Cosmovisiones / Cosmovisões

A very personal semblance of archaeoastronomy pioneer Professor Michael Hoskin, colleague, mentor and friend

2023-03-08T08:23:00+00:00

Michael Hoskin is the name of a scholar whose memory will remain forever linked to cultural astronomy. Professor of History of Science at the University of Cambridge, in the United Kingdom, where he first specialized in Isaac Newton and his 'Principia'. Later on, he would devoted a great deal of his efforts to the family of William Herschel, with special emphasis on the figure of Caroline Herschel, sister of the discoverer of Uranus and pioneer woman in the world of astronomy, about whom he wrote several books. In 1969, a London publisher asked Hoskin if there was any field of the history of science that was not yet covered by the specialized literature This led to the creation of 'The Journal for the History of Astronomy' [JHA], which Hoskin would edit for 45 years and remains a reference journal in the field. However, his relationship with cultural astronomy, as we conceive it today, began in 1981 when he was President of the IAU Commission on the History of Astronomy. Familiarized with the emerging effervescence in the field, he convened in the university city of Oxford the first of the series of conferences in this discipline that would eventually bear the name of this town, of which the one recently held in La Plata (Argentina) was its 12th edition. A pioneer in archaeoastronomy studies in the Mediterranean basin, his work took him from the island of Cyprus to the Iberian Peninsula and from Brittany to the foothills of the Atlas Mountains, measuring more than two thousand cyclopean and megalithic monuments of all kinds. His work in Sardinia and the Atlantic façade of the Iberian Peninsula is a reference in the field. For three decades, he strove to make the archaeological community aware of the benefits of archaeoastronomy, as one more archaeometry, highlighting its usefulness. Professor Michael Hoskin's connection with the town of Antequera (Spain) and its megalithic monuments, Menga, Viera and El Romeral goes beyond all his research work reflected in 'Tombs, temples and their orientations' his book of reference in the field. His person was chosen as a standard of know-how and of how well-done science can serve to revalue the cultural heritage of a country. The author of this homage interacted for more than a quarter of a century with this Cambridge University professor, who made megalithic monuments one of his vital objectives. This is the story of that relationship while building a paradigm that has turned the Dolmens of Antequera and Talayotic Menorca into World Heritage Sites.

When the Scorpion Climbs

2024-09-26T13:05:01+00:00

Traditional naked-eye astronomy was a rich element of Arab culture that figured prominently in the daily lives of herdsmen, farmers and fishermen, and others (Varisco 2000). These cultural practices were passed down from ancestors to successors, and the knowledge was preserved through oral poetry and rhymed prose, both of them ancient and honored Arab traditions. Abbasid (750-1258 CE) historians were the first to document traditional Arab astronomical knowledge, the most complete extant work being the Kitab al-Anwā’ (1956) of Ibn Qutayba (d. 889 CE). His work and the remnants of other works (see Ibn Sīda 1898-1903; al-Marzūqī 1914; Quṭrub 1985; and al-Ṣūfī 1981) reveal the breadth of application of local star knowledge to the prediction of seasonal weather changes that in turn forecast various elements of floral, faunal and social cycles (Henninger 1954; Pellat 1955; Varisco 1991).

Observed in the waxing twilight of dawn, the cosmical settings of stars were culturally significant and featured strongly in poetry and the Qur’ān, but heliacal risings were prevalent within the medium of rhymed prose (sajʿ). Possibly a precursor to the first forms of classical Arabic poetry, sajʿ featured a rhyme at the end of each phrase without any internal meter or required number of syllables. Within the context of heliacal risings, sajʿ was formulaic, beginning with the phrase, “When [star] rises, …” The rhymed phrases that followed this opening connected the seasonal time of the heliacal rising of the star or asterism with characteristics of the floral, faunal and social activities that were undertaken during that time. This structure made pieces of sajʿ easy to transmit and remember, preserving the intimate knowledge of life in the desert among the Arabs, who observed “the blowing of the winds, the rising of the stars, and the changing of the seasons” (al-Marzūqī 1914, 2:179-180). Attributions of authorship were never identified within the literature that remains extant, indicating that the these rhymed prose sayings developed organically out of Arabian society.

In this paper, the author examines the development of rhymed prose over time for the celestial complex of the Scorpion (al-ʿaqrab) as an example of the ongoing social process of construction of these pieces of rhymed prose and their evolving utility for seasonal forecasting. Over time, there developed pieces of sajʿ for the Scorpion as a whole and for each of its four constituent parts: the Pincer (az-zubānā), the Crown (al-iklīl), the Heart (al-qalb), and the Raised Tail (ash-shawla). The sajʿ for the Scorpion provides insight into the processes of change in social astronomical systems that continue to evolve over time rather than remaining static. As such, these living skies of Arabia are windows into the integral roles that indigenous astronomies play within a society.

Notes on Cyclical Temporality and Two Artefacts among the Toba of Western Formosa and the Pilagá

2024-09-26T12:56:31+00:00

The purpose of this work is to look into the reading that the Toba of Western Formosa and the Pilagá of Bañado La Estrella make of two specific cyclical periods of time somehow related to the celestial space. In the case of the Toba of western Formosa, we will focus on the course of the day, while for the Pilagá of Bañado La Estrella we will analyse the yearly cycle. On this occasion, we seek to examine these time cycles considering the links established with the material culture; both the inherited culture related to “the studies of the ancients” and the material culture taken from or imposed by western society. On the one hand, we will work on two Pilagá asterisms analysed jointly - Dapichi’, which is mostly associated with the Pleiades, and Yaɢayna’di, outlined in what is known as the Belt of Orion. The two asterisms are represented by a progressive string game, i.e. it starts with the creation of a figure followed by another designed without undoing the former. We will study the string game linked to the above asterisms because it represents two celestial objects whose apparent cyclical moves and changes are related to the evolution of a significant time cycle that paced the life of the Pilagá; the yearly cycle. Additionally, this knowledge is part of the lore passed on by the elders and refers to one of the few ways the “ancients” had of representing asterisms. On the other hand, we will delve into another relation between a celestial object and materiality; the relation between the sun and the watch among the Toba of western Formosa. To this end, we will use an element clearly connected with the surrounding society and to which the Toba have become adapted. However, they have adopted the watch on their own terms. Thus, part of the knowledge transmitted by the elders, “the studies of the ancients”, may be read in the way they read and understand the watch, especially the analogue watch.

