evidence, but by a theory used by this researcher to organize and configure the data. The imposition of an explanatory framework derived from hard sciences diminishes human subjectivity, agency, intentionality, or choice, reducing to a large extent our understanding of cultural phenomena. Extending this methodology to cultural astronomy means that ancient skywatchers are described in terms of modern astronomers, stargazing is conceived as an activity analogous to a systematic scanning of the skies, sunwatching stations are regarded as non Western equivalents of astronomical observatories, sundials as something similar to modern watches, etc. Anthropological approaches to cultural astronomy explain that the ways in which we describe the world are not determined by a priori categories, but by the terms derived from various culturally–specific rationalities. Peoples’ concepts of the sky are treated as social-cultural constructs which describe the world ‘out there’ in terms that are subjective, time-limited and culturally specific. However, if the explanatory framework is only culturally provided, then the alternative models or reality constructed by the skywatchers situated within different cultural epistemes cannot be accurately reduced to each other. In the paper I will examine the implications of the role played by our representations of ‘facts’ in cultural astronomy.

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THE VOYAGES OF THE ZODIAC: AN IMPENITENT TRAVELER ACROSS LANDS AND AGES Juan Antonio Belmonte

Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias

jba@iac.es

The Zodiac is one of the oldest humankind astronomical heritages. Indeed, it has a long history and had an impressive cultural influence in the past that could be traced from the steppes of Mesopotamia to the wilderness of the Roman frontiers in Great Britain. In the present essay, we will discuss the origin of the zodiacal constellations in ancient Mesopotamia from their possible prehistoric ancestors in the pre-ceramic context of the 10,000 year old site of Gobleki Tepe to the MUL.APIN cuneiform tablets of the Assyrian Kingdom and beyond (Belmonte and González García 2011; Belmonte 1999). Later on, we will discuss the role that the Zodiac played in the development of the new cult established by King Antiochos I of Commagene in his hierothesion at the summit of Nemrud Dag, where a planetary conjunction in Leo has played a role in the clues to understand the enigmas of such impressive monument (Belmonte and González García, 2010). This will be followed by the analysis of its southwards travel to the Valley of the Nile, where one of the masterpieces of our astronomical heritage was settled on the roof of a temple of the goddess Hathor, we are indeed referring to the famous Zodiac of Dandara (Lull and Belmonte, 2009). Then we will travel westwards to discuss the astronomical aspects of a new religion where astronomical eras and the zodiac ought to play a most relevant role, the Mithraism (Ullansey 1989, Belmonte 1999). Finally, new under development ideas for future research in this most interesting topic will finally be sketched. References   

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Belmonte, J.A. (1999), Las Leyes del Cielo, Temas de Hoy, Madrid. Belmonte, J.A. and González García, A.C. (2010), "An ochos s hierothesion at Nemrud Dag revisited: adjusting the date in the light of astronomical evidence", Journal for the History of Astronomy 41, 469-81. Belmonte, J.A. and González García, A.C. (2010), "Astronomy, landscape and power in eastern Anatolia", in Astronomy and power: how worlds are structured, Proc. of the 18th SEAC Conference held in Gilching (Germany), edited by M. and B. Rappenglueck, BAR Int. Ser., in press. Lull, J. and Belmonte, J.A. (2009), "The constellations of ancient Egypt", in In search of cosmic order, edited by J.A. Belmonte and M. Shaltout, SCA Press, Cairo, 155-94. Ulansey, D. (1989), The origins of Mithraic mysteries, Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford.

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THE VOYAGE OF HUMAN GENES Luísa Pereira

Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto

Essential information about the past of the human species is being provided by genetics, which together with archaeology, anthropology, history and climatology, aims to answer questions related with the origins and migrations of populations. The knowledge about the distributions of genes in space and time is leading to the improvement of models of evolution, as the: single origin of Homo sapiens in Africa and later migration out-of-Africa; colonization of Europe in the Upper Paleolithic, conducting to the replacement of Neanderthals; population expansions in the Late Glacial Maximum from refugia; demic and/or cultural migrations in the Neolithic. In this presentation we will discuss the most recent genetic contributions, mainly derived from high-resolution studies of mitochondrial DNA (only transmitted by females) and Ychromosome (only transmitted by males) diversities. Finally, we will jump from prehistory to history, focusing on the genetic pools of the Portuguese and other historically related populations.

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NAVIGATION, CALENDARS AND TEMPLES: INTERCONNECTIVITIES OF POLYNESIAN SKY KNOWLEDGE Clive Ruggles Fragments of archaeoastronomical evidence from the scattered island environments that constituted ancient Polynesia prior to European contact are starting to provide us with valuable clues about how a distinctive world-view diversified and developed as Polynesians came to colonise a range of distinctive island environments across the Pacific. In broad terms, Polynesian world-view uniquely combines sky knowledge at (what we might well consider) its most pragmatic, i.e. ocean navigation by the stars, with intense ritualistic and symbolic aspects that were reflected in temple architecture, calendrical practices, creation myths and genealogies, and sacred knowledge, some of which survives to the present day. This talk will explore questions about how very different forms of sky knowledge blended together in one part of Polynesia---the Hawaiian islands---drawing on research by the author and colleagues over more than a decade, and particularly in Maui and the Big Island during 2008 and 2009. It will also explore issues about how we arrive at the most robust conclusions given the need to compare and integrate diverse types of archaeological, historical and ethnographic data.

