Posted on 01/15/2024 10:47:58 AM PST by SunkenCiv
Chisel marks on a stone uncovered in Rupinpiccolo protohistoric hill fort from north-eastern Italy were suggested to be a representation of the night sky (Bernardini et al. 2022 Documenta Praehistorica XLIX). The patterns of the 29 marks are analyzed here to establish if they reproduce popular stellar asterisms. Nine marks are found to match the Tail of Scorpius and five the Orion's Belt, together with Rigel and Betelgeuse. Nine marks are found in the approximate position of the Pleiades showing some match with the cluster members. On the back side, 5 marks possibly reproduce Cassiopeia. One mark slightly North of Orion cannot be identified. The 28 marks show a Pearson correlation coefficient (28) with stellar positions higher than 0.99 with a probability of a wrong correlation lower than 0.001. Departures are about one degree, or about 7 mm, as the mean diameter of the marks, which suggests a manufacturing limitation in the charting. The fort dates 1800–400 BCE when Scorpius and Orion showed about the same orientation at the heliacal rising. The unidentified mark challenges the whole picture. We suggest it could have been the progenitor of a failed supernova, thus offering also the possibility of a verification.
Two pairs of stone disks found at the entrances or graveyards of two Protohistoric hill forts from north-eastern Adriatic area have been recently interpreted as ritual artifacts, possibly a representation of the Sun and of the Night Sky (Bernardini et al. 2022). These protohistoric settlements were generally protected by massive stone walls and are known today as castellieri. They were settled for a very long time spanning from the late Early Bronze Age, approximately between 1800 and 1650 BCE, to the late Iron Age (Mihovilić 2013).
(Excerpt) Read more at onlinelibrary.wiley.com ...
An asterism is a pattern of stars that is not a constellation. For instance the Big Dipper is an asterism, part of the constellation Ursa Major. The summer triangle is three bright stars from three constellation prominent in the summer sky.
Thank you for the astigmatism.....................
I would think that ‘constellations’ would be changing over time, as the Universe ‘expands’, etc.
How long has it been ‘constant’ in terms of recognizable constellations, for example.
And do those prehistoric carvings show today’s, or the older constellation versions?
Good call. The star with the greatest known proper motion is red dwarf Barnard’s Star, but all stars are moving in this or that direction from our viewpoint (as we move around the Sun and the Sun moves with the Milky Way rotation, etc). The variations in what we call constellations have been very slight in the past 4000 years. During recorded history there have been three different pole stars, but none of them “stay put”, as it were.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polaris#Role_as_pole_star
My pleasure. The marks were made deliberately, and while I generally take a dim view of archaeoastronomical claims, this looks like a somewhat plausible explanation. :^) As you said, they were thorough.
I learned something today. Thank you.
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