Taking into account what we have investigated in both indigenous groups, our final objectives are, first, to see how the celestial readings related to the passing of time are linked to materiality, and second, how this relationship keeps changing and updating depending on the social situation, albeit it continues to refer to knowledge associated with their way of understanding the day and yearly cycles.

Astronomy and Culture on the Camino de Santiago

2024-09-26T13:04:37+00:00

During the transition from the first to the second millennium, a new artistic and architectural style known as “Romanesque” emerged and developed in the Iberian Peninsula between the 11th and 13th centuries. Many resources were invested in the construction of churches and monasteries, particularly in the regions crossed by the Camino de Santiago. This pilgrimage road followed the existing communication routes between the different Christian kingdoms of the time, and its sacralization was influenced by thegrowing cult of relics and pilgrimages.

Given the abundance of this architectural style in the northern Iberian Peninsula, and especially along the Camino de Santiago, a statistical analysis of its orientation patterns could provide valuable insights into the potential similarities and differences between Christian regions, as well as the use of the Jacobean route as a gateway and means of spreading new currents from Europe.

Numerous examples of astral iconography have been observed while traveling along the Camino Francés and exploring its Romanesque churches. Decorations on tympanums with the sun, moon, and stars, zodiacs on portals with possible solar symbolism, and legends about the Apostle that involve elements of the sky such as the Milky Way are just a few examples. These decorations and legends highlight the importance of the sky and its heavenly bodies in the religious beliefs of the time.

The churches have also yielded a series of fundamental conclusions, thanks to the archaeoastronomical analysis of their orientations, which reveals two main orientation patterns.

The first and most prominent is Easter, both towards the sunrise or sunset. This is a crucial holiday in the Christian liturgical calendar that seems to have influenced the construction of these sacred places in the Romanesque era. The second orientation pattern is towards the equinox, either ecclesiastical or astronomical. However, equinoctial orientations are mostly present in the ancient kingdoms of Leon and Navarre, while Easter appears with more or less predominance in every kingdom. Such differences and similarities provide a basis for evaluating the influence of local previous traditions, new external currents, and even the gradual introduction of the Roman liturgy in the Iberian Peninsula.

The perspective of cultural astronomy on the Camino de Santiago has allowed to highlight an aspect of this sacred cultural landscape that was previously unknown, endowing the Romanesque churches of the route with an astronomical dimension that was previously unnoticed, and providing a novel view on the potential cultural and religious exchanges that took place between the different Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula during the Romanesque era.

Light Pollution and Its Perception in Rural Contexts of North-Central Santa Fe, Argentina

2024-09-26T12:57:06+00:00

From the perspective of ethnoastronomy, this paper addresses the study of “customs” related to celestial realm present among farmers descendants of European immigrants or “settlers”, settled in towns and rural areas originated as agricultural colonies in the central-northern area of the Argentine province of Santa Fe, from the second half of the nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century. Particularly here, and through our own fieldwork, we are incipiently investigating the relationships with the phenomenon of light pollution that cross the perception of the sky developed by these farmers. These relationships strongly articulate with traditional logics and schemes of classification of the sky linked to the productive tasks of current farmers and their immigrant ancestors who settled in the region during the aforementioned process of colonisation. These traditional ways of organising and structuring their perception, experience and representations of the celestial realm are characterised by a transversal aspect: the establishment of certain consonances between celestial and terrestrial phenomena. In fact, from this traditional perspective, the sky is presented as a space of signs that must be read to determine certain phases of different activities, processes or phenomena considered relevant in the terrestrial area. And as our fieldwork shows, it is in terms of signs that certain manifestations of light pollution present in the skies of the region covered here are read by these farmers. Therefore, the ethnoastronomical contribution of this paper shows how there is an important continuity in the habitus that structures the basis of perceptions, representations and practices linked to the sky within the framework of the agricultural activities of our interlocutors, even though the celestial phenomena or features to be structured have changed or are different. Likewise, this research clearly demonstrates something already pointed out by other authors: the tensions and conflicts that arise when we try to think through the notion of UNESCO’s heritage, the dynamic and multiple nature of conceptions and practices about the sky, as well as the pretended universality of the valuations surrounding the phenomenon of light pollution of the sky. In this sense, the concept of heritage of these international organisations tends to favour static, unchanging conservation. This would imply thinking in terms of “loss” of the cultural and social changes brought about by historical conjunctures, such as, for example, those linked to relations with new features of the sky that have arisen as a result of light pollution. The traditional ways in which the social group addressed here perceives certain manifestations of light pollution are not part of a process of “acculturation”, they are true cultural creations given in a particular historical context.

Time Carved in Stone: Astromorphs in the Rock Shelter of Ayasta, Honduras

2024-09-26T13:04:49+00:00

This paper presents the results obtained from the archaeoastronomical analysis of the rock art of the Ayasta shelters,Honduras. Various motifs have been identified on the walls of these rock shelters, the most numerous of which are anthropomorphic, zoomorphic and geometric. However, archaeological studies and analyses have overlooked motifs that can be clearly related to astronomical phenomena (which we call astromorphics). These include geometric motifs that appear as spirals as well as series of concentric circles. These types of motifs have been widely interpreted as markers of the extreme positions of the sun in the rock art of various locations on the American continent.

Given the peculiar orography of the local horizon and the location of the rock shelter in a narrow valley, the tool used in this analysis is the archaeoastronomical software called Chan U’Bih, developed within the Department of Archaeoastronomy and Cultural Astronomy at the Faculty of Space Sciences of the National Autonomous University of Honduras. Through this software it is possible to carry out simulations that represent the local horizon and solar trajectories. In this way, phenomena of light and shadow on the astromorphics have been identified, as a result of the interaction between the shelter’s roof edge, the horizon line and the Sun’s rays, at the time of the sunrise of this astronomical body on the dates mentioned.