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PARTICIPANT LIST Name A. César González-García Abasali Rustamov Agustina Altman Alba Aller Egea Alejandro Martín López Alex Cherney Anabela Joaquinito André Henriques Andrew Smith Andrey Kuzmin Audrius Beinorius Barth Chukwuezi Benito Vilas Bernadette Brady Cândido Marciano da Silva Catarina Oliveira Claus Clausen Clive Ruggles Daniel Brown Darrelyn Gunzburg David Pankenier Efrosyni Boutsikas Elio Antonello Emília Pásztor Fabio Silva Fernando Pimenta Florin Stanescu Francesco Polcaro Francisco Burillo Mozota Frank Prendergast Georg Zotti Giulio Magli Hans Ketel Henrique Leitão Ivan Sprajc Jarita Holbrook Javier Mejuto Jean-Pierre Martin Joanna Kozakiewicz Jody Morellato Joerg Baecker John Morrieson Jorge Oliveira José Manuel Malhão Pereira Juan Antonio Belmonte Kim Malville

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Email address cglez@iac.es abasrustam@gmail.com a_altman@hotmail.com alba.aller@gmail.com astroamlopez@hotmail.com alex@cher.id.au anabela.joaquinito@apia.pt andre_hen@hotmail.com asmith@physics.adelaide.edu.au akuzmin.acrux@yandex.ru audrius.beinorius@oc.vu.lt bnchukwuezi@yahoo.com vieito4@hotmail.com b.brady@tsd.ac.uk cms@netvisão.pt oliveiracatarina@gmail.com clausjoergen@yahoo.com cliveruggles@btinternet.com daniel.brown02@ntu.ac.uk darrelyn@astrologos.co.uk dwp0@Lehigh.EDU E.Boutsikas@kent.ac.uk elio.antonello@brera.inaf.it pasztoremilia@tolna.net fabpsilva@gmail.com fernando.pimenta@apia.pt smzfls@yahoo.com vitofrancesco.polcaro@iasf-roma.inaf.it faburillo@gmail.com frank.prendergast@dit.ie georg.zotti@univie.ac.at giulio.magli@polimi.it ketel2@xs4all.nl leitao.henrique@gmail.com sprajc@zrc-sazu.si astroholbrook@gmail.com jmejugon@fis.ucm.es Jean.pierre.martin@wanadoo.fr j.kozakiewicz@uj.edu.pl jodymorellato@gmail.com yao.bai@t-online.de starman@vtown.com.au joli@uevora.pt madrugadaiv@gmail.com jba@iac.es kimmalville@hotmail.com

Participant List

SEAC2010 – Stars and Stones Krištof Oštir Leonor Rocha Lionel Sims Liritzis Ioannis Liz Henty Luís Tirapicos Luísa Pereira Mª. Pilar Burillo-Cuadrado Manuel Calado Manuel Pérez Gutiérrez Manuela Revello Marcello Ranieri Marea Atkinson Maria Beltrão Marianna Ridderstad Mariusz Ziólkowski Mary Bloomberg Michael A. Rappenglück Monica Argenta Morgan Sterling Saletta Nicholas Campion Nuno Luz de Almeida Nuno Ribeiro Peter Blomberg Peter Hoare Pulla Rao Rosa Doran Rosa Herrera Roslyn Frank Samuel Gessner Sepp Rothwangl Shi Yunli Stanislaw Iwaniszewski Tore Lomsdalen Vance Tiede Xenophon Moussas

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kristof@zrc-sazu.si lrocha@uevora.pt lionel.sims@btinternet.com liritzis@rhodes.aegean.gr lizhenty@f2s.com ltirapicos@sapo.pt lpereira@ipatimup.pt faburillo@gmail.com caladomanuel@gmail.com manolope@usal.es revimanu@hotmail.com marcelloranieri@tiscali.it marea.atkinson@unisa.edu.au mcmcbeltrao@gmail.com marianna.ridderstad@pp.inet.fi mziolkowski@uw.edu.pl mary@mikrob.com mr@infis.org ponidora@gmail.com msaletta@unimelb.edu.au ncampion@caol.demon.co.uk nuno.luz.almeida@cgd.pt nuno.ribeiro@apia.pt pgh@ventifact.co.uk drkprao@gmail.com rosa.doran@nuclio.pt rosam.herrera@telefonica.net rozfrank14@yahoo.com samuel.gessner@gmail.com calendersign@gmx.at ylshi@ustc.edu.cn siwanisz@yahoo.com tore.lomsdalen@gmail.com vance.tiede@aya.yale.edu xmoussas@phys.uoa.gr

Participant List