Could This Ancient Carved Disk Be The Oldest Ever Map Of The Stars?
It was found alongside another stone that researchers believe to be a representation of the Sun.
www.iflscience.com
Ancient Star Map
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Archaeoastronomer
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Hi Debbie,
Thank you for your very interesting post, my interest is the cultural beliefs and how ancient people used the stars, and if they align to Equinox's and Solstices, Sadly with the stars just marked on a rock, i can't judge that, i wonder if the rock had been moved from where it was found?
I look for how it was dated also with a mirror image on the ground, like a stone monument, however it is interesting as the Belt of Orion seems to align as told in your link.
Sirius and the Belt of Orion often come up in beliefs, aligned to the stars and dates aligned to the Winter Solstice.
However the Orion Correlation Theory is too controversial, and needs a lot more research:-
en.wikipedia.org
A example of how the Winter Solstice has changed date is below:-
Julius Caesar used 25 March as the Vernal Equinox, quote below:-
This drift induced Pope Gregory XIII to establish the modern Gregorian calendar. The Pope wanted to continue to conform with the edicts of the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD concerning the date of Easter, which means he wanted to move the vernal equinox to the date on which it fell at that time (21 March is the day allocated to it in the Easter table of the Julian calendar), and to maintain it at around that date in the future, which he achieved by reducing the number of leap years from 100 to 97 every 400 years. However, there remained a small residual variation in the date and time of the vernal equinox of about ±27 hours from its mean position, virtually all because the distribution of 24 hour centurial leap-days causes large jumps (see Gregorian calendar leap solstice)."
en.wikipedia.org
We would still have 25 March as the Vernal Equinox if the Gregorian Calendar had corrected all the way back to the start of the calendar in 0045BC, however they only took error days out up to the Council of Nicaea, which also means the original date of the Winter Solstice would have been 25th December, an interesting date to think about!
Thank you for your very interesting post, my interest is the cultural beliefs and how ancient people used the stars, and if they align to Equinox's and Solstices, Sadly with the stars just marked on a rock, i can't judge that, i wonder if the rock had been moved from where it was found?
I look for how it was dated also with a mirror image on the ground, like a stone monument, however it is interesting as the Belt of Orion seems to align as told in your link.
Sirius and the Belt of Orion often come up in beliefs, aligned to the stars and dates aligned to the Winter Solstice.
However the Orion Correlation Theory is too controversial, and needs a lot more research:-
Orion correlation theory - Wikipedia
Julius Caesar used 25 March as the Vernal Equinox, quote below:-
Date
"When Julius Caesar established the Julian calendar in 45 BC, he set 25 March as the date of the spring equinox;[15] this was already the starting day of the year in the Persian and Indian calendars. Because the Julian year is longer than the tropical year by about 11.3 minutes on average (or 1 day in 128 years), the calendar "drifted" with respect to the two equinoxes – so that in 300 AD the spring equinox occurred on about 21 March, and by the 1580s AD it had drifted backwards to 11 March.[16]This drift induced Pope Gregory XIII to establish the modern Gregorian calendar. The Pope wanted to continue to conform with the edicts of the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD concerning the date of Easter, which means he wanted to move the vernal equinox to the date on which it fell at that time (21 March is the day allocated to it in the Easter table of the Julian calendar), and to maintain it at around that date in the future, which he achieved by reducing the number of leap years from 100 to 97 every 400 years. However, there remained a small residual variation in the date and time of the vernal equinox of about ±27 hours from its mean position, virtually all because the distribution of 24 hour centurial leap-days causes large jumps (see Gregorian calendar leap solstice)."
Equinox - Wikipedia
Selectric
Tier-1 Mod
Long before there was light pollution everyone no doubt looked upward. I enjoy visiting places where there is less people and can have a better view of the night sky. People always pondered their place in the grand scheme of things and gazing up into the twinkling vastness is a good place to start.
Hi Archi, some interesting facts, thanks for sharing. I agree with Select that men have been watching the stars since the beginning. Hard to believe something as big and magical as the night sky would have been ignored. I don’t think it was at all.
Archaeoastronomer
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America and England used 25th March as New Year before 1752 as they were still using the Julian Calendar, as was the Vernal Equinox to them.
www.mass.gov
en.wikipedia.org
It is also why Sol Invictus was on 25 December:-
en.wikipedia.org
Happy New Year?
Until 1752, England and its British dominions, including those in America, celebrated March 25th as the first day of the calendar year.
Lady Day - Wikipedia