Finally, the data taken from the visits to the shelter during the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere are presented as a way of contrasting the models presented above, and the con- clusions derived from the previous work and analysis are presented, as well as the working hypotheses inferred from the findings to date and the methodology to verify them.

The Relationship Between Architectural Orientations and Worldview in Mesoamerica

2024-09-26T12:56:55+00:00

In Mesoamerica there was an ideal cycle of 364 days linked to the agricultural ritual cycle, anchored in strong worldview conceptions. The evidence is found in documents from the pre-Hispanic and colonial period. J. Eric S. Thompson called it a computing year, mostly because it runs parallel to the year of 365 days. It is a conceptualization of time that consists of a quadripartite division. Space was also part of it, as it´s proven by the presence of the cycle in the configuration of the layout of the settlements and the arrangement of their architectural structures. That is: in the construction of their landscape. It is the building´s orientations that particularly show this cultural phenomenon.

Based on our field work, we propose that the calendrical model of the computing year of 364 days is fundamentally based on the numbers seven and thirteen, as part of its intrinsic division into four quarters of 91 days each (91×4=364). The base is constituted by 7×13=91. The practicality of this association is that the series of seven (séptimas) and thirteen (trecenas) coincide on the solstices and on the quarter days of the year (days used to adjust). We will use solar orientations from Tehuacalco, a site with an occupation between 650 and 1100/1200 AD. Specifically, we will focus on the orientation axes of the stairways of two architectural structures. In other words, Tehuacalco is an emblematic case since, in addition to the series of significant intervals, the fundamental days are present; that is, the quarter days of the year and the solstice. The main temple is specifically dedicated to the seven-day intervals. This was the number that represented the abundance of food and especially maize. Worship must have been conducive to successful agriculture. The Palace has a combination of the numbers seven and nine. The latter was associated with the underworld and the ancestors. With this, a relationship between the ruling and priestly class is deduced. As far as the landscape is concerned, the positions of the Sun to the east take place on the main hill of the site. Cerro la Compuerta is classified as a sacred mountain, especially for its many ritual deposits archaeologically detected. In addition,through graphic colonial documents, we identify this with the god Xipe Tótec, a deity related to maize and the transformation of vegetation cover between March and April, the period in which the quarter days of the year occur (c. March 22-23)

Missing data

2024-09-26T13:06:00+00:00

This short paper focuses on monuments in the Stonehenge landscape, including Stonehenge itself, with the aim of presenting a “modern” picture of these monuments and their astronomy that is consistent with the latest archaeological evidence. While the connection of Stonehenge and other nearby monuments to astronomy is recognized by UNESCO as part of the Outstanding Universal Value of the Stonehenge World Heritage site, the only specific manifestation of this that has achieved broad consensus among archaeologists is the solstitial sightlines, indicated by the main axes of the stone settings at Stonehenge and the multiple timber circles at Woodhenge and Durrington Walls Southern Circle. These sightlines —precise enough to pinpoint the solstice in space although not in time— seem to represent a specific development in this area around the mid-3rd millennium BC.

We proceed to critique some recent papers by well-respected archaeologists proposing (i) that Stonehenge encapsulated key elements of a 365¼-day solar calendar in the numerology of its key features; (ii) that a “mega-circle” of huge pits, over 2km in diameter, was built around the same time as the stone circle at Stonehenge, centred on Durrington Walls Henge; and (iii) that two large pits were placed in the Stonehenge Cursus positioned on the summer solstice sunrise and sunset alignments as viewed from the Heel Stone. We present new evidence to counter (ii) and argue that all these ideas extrapolate well beyond the available evidence and fall foul of basic methodological considerations (e.g., regarding data selection) that have been well known to cultural astronomers since the 1980s.

We finish with a discussion of some open questions. The first is whether Stonehenge and some nearby contemporary monuments might have been placed at locations already perceived as significant because of the approximately solstitial alignment of natural features. Another is how long the solstitial sightlines remained “operational” in the sense of being usable for actual observations, and what this implies for their interpretation —particularly for ideas of solstitial observances involving processions between the different monuments. Third is the possibility that the solstitial orientations evident at and around Stonehenge in the mid-3rd millennium BC might have derived from practices developed centuries earlier in southwest Wales, from which the Stonehenge bluestones were brought. A final question that remains largely unresolved is whether the lunar alignment of the Station Stone rectangle at Stonehenge was indeed intentional and, if so, what was its purpose and meaning. Recent investigations have succeeded in casting some new light on the subject.

What Did it Mean When Knowledgeable Hopi Called the Moon Chief Qahopi?

2024-09-26T13:06:48+00:00

This study uses the methodology of the history of scientific ideas to critically examine several aspects of an unpublished ethnographic discussion in which Alexander Stephen describes nineteenth-century Hopi understandings of the Moon. As is common in the interpretation of early texts, we draw insights into a text's meaning from other writings by the author and his contemporaries.

The Moon Chief is a man—& is so called (Mü^riyawû Moñwi) but does not seem to be held in much veneration, in fact they say he is Kaho’pi = foolish. He has no house– although like the Sun, he carries the Moon on his arm, shield fashion; during his journey [across the sky].

Alexander M. Stephen, (1891-84, 18 Jan. 1894)

Here we draw especially on the ethnographic writings of Alexander Stephen to shed light on how he interpreted Hopi astronomical conceptions of the Sun and the Moon and how he understood the terms Moon Chief and qahopi.

