BALTICA10

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Orientations at the Minoan Peak Sanctuary on Philioremos Near Gonies (Maleviziou), Crete GÖRAN HENRIKSSON, MARY BLOMBERG 128 Fig. 6. The Minoan buildings in the Uppsala project. An asterisk indicates a foresight. hind an impressive natural feature, as in the case of the building on Philioremos. We discovered a number of such examples that mark calendar events in this way for the Minoans. Our project includes twenty buildings from fifteen sites. We have been able to argue on the basis of their orientations that three were Mycenaean and not Minoan (the small shrines at Malia, Vathypetro, and Agia Triada), and therefore they are not included here. In the case of the seventeen relevant here, we have completed our study of twelve of them (Fig. 6). We found at ten of these one or more relationships to a major calendar event of the year, nineteen in all: four to sunrise at the equinoxes, two to sunset at the equinoxes, three to sunrise at the summer solstice, two to sunrise at the winter solstice, one to the rising full moon at the southern major standstill, two to the heliacal rising of Arcturus, four to its heliacal setting, and one to the heliacal rising of Canopus. The framing of our constellation Orion by the doorway into the Central Palace Sanctuary at Knossos in the days around the autumn equinox should also be mentioned (for earlier studies see Blomberg and Henriksson 2000, 2001b, 2002, 2003, 2005b, 2007a, 2007b; Henriksson and Blomberg 1996, 1997-1998). The nineteen major times of the calendar measured from our data at ten of the twelve sites is a fair quantitative assessment of their value for the Minoans (Ruggles 1999, p.148). The reason why the azimuths of the relationships in Fig. 6 do not coincide with those of the astronomical events is due to the mountainous character of the horizon in Crete. The azimuths are as measured from the sites. The Minoans only rarely focused on sunsets and, in the two cases where they did so, it seems to have been for a special reason. We have explained this as being due to the importance of being able to identify the autumn equinox, as it determined the beginning of the Minoan year. At both Petsophas and Phaistos, sunrise was at a distant horizon and would often have been obscured by heavy mist. Thus establishing a relationship to sunset at the equinoxes at such places increased the chances of knowing when the autumn equinox would occur. The focus on an event could be marked by a natural or a manmade foresight, by the orientation of a wall, and even by a foresight and an orientation. The relationships are always clear. It seems that the Minoans sought places where natural foresights could mark the major celestial events. Three of the four palaces and four of the seven peak sanctuaries have such a foresight. Three of the remaining five monuments had manmade foresights. Some sites have more than one foresight (Fig. 6). Of course some manmade foresights may not have survived. We have discovered other ways of relating buildings to major celestial events, by framing an event in a doorway, for example, and creating light and shadow effects to highlight the event (Blomberg et al. 2002, p.85). Crete has many mountain peaks that would have been suitable for marking a celestial event. In an area of about 15 kilometres around Philioremos, there are more than 45 peaks higher than 600 meters. This indicates that there may well have been choice available to the Minoans in locating their peak sanctuaries in places that would provide natural foresights for the major celestial events, and consequently there was less need to rely on manmade foresights. Culture-specific relationships to calendar events. In addition to the relationships to major calendar events, we have found what seem to us to be relationships to other celestial events that had special significance for the Minoans. This may be the case for three that we have found at the palace of Malia, the villa at Vathypetro, and the peak sanctuary on Modi (Blomberg and Henriksson 2005a, Henriksson and Blomberg in press). The axes of symmetry of the major cult area of the palace and of the villa are aligned to sunrise on the first day that could have begun the second month and thus also the sixth, in the lunisolar calendar that we propose for the Minoans. If the new crescent moon rose on that day, then it was the first day of the month. At Modi the axis of symmetry of the sanctuary is oriented to sunrise on the first day that could have begun the third month, and thus also the fifth, of the proposed Minoan calendar. The result from Modi, which seemed very unpromising to us at first, together with the two results from Malia and Vathypetro, provide us with one answer as to why the Minoans created different relationships to celestial events at different sites.
