Posted on 08/17/2013 4:28:29 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
I read Hamlet’s Mill several years ago. I agree with your statement about the knowledge of people in the past.
They were for it before they were against it. :)
I don’t understand why so many cultures seemed to have an obsessive need to study the night sky. Once you get past figuring out solstices and equinoxes, what did they gain by putting so much time and effort into studying the stars?
Stars were studied for navigational purposes. Navigating over a desert is a lot like navigation on the ocean.
luckily for us, many people are more curious than others...
Also most desert cultures traveled at night due to the intense heat of day. They spent a lot of time at night navigating etc. stars were just there all the time. Have you ever been in the desert on a clear night?
“How noticeable would it have been when it first came into view?”
That’s a good question. Due to precessional effects, my initial research shows that it’s actually pretty damn impressive. Very bright, just over the horizon at 9500 BC, but I need to check more closely the coordinates
“how did they figure that out without direct observation over hundreds or thousands of years?”
The interesting thing is that back in 9100 BC - which is how they arrived at this date - Sirius barely clears the horizon at Gozeli Tepe. Prior to 9100 BC, the precession of the equinoxes is so significant that Sirius actually does not rise over the horizon at Gozeli Tepe. Today, Orion would rise as much East as South - back then it would rise due South.
If a totally new star that was unfamiliar to you and to the society suddenly appeared just over the horizon - this would be a significant event. Especially with it being so bright, even on the horizon.
Earliest rise of Sirius then would be around August 15th, rising at about 6am. Almost due south.
Today its the 7th. The location has moved from due South to ESE.
If they found Sirius in the northern sky that would be reason enough to build a temple.
For the life of me, I can't remember the name of the book, but it starts out with a cry echoing across the Andes because a star that was supposed to rise didn't.
I'm not talking about satisfying a "curiosity" and the length of time I'm talking about would take far more than a few generations (try a hundred). One precessional "age" lasts about 2100 years and it takes 26000 years for all the zodiacal constellations to cycle through the vernal equinox. Other than the Egyptians, there are no known civilizations that lasted more than what, a thousand years, maybe? And even the ancient Egyptians had all kinds of societal upheavals that wiped out great chunks of their learning. So, absent thousands of years of continuous, recorded, direct observation, or a firm understanding of planetary mechanics (which they supposedly did not have), how did the ancients accomplish what they did?
Don’t remember the name of the show on Discovery or Ancient Aliens or whateve, but the subject was the Sphinx and its relation to a star or constellation.
An archeologist/astronomer was making the argument that the physical characteristics of the Sphinx, specifically the evidence of water erosion had to date the massive statue to at least 10,000 years earlier than any of the later Egyptian pharoahs.
He made the argument that the statue’s alignment was toward some star or constellation that was in the Eastern sky at that earlier time. Lion constellation?
As you can see, I don’t remember all the facts exactly, but it was a very interesting program—and the argument about evidence of water erosion seemed persuasive.
Well, I did not know that Sirius was not visible at this latitude for a period of nearly a thousand years. Then it reappeared around 9100 for a very short period. I think that would leave an impression on the society at the time!
There is good evidence that the Sphinx temple, the Sphinx and the Causeway were built upon by the Pyramids.
I am still working on the Thread that talks about the Giant Limestone block quarried and used an a very ancient building at Baalbek....
And there seems to be evidence that the Egypt Pyramid builders had Machines and material ...that have not be understood as of yet
The Monumental Baalbek – The largest building blocks on Earth
The Large Stones are 14 X 14 x 68 feet.
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And see post #11 on the thread for links regarding the Mound Builders in North America.
Due south from Göbekli Tepe? You mean, like, pointed at mecca?
Yes, some 9100 years prior to Christ... very long ago.
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