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NOEMI MIRANDA, JUAN A. BELMONTE, MIGUEL ANGEL MOLINERO Uncovering Seshat: New Insights into the Stretching of the Cord Ceremony Fig. 6. These diagrams show a particular configuration of the constellation Meskhetyu (the Plough), identical to that used as an example in Plate VII: Fig. 4(c), in different historical periods of ancient Egyptian civilization. They show that this asterism could have been used as the target for cardinal and intercardinal orientations long before the Ptolemaic Period. The lower meridian transit of Phecda and Megrez could have been used to establish due north, with an accuracy limited only by human error, in the year 2562 BCE and might have served to orientate the Old Kingdom pyramids (Belmonte 2001). Other important structures such as HK29A in Hierakonpolis (Kom el Ahmar) and Shunet el-Zebib or the Osireion in Abydos could have been oriented in the same manner with lower precision (Belmonte, Shaltout and Fekri 2008). The stars of this constellation were prominent members of the select group of Egyptian “imperishable” stars, probably due to their circumpolar character, with the celestial pole located near Thuban (α Draconis) during the Pyramid Age (see panel b). 60 ments of the pyramids in that epoch (Belmonte 2001). However, as shown in Fig. 6, this particular configuration of Meskhetyu would have offered a marvellous method for the astronomical orientation of sacred buildings in ancient Egypt from the late Pre-Dynastic period onwards, even through to the New Kingdom, either on a north-south axis (cases b and c) or in the intercardinal directions (cases a and d, see Belmonte, Shaltout and Fekri 2008; see also Belmonte at al. 2008). We want to make it clear that this particular configuration of Meskhetyu, used here as a suggestive example, was not the only astronomical target that the Egyptians could have used to orientate their monuments during the stretching of the cord ceremonies (we must even consider the possible use of topographic features such as the Nile or a prominent mountain – Shaltout and Belmonte 2005). In Dendera, for example (see above), it is most likely that the rising of the complete constellation (the Akh of Meskhetyu) was the observation used to align the temple of Hathor. Other temples were most probably orientated to the sun and to the brightest stars in the Egyptian skies (Belmonte, Shaltout and Fekri 2008). However, Meskhetyu, as the northern asterism par excellence, was presumably the most important astronomical reference for temple orientation in any of the eight cardinal and intercardinal directions of the compass. These directions would have been indicated directly by a remarkable survey device that, as we have argued in this paper, may have been developed by the
ancient Egyptians: the Seshat sign-instrument or “seshatium”. We hope that future tests will help either to further support or else to refute this evocative, but nonetheless controversial, hypothesis. Acknowledgements We wish to express our thanks to the Multimedia Service of the IAC for providing us with some of the diagrams presented in this paper. Comments and suggestions from César González, José Lull, David Pankenier or Bradley Schaefer greatly enriched the quality of the paper. This work is partially financed within the framework of the projects P310793 “Arqueoastronomía” of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, and AYA2004- 01010 “Orientatio ad Sidera” of the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science. References ADAM, J-P., 2002. La construcción romana: materiales y técnicas. León: Los Oficios. BELMONTE, J. A., 2001. On the orientation of the Old Kingdom Egyptian pyramids. Archaeoastronomy, 26, 1-20. BELMONTE, J. A., SHALTOUT M., FEKRI M., 2008. On the orientation of ancient Egyptian temples (4): epilogue at Serabit el Khadem and overview. JHA 39, 181-211. BELMONTE, J. A., GONZÁLEZ GARCÍA, A. C., SHALTOUT, M., FEKRI, M. and MIRANDA, N., 2008. From Umm al Qab to Biban al Muluk: the orientation of royal tombs in ancient Egypt. This volume. BORCHARD, L., 1913. Das Grabdenkmal des Könings Sahu-re II. Leipzig. KRUPP, E.C., 1983. Echoes of the Ancient Skies. New York: Harper and Row. MIRANDA, N., BELMONTE, J. A. and MOLINERO, M. A., 2007. Seshat en las escenas de fundación de templos y del cómputo de años. TdE 5-6, in press. SCHÄFER, H., 2002. Principles of Egyptian Art. Oxford: Griffith Institute. SHALTOUT, M. and BELMONTE, J. A., 2005. On the orientation of ancient Egyptian temples (1): Upper Egypt and Lower Nubia. JHA 36, 273-98. SHALTOUT, M., BELMONTE, J. A. and FEKRI, M., 2007. On the orientation of ancient Egyptian temples (3): key points in Lower Egypt and Siwa Oasis, Part I. JHA 38, 141-160. WILKINSON, T. A. H., 2000. Royal Annals of ancient Egypt. The Palermo Stone and its associated Fragments. London / New York: Kegan Paul. ZABA, Z., 1953. L’orientation astronomique dans l’ancienne Egypte et la précession de l’axe du onde. Prague: Editions de l’académie Tchécoslovaque des Sciences. DEIVĖ SEŠATA: NAUJOS ĮŽVALGOS APIE VIRVĖS ĮTEMPIMO CEREMONIJĄ Noemi Miranda, Juan A. Belmonte, Miguel Angel Molinero Santrauka Senovės Egipto „virvės įtempimo ceremonijos“ ritualas siekia I-os dinastijos laikus, tačiau galimybė, kad šis ritualas gali būti ir senesnis, taip pat nėra visiškai atmestina. Iki šių dienų seniausia žinoma „virvės įtempimo ceremonija“ datuojama romėniškuoju laikotarpiu, ir deivė Sešata visada minima šio ritualo kontekste. Ikonografija išsaugojo kelias minėto ritualo detales, kurios yra užfiksuotos ankstyviausiose žinomose scenose, datuojamose