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

Abstract

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.