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The Orientations of Central Alentejo Megalithic Enclosures FERNANDO PIMENTA, LUÍS TIRAPICOS If we consider the Sun or Moon to be the most probable astronomical targets, there is apparently an interest in declinations around that of the equinoxes. It is generally accepted that there are technical difficulties and no clear reasons for precise equinoctial orientations (Ruggles 1997). Nonetheless several natural signs from flora and fauna can be used together with astronomical events to mark seasonal changes. If for northern latitudes, the extreme limits of the solar and lunar azimuths can represent a strong motivation for special rituals, in lower latitudes where there is a more temperate climate, a similar motivation can occur at the beginning of spring and autumn. The surveyed sites can be thought as a scenic/theatrical space facing the “stage” of the rising heavens. 238 Fig. 6. Circular bar graph for the symmetry-axis declinations of 8 enclosures. Curve fitting was done using LAB Fit 4 software that handles variables’ uncertainties and produces the full resulting covariance matrix. This software also provides an error propagation calculation based on the standard expression for the absolute error. This function was used for the determination of the final uncertainties for arctan(q) or arctan(-1/q), and also for the declinations. For the declination calculation the astronomical refraction effects were calculated using G. G. Bennett’s formula (Meeus 1991, p.102) for a temperature of 15º and a pressure of 1010 mbar. We used an uncertainty of 0.5º for the horizon elevation, including the uncertainty in the refraction effects, and 1” for the latitude (measured by GPS). Discussion As is clear from Figure 6, the orientations are all in a narrow range, close to the direction of due east. Since there is a very low probability of this happening by chance (~7x10 -7 , using the expression 5 n*(θ range /360) n-1 (6), with n=8) and there are no common horizon features that could justify such a pattern, we believe that only two explanations are possible: either an astronomical target (Sun, Moon or planets) or a construction following the slope, and thus as a consequence facing the far horizon, since we verified that the azimuth of the symmetry axis and the azimuth of the steepest slope have a correlation coefficient of 0.7. 4 da Silva, Wilton P. and Silva, Cleide M. D. P. S., LAB Fit Curve Fitting Software (Nonlinear Regression and Treatment of Data Program) V 7.2.36 (1999-2007), available from www.labfit.net. 5 See Ruggles 1999, p. 95. Conclusions We can conclude from the data that the enclosures do not seem to have been built just following the slope, but instead probably pointed to an astronomical target. There seems to be an interest in declinations that correspond to the Sun at the beginning of spring or end of summer or to the Full Moon at the beginning of autumn or end of winter. It is interesting to compare our results with the declination distribution for the dolmens in the Alentejo according to Michael Hoskin 6 (Hoskin 1998, 2001, 2002). While possible solar declinations are also possible lunar declinations, Occam’s razor argues here in favour of a solar orientation, since there are no exceptions outside the declination range from –24º to +24º. Hoskin interpreted this distribution as an orientation towards the rising Sun at the end of winter or the beginning of autumn, and probably the latter, since agriculture demanded less attention at that time of year, leaving time available for the construction of communal tombs. It is possible that, through cultural continuity, ritualistic use of the enclosures around the beginning of autumn or the end of winter, and particularly at Full Moon at the beginning of autumn, could have led, later in the Neolithic, to the construction of dolmens oriented towards the rising eastern horizon and particularly to the Sun, mostly in the same period of the year. Acknowledgments We wish to thank Nuno Crato, Carlos Daniel Paulino, Clive Ruggles and Manuel Calado for their helpful comments on early drafts of this paper. We wish also to express our gratitude to Andrew Smith from Adelaide University for the horizon elevation and distance-to- 6 See Figure 9.
ARCHAEOLOGIA BALTICA 10 Fig. 7. 428-year simulation for Sun and Full Moon declinations (a) at “Autumn Full Moon equinox” and (b) at “Spring Full Moon equinox”. VI VI. LANDSCAPE ARCHAEOLOGY AND ARCHAEO- ASTRONOMY Fig. 8. (a) 428-year simulation for Sun and Full Moon declinations for both “Full Moon equinoxes”. (b) 93-year simulation for annual solar declinations. 239
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ARCHAEOLOGIA BALTICA10 Astronomy an
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UDK 902/904 Ar 46 Volume 10 Editori
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Vytautas Tumėnas. The visual and t
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PREFACE Jonas VaiškūnaS Preface T
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Jonas VaiškūnaS Preface cists, ma
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LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS List of Contri
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List of Contributors Dimitar Kolev
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List of Contributors 16 Dainius Raz
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Second Parts can always be better!
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Conference Summary: A Historian’s
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THE MILKY WAY AND ITS STRUCTURING F
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THE MILKY WAY AND ITS STRUCTURING F
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CECILIA PAULA GÓMEZ Venus And The
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CECILIA PAULA GÓMEZ Venus And The
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Astronyms in Belarussian Folk Belie
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Traditional Astronomical Knowledge
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Traditional Astronomical Knowledge
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A Solar Calendar from Latvian Daina
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A Solar Calendar from Latvian Daina
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SAULĖS KALENDORIUS PAGAL LATVIŲ D
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Mesopotamian Influences on Persian
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THE BIRTHDAY OF ASAKKU ARKADIUSZ SO
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ARKADIUSZ SOŁTYSIAK The Birthday o
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ARKADIUSZ SOŁTYSIAK The Birthday o
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NOEMI MIRANDA, JUAN A. BELMONTE, MI
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NOEMI MIRANDA, JUAN A. BELMONTE, MI
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Tracing the Celestial Deer - an Anc
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Tracing the Celestial Deer - an Anc
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Calendrical Deer, Time-Reckoning an
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The Mythological Moon Horse as Refl
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The Visual and the Mythical- Poetic
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VYTAUTAS TUMĖNAS The Visual and th
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Some Peripheral Forms of the Medite
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JONAS VAIŠKŪNAS Some Peripheral F
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Were the 185 A.D. and 369 A.D. “G
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Indigenous Astronomical Traditions
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A new attempt to date the Xia, Shan
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GÖRAN HENRIKSSON A new attempt to
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Eleventh-Century Supernovae: Anothe
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Eleventh-Century Supernovae: Anothe
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The Date of Purim and Calendars in
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L’abbé Jean Lebeuf, (1687- 1760)
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Orientations at the Minoan Peak San
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GREGORY E. MUNSON, BRYAN C. BATES,
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Reading, Writing, and Recording the
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Reading, Writing, and Recording the
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David W. Pankenier, Ciyuan Y. Liu,
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The Xiangfen, Taosi site: a Chinese
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On the Origin of the Roman Idea of
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GIULIO MAGLI On the Origin of the R
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On the Origin of the Roman Idea of
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The Nuraghic Well of Santa Cristina
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ARNOLD LEBEUF The Nuraghic Well of
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ANDREI PROKHOROV Images on the Ston
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Images on the Stones at Scebiaraky
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Images on the Stones at Scebiaraky
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Thracian Dolmens and their Orientat
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Antonio César González García, V
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Thracian Dolmens and their Orientat
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JOHN MCKIM MALVILLE, MICHAEL ZAWASK
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JOHN MCKIM MALVILLE, MICHAEL ZAWASK
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Cosmological Motifs of Peruvian Hua
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Cosmological Motifs of Peruvian Hua
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MARCELLO RANIERI A Geometrical Anal
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MARCELLO RANIERI A Geometrical Anal
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Page 204 and 205: RIMVYDAS LAUŽIKAS Some Cosmologica
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Page 228 and 229: Juan Antonio Belmonte, Antonio Cés
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Page 234 and 235: The Orientations of Central Alentej
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