First, we ask what kind of being did Stephen and his knowledgeable Hopi mean when they spoke of the Moon Chief? Next, we ask what does the word qahopi mean or, to use specific examples, what did a Hopi mean when they said that a man or a woman or the Moon Chief or a kind of behavior was qahopi? After having clarified the general meaning of qahopi and identified the nature of the Moon Chief as a spiritual being who carried the Moon across the sky, we ask what aspects of the Moon Chief 's behavior did Stephen's Hopi experts consider to be qahopi? We then ask how, or whether, the qahopi aspects of the Moon Chief 's behavior influenced the form of the Hopi's successful luni-solar calendar. Finally, what light does the fact that some knowledgeable Hopi considered the Moon Chief to lack a house and therefore to be qahopi shed on our understandings of Hopi astronomy and of the astronomy of the Hopi's protohistoric Pueblo predecessors?

In this final section we draw on early studies of astronomies in prehistoric cultures to shed light on the astronomical concepts – principally the lunar standstills – that illuminate the Moon’s lack of a house in Hopi astronomy.

Full moon extreme positions, lunar standstills and the metonic cycle at Cañada de la Virgen archaeological site

2024-09-26T13:05:24+00:00

The purpose of this work is to show the extreme positions of the full moons of June, seen from the main entrance into the enclosed patio of Complex A at the archaeological site Cañada de la Virgen. These positions are discussed in terms of the cycles known as major and minor lunar standstills, as well as the metonic cycle.
Given the publication guidelines, an enormous effort of synthesis had to be made when dealing with the high number of astronomical events and dates that have been worked through the Permanent Program of Celestial Observations at Cañada de la Virgen. For the same reason, I had to limit possible comparative examples that would serve to justify the dates or “date families” detected in the site, with others studied in Mesoamerica.
Nevertheless, the architectural, calendrical and symbolic implications of the pre-Hispanic cosmovision are revealed, as well as the intricate autochthonous astronomical features of the specific cultural region of El Bajío. On the other hand, although there are other examples that deal with the functionality of pyramidal structures acting as a hill or artificial horizon, only Rubén Morante (1996) is cited, since he coined such term while working at Teotihuacán in central México.
The different lunar positions shown are intertwined with the rhythm of the sunset, emphasizing the moments when such celestial object rests on the different superimposed bodies of the pyramidal base. Particularly in the corners and slopes where these bodies intersect, creating numerical intervals that have certain qualities of multiplicity with recognizable Mesoamerican calendar units: 20, 13, 5, 52, 65, and so on. Actually, 65 is the interval that became evident as the exercise unfolded. The number appears in terms of years and tens of years, within cycles that could -eventually- be associated with the founding moment of the ceremonial center that concerns us, considering the dates of Carbon recovered by Gabriela Zepeda (2012). As coordinator of the exploration of Cañada de la Virgen, Zepeda emphasized the role of cultural astronomy as a complementary method to explain the foundational dates, along with the moments revealed as differentiated stages of occupation through construction system features¹.
The internal congruence of the presented model explains the importance of the major and minor lunar positions and discusses the appropriate terminology in terms of references to lunar standstills, lunistices or maximum and minimum extremes of full moon.

¹ Personal conversation with archaeologist Gabriela Zepeda. Susan Milbrath discussed the stages of occupation of Templo Mayor in terms of the 52 years of the new fire.

Astronomy and religion in the Roman temples of Qsar Naous (Ain Akrine, Lebanon)

2024-09-26T13:07:01+00:00

About 30 kilometres north of Byblos, the two Roman temples of Qsar Naous (Ain Akrine, Lebanon) are situated on a hilltop 700 meters above the sea level along the ridge of Mount Lebanon, overlooking the Al-Koura Valley to the east and the sea to the west. Probably developed over a previous cultic site, the temples of Qsar Naous share architectonical features with several sanctuaries from the same period in modern Lebanon. Furthermore, astral symbology is present in the lintels of the propylaea (entrance gate) of both temples of Qsar Naous, decorated with reliefs of sun disks, are present in further Roman temples in Lebanon like the one at Chhim and could suggest a solar advocation.

Although the high location and a good visibility should have been key factors for the creation of this sacred landscape, an archaeoastronomical analysis suggests interesting results that could relate the sacred complex to astronomical phenomena connected to relevant religious or productive events in the region in Antiquity. This work shows a study on the orientations of the two Roman temples of Qsar Naous and their relation to the surrounding landscape. The data were taken on site in the spring of 2018 and they present interesting connections between the design and location of these temples with conspicuous topographic features and relevant moments of the solar cycle, the religious calendar and the productive activities.

In particular, these temples follow the general pattern of orientations found in Greek and Roman monuments towards the east and face important astronomical events, such as the sunrise in the summer solstice and, tentatively, the first visibility of Pleiades. References to Pleiades appear in Greek sources as well as in other Middle East references and the summer solstice represented a general moment of renewal across the Mediterranean. Interestingly, these results agree with orientations previously found in ancient monuments in the Mediterranean and other Roman temples in the Lebanese Bekaa valley, such as the temple of Bacchus and Jupiter Heliopolitanus in Baalbek and the great temple in Niha, south of Ain Akrine.

In addition, previous surveys in Mount Lebanon reveal various forms of cultic continuity from the Hellenistic to the Roman periods and that Roman monuments may have been built on previous layers. In this sense, the results of this study could provide hints about the nature, but also about the origin, of the cults performed in Qsar Naous, the differences among the divinities worshipped in each temple (if any) or the processes of transformation of the previous rites and beliefs. In conclusion, this is a local approach to better understand the complex religious context of Roman Near East.

Cultural Heritage of Observatories

2024-09-26T13:06:12+00:00

Astronomical heritage represents scientific heritage in its cultural context. Astronomy as an integral and outstanding part of daily life in different societies is visible in the architectural structure of astronomical observatories. But astronomical buildings, instruments and astronomical research and knowledge change over time and are permanently in a process of construction. Due to these changes, observatories do not necessarily demonstrate potential Outstanding Universal Value which would be needed for inscription on the World Heritage List.

But these observatories can be included in the IAU-accredited list (independent of Unesco) of “Outstanding Astronomical Heritage”, when they are outstanding in the history of astronomy due to their scientific achievements. In this contribution, I would like to present the development of architecture and instruments of observatories from the Early Modern Time until today.