faraono Chasechemvio valdymo laikais. Mes žinome, kad ši ceremonija Egipte buvo naudota statybose pastatams orientuoti pagal pasaulio šalis ir kad keliose šventyklose prie šias ceremonijas vaizduojančių scenų yra pateikti įrašai su astronomine informacija. Ptolemajų dinastijos valdymo metu šiuose tekstuose minimas Meskhetyu žvaigždynas (Ursa Major). Mus domina deivės ikonografijos klausimas ir ypač jos hieroglifas, kuris mums suteikė impulsą pateikti naują hipotezę apie specialiai šventyklos pamatų dėjimo ceremonijai skirtos technikos naudojimą. Nepaisant daugybės teorijų, nėra galutinio paaiškinimo, ką Sešata laiko virš galvos (virš jos galvos vaizduojamas septyniakampės žvaigždės pavidalo ženklas – vert. past.). Mūsų hipotezė remiasi pastebimu panašumu tarp romėniško gromae (groma – romėniškas topografinis instrumentas) – vaizdavimo ir deivės hieroglifo. Faktas, kad abu ženklai yra susiję su pastatų orientavimu, leidžia mums kelti prielaidą, kad ženklas buvo naudojamas ne tik deivei identifikuoti, t. y. buvo jos emblema, bet vaizdavo ir topografinį instrumentą, panašų į gromą ir tarnavusį pastatams orientuoti, vadovaujantis tam tikromis taisyklėmis, kurios yra perteikiamos hieroglifais rašytuose tekstuose. Vertė Audronė Bliujienė ARCHAEOLOGIA BALTICA 10 II II. ASTRO- NOMICAL AND COSMOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE IN MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGION Received: 1 November 2007; Revised: 1 August 2008 61
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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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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
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Page 26 and 27: CECILIA PAULA GÓMEZ Venus And The
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Page 30 and 31: Astronyms in Belarussian Folk Belie
Page 36 and 37: Traditional Astronomical Knowledge
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Page 40 and 41: A Solar Calendar from Latvian Daina
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Page 46 and 47: Mesopotamian Influences on Persian
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Page 72 and 73: The Mythological Moon Horse as Refl
Page 78 and 79: The Visual and the Mythical- Poetic
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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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A Geometrical Analysis of Mesoameri
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LUCILLA LABIANCA, IDA SCIORTINO, SI
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An Archaeoastronomical Study of the
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Some Cosmological Aspects оf Catho
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RIMVYDAS LAUŽIKAS Some Cosmologica
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Fig. 1. Distribution of the graves
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Basatanya revisited: two periods of
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The Pythagorean Geometry of the Atr
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The Pythagorean Geometry of the Atr
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Measurement Systems for Mathematics
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Measurement Systems for Mathematics
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Integrating Archaeoastronomy with L
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LIONEL SIMS Integrating Archaeoastr
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Integrating Archaeoastronomy with L
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From Umm Al Qab to Biban Al Muluk:
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Juan Antonio Belmonte, Antonio Cés
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Juan Antonio Belmonte, Antonio Cés
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From Umm Al Qab to Biban Al Muluk:
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The Orientations of Central Alentej
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Cardinal and Lunisolar Alignments a
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Cardinal and Lunisolar Alignments a
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Searching for the Astronomy of Abor
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Alternative Archaeoastronomies - An
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Alternative Archaeoastronomies - An
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THE CASE STUDY OF THE BOORONG The C
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The Case Study of the Boorong JOHN
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The Case Study of the Boorong JOHN
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Nationalism and Politics in the Rec
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Nationalism and Politics in the Rec
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Cosmic Catastrophes and Cultural Di
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In Memoriam Izold’s interests wer
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Klaipėdos universiteto leidykla AR
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Plates 2 6 1 3 Plate II. Antonio C
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Plates 12 11 10 9 8 7 Plate IV. IV
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Plates 1 11 Plate VI. VI Antonio C
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Plates 2 3 Plate VIII. VIII Lucilla
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