The Minoan calendar. We have argued that the Minoans had a lunisolar calendar that began at the new crescent moon following the autumn equinox. The major evidence comes from the palace at Knossos and the nearby peak sanctuary on Juktas. These were in all probability the most important buildings of their type in Minoan Crete. At each of these places not only was the morning of sunrise at the equinoxes clearly marked, but also the eleventh day after the autumn equinox, which made it easy to know when to intercalate a month in the calendar (Blomberg and Henriksson 2000, 2002). We think that we now have evidence of a system by which the earliest possible first day of each month of the calendar could have been easily determined, a system deliberately designed to incorporate major cult places of the Minoan culture (Table 1). We think that there probably were also sites with celestial relationships that determined when the remaining months would begin, the eighth, ninth, eleventh and twelfth. We need only two places: X, oriented to sunrise on the earliest possible day of the eighth and twelfth months and Y, oriented to sunrise on the earliest possible day of the ninth and eleventh months. This is an intriguing hypothesis that we hope will be verified in our future work. Table 1. Minoan sites with relationships to celestial events that determined the earliest 9beginning of each month Site Petsophas, Phaistos, Knossos, Juktas Malia, Vathypetro Modi Chamaizi, Vathypetro Modi Malia, Vathypetro Petsophas, Phaistos, Knossos, Juktas X (not yet found) Y (not yet found) Gonies, Petsophas, Pyrgos Y (not yet found) X (not yet found) Month first month (autumn equinox) second month third month fourth month (winter solstice) fifth month sixth month seventh month (spring equinox) eighth month ninth month tenth month (summer solstice) eleventh month twelfth month Not all relationships to celestial phenomena were for the purpose of regulating the calendar. The relationships to the bright stars Arcturus, Canopus and the constellation Orion, may have been in order to pinpoint important times in the agricultural year, as they did in the historical period, according to Hesiod, and also times for the sailing season, as we have tried to show elsewhere (Blomberg and Henriksson 1999). Acknowledgements We are very grateful to John G. Younger for taking the photo of Stroumboulas from Philioremos. We would also like to thank the boards of the following foundations for making our research possible: the Swedish Council for Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences, the Gunvor and Josef Anér Foundation, the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation, the Magn. Bergvall Foundation, and the Helge Ax:son Johnson Foundation. We are grateful as well to the Greek Archaeological Service for permission to study the sites and the staff of the Swedish Institute at Athens for practical assistance in many ways. References BLOMBERG, M. and HENRIKSSON, G., 1996. Minos Enneoros. Archaeoastronomical light on the priestly role of the king in Crete. In: P. HELLSTRÖM, P. and B. AL- ROTH, eds. Religion and Power in the ancient Greek world. Proceedings of the Uppsala symposium1993 (= b o r e a s. Uppsala Studies in Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Civilizations, 24). Uppsala, 27-39. BLOMBERG, M. and HENRIKSSON, G., 1999. Evidence for the Minoan origins of stellar navigation in the Aegean. In: A. LE BEUF and M. ZIÓLKOWSKI, eds. Actes de la V ème conférence de la SEAC, Gdańsk, 5-8 septembre 1997 (Światowit supplement series H: Anthropology II). Warsaw, 69-81. BLOMBERG, M. and HENRIKSSON, G., 2000. Further evidence for the Minoan origins of the Greek calendars. In: A. KARETSOU et al., eds. Proceedings of the 8 th Cretological congress, Heraklion (Crete), Greece, 9-14 September 1996. Heraklion, 109-128. BLOMBERG, M. and HENRIKSSON, G., 2001a. Archaeoastronomy: new trends in the field, with methods and results from studies in Minoan Crete. Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, 247, 609-619. BLOMBERG, M. and HENRIKSSON, G., 2001b. Differences in Minoan and Mycenaean orientations in Crete. In: C. RUGGLES, F. PRENDERGAST and T. RAY, eds. Astronomy, Cosmology and Landscape. Proceedings of the SEAC 98 meeting, Dublin, Ireland, September 1998. Bognor Regis: Ocarina Books, 72-91. BLOMBERG, M. and HENRIKSSON, G., 2003. The Minoan peak sanctuary on Pyrgos and its context. In: M. BLOMBERG, P. BLOMBERG and G. HENRIKSSON eds. Calendars, symbols, and orientations: legacies of astronomy in culture. Proceedings of the 9 th meeting of the European Society for Astronomy in Culture, 27-30 August 2001 (Uppsala Astronomical Observatory Report No. 59). Uppsala, 127-134. BLOMBERG, M. and HENRIKSSON, G., 2005a. Some problems in Minoan archaeoastronomy. In: M. KOIVA, I. PUSTYLNIK and L. VESIK, eds. Cosmic Catastrophies: a collection of articles (Proceedings of the European Society for Astronomy in Culture (SEAC) 2002. Tartu, 15-22. BLOMBERG, M. and HENRIKSSON, G., 2005b. Orientations of the late Bronze Age villa complex at Vathypetro in Crete. Mediterranean archaeology & archaeometry 5, 51-61. ARCHAEOLOGIA BALTICA 10 V V. REFLECTIONS OF ASTRO- NOMICAL AND COSMOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE IN MONUMENTS, LANDSCAPES AND ARCHITECTURE 129
Page 1:
ARCHAEOLOGIA BALTICA10 Astronomy an
Page 4 and 5:
UDK 902/904 Ar 46 Volume 10 Editori
Page 6 and 7:
Vytautas Tumėnas. The visual and t
Page 8 and 9:
PREFACE Jonas VaiškūnaS Preface T
Page 10 and 11:
Jonas VaiškūnaS Preface cists, ma
Page 12 and 13:
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS List of Contri
Page 14 and 15:
List of Contributors Dimitar Kolev
Page 16 and 17:
List of Contributors 16 Dainius Raz
Page 18 and 19:
Second Parts can always be better!
Page 20 and 21:
Conference Summary: A Historian’s
Page 22 and 23:
THE MILKY WAY AND ITS STRUCTURING F
Page 24 and 25:
THE MILKY WAY AND ITS STRUCTURING F
Page 26 and 27:
CECILIA PAULA GÓMEZ Venus And The
Page 28 and 29:
CECILIA PAULA GÓMEZ Venus And The
Page 30 and 31:
Astronyms in Belarussian Folk Belie
Page 32 and 33:
Page 34 and 35:
Page 36 and 37:
Traditional Astronomical Knowledge
Page 38 and 39:
Traditional Astronomical Knowledge
Page 40 and 41:
A Solar Calendar from Latvian Daina
Page 42 and 43:
A Solar Calendar from Latvian Daina
Page 44 and 45:
SAULĖS KALENDORIUS PAGAL LATVIŲ D
Page 46 and 47:
Mesopotamian Influences on Persian
Page 48 and 49:
Page 50 and 51:
Page 52 and 53:
THE BIRTHDAY OF ASAKKU ARKADIUSZ SO
Page 54 and 55:
ARKADIUSZ SOŁTYSIAK The Birthday o
Page 56 and 57:
ARKADIUSZ SOŁTYSIAK The Birthday o
Page 58 and 59:
NOEMI MIRANDA, JUAN A. BELMONTE, MI
Page 60 and 61:
NOEMI MIRANDA, JUAN A. BELMONTE, MI
Page 62 and 63:
Tracing the Celestial Deer - an Anc
Page 64 and 65:
Tracing the Celestial Deer - an Anc
Page 66 and 67:
Calendrical Deer, Time-Reckoning an
Page 68 and 69:
Page 70 and 71:
Page 72 and 73:
The Mythological Moon Horse as Refl
Page 74 and 75:
Page 76 and 77:
Page 78 and 79: The Visual and the Mythical- Poetic
Page 80 and 81: VYTAUTAS TUMĖNAS The Visual and th
Page 86 and 87: Some Peripheral Forms of the Medite
Page 88 and 89: JONAS VAIŠKŪNAS Some Peripheral F
Page 94 and 95: Were the 185 A.D. and 369 A.D. “G
Page 100 and 101: Indigenous Astronomical Traditions
Page 106 and 107: A new attempt to date the Xia, Shan
Page 108 and 109: GÖRAN HENRIKSSON A new attempt to