First, I will show examples like Baroque or neo-classical observatories. In the baroque time astronomy is linked very often to other sciences, not only celestial, but also terrestrial (surveying) and meteorological observations were made, especially, the Mathematical Tower of Kremsmünster should be mentioned in this sense. Then I will discuss what has been achieved for modern observatories around 1900 like La Plata and Hamburg where the transition from classical astronomy to modern astrophysics should be presented in a serial transnational Unesco application; this transition is visible in the architecture, the choice of instruments, and the arrangement of the observatory buildings in an “Astronomy Park”.

The recent observatories around 2000 (e.g.ESO Very Large Telescope), radioastronomy observatories like Jodrell Bank, Effelsbergor underground neutrino observatories (Gran Sasso,Italy) changed their appearance completely; these are impressive metallic structures which no longer remind of the typical shape of observatories with domes.

The Unesco initiative Astronomy & World Heritage (AWH) could be broadened in order to include the heritage of astronomy, science and technology in general –examples are e. g. including the main building or the main campus of the university in addition to the observatory or including physical, meteorological, seismological or geomagnetic laboratories. Cultural heritage of astronomy, science and technology plays not only an important role in scientific institutions, but also in the first sites devoted to education and popularization of science for the general public and especially for young people. In this respect, astronomy was the leading science for popularization – important examples are the Gottorf Globe, the Eise Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker, and the projection planetarium, invented by Carl Zeiss of Jena.

The Houston Solar Marker Matrix of Intentionality

2024-09-26T12:56:43+00:00

Rock art is ubiquitous around the world. The first solar interaction with rock art was in 1979 by Ken Hedges (Hudson, et al. 1979). Solar Markers are the most objective interpretations of rock art for the following reasons: 1) We can see the sky the same as the ancient cultures, 2) Precession does not affect the travel of the Sun along the horizon, 3) The operation of solar marker interactions operate the same today as when originally created, and 4) The recorded astronomical knowledge is usually the most closely guarded information, which the solar marker opens that knowledge to us today.

The interplay of sun and shadow on rock art, known as “solar markers” are reported in very few areas of the world, with most being reported in the American Southwest. The lack of reports worldwide is due in part to a lack of understanding and how to identify these solar markers. To that end, the Houston Solar Marker Matrix of Intentionality (HSMMI) is offered as a tool for researchers to: 1) Help identify new solar markers, 2) Confirm existing solar markers, 3) Rule out coincidental interactions, and 4) lead to a worldwide database of solar markers.

. There are four qualifying restrictions that must be met by any reported interaction, before proceeding to evaluate an interaction using the HSMMI. The restrictions are: 1) The solar interaction must touch and interact with the glyph, 2) The interaction must be brief, typically less than 30 minutes, 3) The culmination of the interaction must be unique, both in the design of the sun or shadow shape, and must interact with the focal point or tangent of the glyph, or some very unique part of the glyph, and 4) The solar interaction must interact with one glyph at a time. These are established to help rule out coincidental interactions and help eliminate false positives.

The Houston Solar Marker Matrix of Intentionality provides and analytical tool in which four categories are scored. The final score determines the strength of an existing or reported solar marker or identification of a new solar marker. The four categories are 1) Solar Points, 2) Time of Day, 2) Interactive Characteristics, and 4) Supporting evidence. The HSMMI is a tool that will be employed by researchers, who in turn, will bring forward new reports worldwide, so a database can be established. The HSMMI is a tool in constant transition and updating, of which, many changes have already been incorporated to date. It is hoped that false positives will be eliminated through the use of the HSMMI.

Ja’ab as the Foundation of the Buen Vivir Curriculum: Application in Two Primary Schools in Tulum, Quintana Roo

2024-09-26T13:05:13+00:00

Since 2010, the General Directorate of Intercultural Indigenous and Bilingual Education of Mexico commissioned teachers to implement study plans and programs for the subject 'Indigenous Language' at the Primary level. In the case of the Yucatan Peninsula, commissioned teachers focused on developing a study program relevant to the Mayan culture, framing it in the Buen Vivir. This program is fundamentally based on the knowledge, use and management of the ja'ab by the teacher, the students and their families. During the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years, two teachers, co-authors of the study program, tested a ja'ab model that emerged from a process of participatory study and intercultural dialogue complemented by studies of Mayan epigraphic and astronomic material. For ten years the intercultural team Earth Timekeepers has worked in the Yucatan Peninsula with an inclusive, exploratory and non-imposing methodology. The participants are characterized by being older people who work in the milpa or cornfield, practice beekeeping, collect gum, hunt in a traditional way, and observe the movements of the Sun, Moon and stars. In addition, there are cultural promoters, schoolteachers, stewards of patron saint festivals, Aj Menob’ prayer-makers, university students and women housewives. Everyone agrees that the beginning of the Ja'ab year is between August 13 and 15 of each year, and that months such as Keej (deer) or Tséek (skull) refer to events of ecological and cultural relevance. This reinforces the conclusions of the studies that members of the same intercultural team have been carrying out based on epigraphic records in codices, stelae, archaeastronomic records, and colonial codices such as Pérez. In the context of the new primary school curriculum in the Yucatan Peninsula that focuses on Good Living, teachers have designed a set of practical exercises to apply in two primary schools. The exercises begin with the observation of the birth of the Sun at dawn so that the child can record the apparent movement of the Sun over the horizon. From there, they associate the equinox event of September 22 with the beginning of the twenty-day month Sip, which allows them to signify the date 0 Sip that appears in Ja'ab itself. The set of exercises includes visiting the place in the community where the markers of the four directions are located, and acknowledging that have existed since pre-Hispanic times. This practical approach to the Ja’ab in the context of the classroom, the home and the community, has allowed the children to understand the calendar and relate to it in a meaningful way, as they can easily follow the natural cycles and Sun. In doing so, teachers, parents and children re-signify and reinterpret the biocultural legacy expressed in festivals, rituals and activities in the cornfields and in the moutains.