Page 110 and 111: Eleventh-Century Supernovae: Anothe
Page 112 and 113: Eleventh-Century Supernovae: Anothe
Page 114 and 115: The Date of Purim and Calendars in
Page 120 and 121: L’abbé Jean Lebeuf, (1687- 1760)
Page 126 and 127: Orientations at the Minoan Peak San
Page 130 and 131: Orientations at the Minoan Peak San
Page 132 and 133: GREGORY E. MUNSON, BRYAN C. BATES,
Page 134 and 135: Reading, Writing, and Recording the
Page 140 and 141: Reading, Writing, and Recording the
Page 142 and 143: David W. Pankenier, Ciyuan Y. Liu,
Page 144 and 145: The Xiangfen, Taosi site: a Chinese
Page 150 and 151: On the Origin of the Roman Idea of
Page 152 and 153: GIULIO MAGLI On the Origin of the R
Page 154 and 155: On the Origin of the Roman Idea of
Page 156 and 157: The Nuraghic Well of Santa Cristina
Page 158 and 159: ARNOLD LEBEUF The Nuraghic Well of
Page 164 and 165: ANDREI PROKHOROV Images on the Ston
Page 166 and 167: Images on the Stones at Scebiaraky
Page 168 and 169: Images on the Stones at Scebiaraky
Page 170 and 171: Thracian Dolmens and their Orientat
Page 172 and 173: Antonio César González García, V
Page 174 and 175: Thracian Dolmens and their Orientat
Page 176 and 177: JOHN MCKIM MALVILLE, MICHAEL ZAWASK
Page 178 and 179:
JOHN MCKIM MALVILLE, MICHAEL ZAWASK
Page 180 and 181:
Cosmological Motifs of Peruvian Hua
Page 182 and 183:
Cosmological Motifs of Peruvian Hua
Page 184 and 185:
MARCELLO RANIERI A Geometrical Anal
Page 186 and 187:
Page 188 and 189:
Page 190 and 191:
Page 192 and 193:
Page 194 and 195:
A Geometrical Analysis of Mesoameri
Page 196 and 197:
LUCILLA LABIANCA, IDA SCIORTINO, SI
Page 198 and 199:
An Archaeoastronomical Study of the
Page 200 and 201:
Some Cosmological Aspects оf Catho
Page 202 and 203:
Page 204 and 205:
RIMVYDAS LAUŽIKAS Some Cosmologica
Page 206 and 207:
Page 208 and 209:
Fig. 1. Distribution of the graves
Page 210 and 211:
Basatanya revisited: two periods of
Page 212 and 213:
The Pythagorean Geometry of the Atr
Page 214 and 215:
The Pythagorean Geometry of the Atr
Page 216 and 217:
Measurement Systems for Mathematics
Page 218 and 219:
Measurement Systems for Mathematics
Page 220 and 221:
Integrating Archaeoastronomy with L
Page 222 and 223:
LIONEL SIMS Integrating Archaeoastr
Page 224 and 225:
Integrating Archaeoastronomy with L
Page 226 and 227:
From Umm Al Qab to Biban Al Muluk:
Page 228 and 229:
Juan Antonio Belmonte, Antonio Cés
Page 230 and 231:
Juan Antonio Belmonte, Antonio Cés
Page 232 and 233:
From Umm Al Qab to Biban Al Muluk:
Page 234 and 235:
The Orientations of Central Alentej
Page 236 and 237:
Page 238 and 239:
Page 240 and 241:
Page 242 and 243:
Cardinal and Lunisolar Alignments a
Page 244 and 245:
Cardinal and Lunisolar Alignments a
Page 246 and 247:
Searching for the Astronomy of Abor
Page 248 and 249:
Page 250 and 251:
Page 252 and 253:
Page 254 and 255:
Alternative Archaeoastronomies - An
Page 256 and 257:
Alternative Archaeoastronomies - An
Page 258 and 259:
THE CASE STUDY OF THE BOORONG The C
Page 260 and 261:
The Case Study of the Boorong JOHN
Page 262 and 263:
The Case Study of the Boorong JOHN
Page 264 and 265:
Nationalism and Politics in the Rec
Page 266 and 267:
Nationalism and Politics in the Rec
Page 268 and 269:
Cosmic Catastrophes and Cultural Di
Page 270 and 271:
Page 272 and 273:
Page 274 and 275:
In Memoriam Izold’s interests wer
Page 276 and 277:
Klaipėdos universiteto leidykla AR
Page 278 and 279:
Plates 2 6 1 3 Plate II. Antonio C
Page 280 and 281:
Plates 12 11 10 9 8 7 Plate IV. IV
Page 282 and 283:
Plates 1 11 Plate VI. VI Antonio C
Page 284:
Plates 2 3 Plate VIII. VIII Lucilla
show all

BALTICA10

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?