Subterranean observatories, dark chambers and solar telescopes

2024-09-26T12:56:19+00:00

Our field investigations, carried out for more than three decades in about twenty underground observatories located in caves and inside pre-Hispanic buildings in Mesoamerica, led us to question whether the ideas that were formulated by Paollo del Pozzo Toscanelli, in the fifteenth century, and by Galileo Galilei at the beginning of the 17th century, and that conducted them to invent a modern object for scientific research (the solar telescope), could have arisen among the Mesoamerican peoples more than ten centuries before. The two oldest underground observatories in Mesoamerica were found between 1980 and 1995 in Teotihuacán and have been dated to the 4th century AD, followed by the one found inside Building P in Monte Albán, Oaxaca. Despite having been built years later (VII-VIII centuries AD), the Xochicalco Observatory has proven to be the most accurate and best preserved of all those we have studied in these three decades. In recent field and cabinet studies, we have retaken his research under the light of new archaeological discoveries highly significant about ceramic objects, that we called"astronomical discs." They led us to take,as a referent of this type of early astronomical observational instruments, to the Xochicalco Observatory, which was especially used in relation with the apparent movements of the Sun at the time of its passage through the meridian of a site. This paper proposes that two cultures separated by time and space, in America and Europe, in independent ways, achieved the invention of an instrument that gave similar solutions to scientific questions that probably were, in some ways, of different nature. Despite the different way in which knowledge was applied and interpreted at each time and place, the instruments created are enormously similar, to the extent we can propose that in Mesoamerica, around the 8th century AD, if not earlier, was created a complex solar observation instrument that allowed the recording of positions of this celestial body that had considerable precision. The characteristics of the Mesoamerican underground observatories, that we formulate here, based on archaeological and empirical evidence, allow us to propose that they were instruments for measurement and scientific experimentation, whose characteristics lead us to compare them with dark chambers and solar telescopes invented in other latitudes centuries later.

Comparing land and skyscapes in the three main manorial-conquered lands of the Canary Islands

2024-09-26T13:07:25+00:00

This work is a study of the relationship between astronomy and landscape focused on the orientation of Christian churches of the three main Manorial (Señorío) Islands of the Canary archipelago (Spain): Lanzarote, La Gomera and Fuerteventura. As a background, we have the information provided by the texts of early Christian writers, which imposed that churches should be oriented towards the east.

We carried out a comparative study between these islands to verify if the orientation patterns of the temples keep any relationship with each other, or with those of the churches of continental Europe. We are interested in exploring to what extent the indications of the early texts on Christian architecture were respected and to what degree the temples are eventually oriented following different alignments, for example according to pre-existing aboriginal traditions.We are also interested in knowing if there exist churches that are oriented towards points of the horizon on which the Sun rises on the day of the patronal feasts, since that custom was suggested in several previous studies. The analysis of the few cases in which this calendrical coincidence was verified in Lanzarote and La Gomera, is now increased with half a hundred churches that were measured in Fuerteventura.

The fieldwork that supports our comparative study is based on the measurement of the precise location coordinates, axis' azimuth and angular height of the horizon for most of the churches of the three islands, which amounts to about 120 sets of measurements. For the study of the sample, we have employed various analyses, both statistical, as well as calendric and orographic.

Our results show that on all the islands, the pattern of double orientations is repeated, which contemplates the canonical tradition of orienting the altars of churches within the solar range (pointing either eastward or westward). Very few cases also occur where it is possible to identify constructions whose orientation follows solstitial patterns, perhaps as imitation of aboriginal worship. But this double pattern also includes a high proportion of churches with orientations far from this range. An example is Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, both islands subjected to the same flow of the prevailing trade winds in the region, but each with its own characteristics. Another example is given by the particular orography of deep ravines of La Gomera, which determines the orientation of the temples located in those geographical accidents.

In this paper we show how the combination of elements of the land- and skyscape can, with a high degree of probability, offer a satisfactory explanation to the particular orientation of these insular centres of worship, which were built during the first decades after the European conquest.

The daily recording of sunsets from the dotted crosses of Acalpixca and Atlapulco in Xochimilco, Mexico City

2024-09-26T13:05:48+00:00

Here we present an analysis of the Pecked Crosses from a perspective based on naked-eye observation of solar sunsets, from the center of the cruciform designs, and the descent of the Sun on prominent hills, already detected in other studies of the Cuenca de Mexico, which were occupied to record calendar dates, such as the Preclassic site of Cuicuilco and the Postclassic site of Tenochtitlan. To the west of Mexico City, the San Miguel Hill and the Ajusco volcano, belonging to the mountain range of Cruces, were important promontories that were part of the indigenous worldview, with relevance comparable to the volcanoes of the east, such as Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl. On them important rites of request for rain and fertility were carried out and to date are the scenes of these Catholic syncretic practices of the wooden crosses visited on the day of the Holy Cross and other dates by the residents of the nearby settlements.

The study began by counting the holes in the pecked crosses to see if they have a calendrical value. Located in the crosses and pyramids, the sunsets were observed, recording the dates on which the Sun descended at relevant points. The azimuths of the Sun were also measured. their axes with a compass and the height of their horizons towards which their lines are directed with a clisimeter. In the case of pyramidal structures, the theodolite was used to measure their orientations, obtaining interesting results.

What we found is that in one of the ACA 2 crosses the points contained in its design add up to 253, a number very close to the ritual calendar count of 260 days, and that the axes of the crosses mark twice the date of the zenithal transit, dates of the Cuicuilco horizon and the alignment at sunset of the Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlán. We detected a very relevant sequence of days that makes us think that the positions of the Sun seen from the pecked crosses were used to locate the points of the territory where the pyramids were to be built, based on the sunsets of certain days, according to a daily sequence previously observed. Reusing as observation points the Pecked Crosses located in the mountainous area of Acalpixca and Atlapulco, to orient the pyramidal structures in the Postclassic sites (Barrio del Huacal and Barrio de Tenezcalco). This proposal is different from that of Aveni, who measures the orientation of the axes of the crosses and sees that the azimuths of the petroglyph coincide with the degrees of deviation of the urban layout of Teotihuacan and thinks that the cruciform designs were used to orient the city.

Advanced Virtual Archaeoastronomy

2024-09-26T13:07:37+00:00

The free and open source desktop planetarium Stellarium is a multi-platform astronomy program that runs on a wide range of computers, from powerful desktop PCs to energy-efficient single-board computers such as the Raspberry Pi 3 and 4. The volunteer developers have finally reached their long-awaited "1.0" milestone, which marks both the completion of accuracy goals for astronomical ephemeris computations and the adaptation of a major update to the underlying programming framework, preparing the program for further development in the coming years.

Stellarium is a graphically detailed astronomy program that is popular with beginner to advanced amateur astronomers and astronomy teachers and students. It can immerse the observer in any location on Earth under the sky of any time in human history after 13,000 BC, surrounded by a landscape panorama that provides a reliable proxy for the real local landscape horizon. This allows the study of views from interesting human-made structures or other locations in relation to features on the horizon and celestial phenomena such as solstitial or lunar extremes. The diurnal tracks for these events and several other objects, as well as some other interesting auxiliary lines, can be easily highlighted using a dedicated program extension (plugin). Another extension even allows a 3D architectural model to be loaded in its surrounding landscape (created from image-based modelling, laser scanning or architectural reconstruction) under the sky of the original period to discover, investigate and demonstrate structural orientations towards astronomical targets and simulate light and shadow phenomena. Multi-phase reconstructions of landscape and architecture can also be visualised using the software's time control, which can control the visibility of model parts.

In cases where the application requires interaction with the three-dimensional reconstructions, such as astronomical observation instruments, Stellarium can be combined with a game engine such as Unity, which provides the necessary building blocks for computer game-like interaction with scene objects, while Stellarium provides the highly accurate sky background and astronomical time control.

The latest developments include a new skylight model that provides a much more realistic simulation of twilight and detailed ephemerides for eclipses provided by new contributors.

Stellarium is also capable of displaying constellations and star names from cultures around the world. This original feature has made it a popular tool for ethnoastronomy studies and outreach, and the Stellarium project welcomes qualified contributions from the community.

Neutron Star performance art workshop informed by Indigenous Knowledge, Queer Identity and quantum physics

2024-09-26T13:05:36+00:00

Artistic practice—informed by the transdisciplinary intersection of astrophysics, Indigenous knowledge, and neuroscience—may lead to inclusive, meaningful an positive social change. (Sullivan 2006). This is accomplished by examining lightning through the lens of sexual difference, Indigenous and scientific philosophical inquiry, and sculpture and performance art. The aim of the creative practice and process is to invite audiences to expand upon their perception of identity through learning the teachings of Indigenous Knowledge, non-archival art and the process of making. (Cameron 2005).

The scientific-philosophical research within this practice sparked the artist’s departure from the binary lexicon by identifying not as a woman or a man but as lightning—building upon their lifelong transdisciplinary creative practice.

Bon Mott _/\_ identifying as lightning was sparked by Bon Scott, the singer and songwriter of the Australian rock band AC/DC from 1974 until their death in 1980. When asked by a journalist whether they were the 'AC' or the 'DC', Bon Scott replied, "Neither, I'm the lightning flash in the middle." (Walker 1994, p. 149)

Bon Scott’s identification as the lightning flash in the band's logo can have multiple meanings: AC/DC is an abbreviation for an alternating current/direct current electrical power system, from which the band takes its name. It also means 'bisexual' in 1970's English slang and is a transgender identity-fluid-crossing description in the genderdiverse communities of Indonesia.

A developing model on the origins of lightning within Western Science is that lightning originates from cosmic rays generated from supernovae. (Binns et al. 2019). Cosmic rays enter the Earth's atmosphere, collide with oxygen and nitrogen to produce another shower of X-rays and subatomic particles. The lightning strikes we see occur from electrons moving between clouds and Earth's surface. In this model, lightning is intergalactic in origin, taking millions of years to reach our ozone layer in the form of cosmic rays.

The electrical energy in a thunderstorm splits apart nitrogen molecules, which then combine with oxygen to form nitrates. Nitrates fertilize the soil and mineralise water, known as the nitrogen cycle. Just as cosmic rays are formed in supernovae, the iron in our blood was formed in the cores of dying stars through nuclear fusion, seeded across the cosmos through supernovae. This leads to the science of identification as lightning, learning from Wakaŋ— a word meaning mysterious, powerful, and intangible energetic force in Dakota, Lakota and Nakota (Oceti Ŝakowiŋ - The Seven Council Fires) Knowledge.

Learning the science of the origins of lightning motivated Bon Mott to curate the transdisciplinary art lab called Neutron Star for radical artists Indigenous and/or non-binary, transgender, participants from backgrounds in performance art, dance, and theory, hosted by activist Guillermo Gómez-Peña and the international performance troupe 'La Pocha Nostra’.

Eclipse Prediction and the Length of the Lunar Month in Mayan Astronomy

2024-09-26T13:04:26+00:00

One of the most remarkable achievements of Mayan calendrical astronomy was the in- vention of a lunar theory that combined a fixed lunar calendar with eclipse predictions. Eclipse predictions are shown in the Dresden Codex on pages 51-58. The lunar calendar is reflected in the Maya Lunar Series, which was attached to the chronological statements of Maya rulers displayed on monuments.

The so-called Eclipse Table covers 405 schematic lunar months, divided into 69 groups of 6 and 5 months each (D53a-D58b). It is preceded by a table of multiples of 11,960 days (D51a- D52a), the period covered by the table. The table structure generally exhibits three units with 23 eclipse possibilities each, of which twenty occur after six months and three after five months. Since each unit contains 135 months, the table includes 405 months (= 3 x 135) or three tritos series. Considering that each units warns about the possibility of 23 eclipses, the entire table allows warning about the possibility of 69 (= 3 x 23) eclipses. Some schol- ars, however, argued that the table originated from a tzolkinex, an eclipse period consist- ing of 88 synodic months. Both periods produce mean eclipse periods, which are more accurate than the saros.

Despite the Maya systematic alternation of 29- and 30-day lunar months, they devised a method to insert additional or leap days at regular intervals to track the lunar phases accu- rately. This method, known from the Lunar Table found at the Maya city of Xultun, is based on the record of 162 lunar months. The Xultun table is compatible with the intervals of 11960 days used in several Maya cities to perform lunar computations backwardly. in time.

This paper aims to provide a helpful and informative description of the records that are utilized to infer the mean values of the length of a half eclipse year and the average length of a lunation in Maya astronomy.

Llamaqñawin (The eyes of the Celestial Llama,α and β Centauri), myths and the annual cycle of water in the Pachacámac Inca sanctuary

2024-09-26T13:06:36+00:00

The Inca oracular sanctuary of the god Pachacama (organizer-energizer of time-space) began its heyday with Tupa Inca Yupanqui ca. 1465 AD, becoming the most important oracular-administrative centre of the coast, and second in importance in all the Tawantinsuyo, "the Inca empire of the four regions". Located on the rainless desert central coast of present-day Peru, the urban complex of adobe and stone buildings has four temples, fourteen structures with ramps, several courtyards and twenty-one edifices, occupying 1,250 acres. The urban layout presents three main alignments that establish its basic directions in almost all the structures in the central zone, the inner and most occupied area of the sanctuary.

Archeoastronomy studies in the sanctuary, with azimuth records taken in situ (1991-2009), as well as studies (2014-2018) using GIS software on aerial photographs, satellite images and panoramic contours, and 2019 drone survey of the sanctuary providing geo-photogrammetric data, confirm alignments directed mainly to the rising and setting of solstices, the major lunar standstills and the rising of α and β Centauri, revealing a landscape rich in cultural significance. The sanctuary’s astronomical layout, as a huge calendrical marker, would also allow an accurate annual record of the course of time and the important diagnosis and prognosis of hydro-climatic variations, both essential to organize propitiatory and preventive measures in ceremonial and agricultural activities.

Among the main building orientations of the sanctuary, the North Portal’s alignment with the Main Entrance street is remarkable. This long alignment pointed (circa 1500 AD) to the rising of α and β Centauri, known in Quechua as Llamaqñawin. This Main Entrance street with adjacent enclosures would have been a ceremonial transitive passage. These stars are also marked geographically at the place where the promontory of Pucusana hill (33 km away) touches the Pacific Ocean. Llamaqñawin are the “eyes” of the dark constellation known as Yacana, the “Celestial Llama”. In ethnohistorical documents of the central highlands of Peru the llama is related explicitly to the rainy season (Guamán Poma, 1615) and as custodian to the flow of water (Francisco de Avila, 1608). Thus, the alignment of the sanctuary’s main entrance directed towards the “Eyes of the Llama” is revealing, turning out to be a wake-up call about the element through which all life flows: water.

The sanctuary’s layout both records and celebrates the cycles of the celestial bodies, the rites, the myths, the weather cycles, and water cycles: sustenance of life. The sanctuary is indeed an Inca ceremonial administrative centre, but in the holistic, inclusive sense that the ancient Andean world attributed to the deity Pachacáma: the organizer and energizer of the whole, the foundation, the driving force of the synergies that sustains life in the totality of time-space.

Notational production rules in the Muisca culture iconography, Colombia

2024-09-26T13:06:25+00:00

This paper explores the non-aesthetic components of Muisca indigenous artistic expressions, with a focus on numerical information encoded within the iconography.

The paper presents various examples of artifacts that exhibit evidence of numerical quantities, such as rock art panels, textiles, and lithic industry objects, however, spindle whorls, a category of artifacts characterized by their monochromatic and simplified nature, are primarily considered in this preliminary analysis. The presence of sequences of elements and compositions in these artifacts, including triangles, strokes, spirals, and bird heads, suggests the potential existence of an underlying grammar governing the production of these expressions. The paper suggests adopting an epigraphic perspective to better understand the formal aspects of these representations before exploring their semantics. Ultimately, this approach could provide a better understanding of how meanings are embedded into the system.

Living skies

2024-09-12T20:04:41+00:00

Norman Lockyer and the Controversial Beginnings of Archaeoastronomy

2024-09-26T12:56:06+00:00

It has long been acknowledged that Norman Lockyer played a central role in the foundation of archaeoastronomy in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His interest in what was then referred to as “orientation” flourished on a visit to Egypt, where he became convinced that rigorous scientific methods could be used to prove archaeological theories concerning ancient religions.

However, despite the prospect of a well-known intellectual entering the sparse discourse around archaeoastronomy, little happened to promote the discipline after the Egyptian expedition.

Whilst Lockyer is often framed as a lonely figure working at the dawn of the field, newly digitised lantern slides from the Norman Lockyer Observatory archives reveal his extensive interactions with a dedicated network of British archaeoastronomical researchers. Lockyer’s work, along with that of his new community, came at a very unfortunate time. This paper seeks to explain why his archaeoastronomic work was not well-received by prominent archaeologists, and why the discourse around archaeoastronomy up until his time smothered Lockyer’s attempts to legitimize orientation.

The Wrath of Zemi: Arawak Hurricane Prediction in the Caribbean

2024-09-26T12:55:54+00:00

Drawing on more than twenty years of research and long-term in-depth field experience in the Neotropics, this article argues for an indigenous methodology for predicting the arrival of hurricanes in the Caribbean. The archaeological site under study is Anse à la Gourde on Guadeloupe (French West Indies), here discussed in conjunction with a theoretical under-pinning in Indigenous Amazonian cosmologies and ethnoastronomy. The conceptualization for this study goes back to an experience that the author had during archaeological field school in 1995, and it is through a paradigm-shifting “dwelling perspective” that the author has been able to make sense of his original perceptions. During the further development of this innovative hypothesis on hurricane prediction by the Indigenous Peoples of the Caribbean prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus emerged an alternative hypothesis for a momentous dividing moment in Caribbean archaeology, namely the end of the Saladoid around AD 800.