Archaeoastronomy - European Society for Astronomy in Culture (SEAC) 2021 Conference

Academia.edu PDF: https://www.academia.edu/53555609/Upp...
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SEAC 2021 Conference Cultural Astronomy & Ancient Skywatching
Société Européenne pour l'Astronomie dans la Culture

Presenter: Bernie Taylor - https://www.beforeorion.com /
Twitter:   / bernietayloror  

Abstract:
There is a record of inherited constellations and recognized stars with similar animal, human and mythical characteristics from ancient Mesopotamia among ancient Greek astronomers as well as star patterns independently introduced by the latter. This research explores earlier sources of ancient Mesopotamian and Greek constellations, recognized stars, and their associated characters as depicted on the Gallery of Discs in the Spanish Cave of El Castillo, dating to approximately 35,000 years ago, to better understand the origins of astronomy in the ancient world.

The Upper Paleolithic constellations and stars recognized among the ancient Greeks and Mesopotamians and pictured in this presentation are listed below.
A. Hercules – Kneeling man (Kneeling man in ancient Greece).
B. Aquila – Eagle (Eagle in ancient Greece and Mesopotamia).
C. Pegasus – Horse (Horse in ancient Greece).
D. Pisces – Dolphin and whale (Fish in ancient Greece and Mesopotamia).
E. Cetus – Seal (Sea monster in ancient Greece).
F. Perseus – Man (Man in ancient Greece and Mesopotamia).
G. Auriga – Head of elephant.
H. Taurus – Trunk and tusks of elephant (Tusked elephant converted to horned bull in ancient Greece and Mesopotamia).
I. Orion – Man with club (Man in ancient Greece and Mesopotamia).
J. Canis Major/Sirius – Dog (Dog and star in ancient Greece. Star in ancient Mesopotamia).
K. Cygnus – Ostrich (Swan, bird or hen in ancient Greece).
L. Draco – Crocodile (Dragon in ancient Greece).
M. Ursa Major – Mother and juvenile bears (She-Bear in ancient Greece. Plow in ancient Mesopotamia).
N. Leo – Lion (Lion in ancient Greece and Mesopotamia).
O. Gemini – Lioness and Barbary macaque (Pair of eyes for the rectangular-shaped Barbary macaque are Castor and Pollux. Twin stars in ancient Greece and Mesopotamia).

The night sky during mid-summer in the year 33,000 BCE is pictured in this presentation using Starry Night Pro7 with a visual location from the Strait of Gibraltar. The time of year in Starry Night Pro7 was converted by this researcher to the Gregorian calendar using the equinoxes and solstices in the software program. The life history stage of the fledging eagle depicted on the Gallery of Discs is consistent with a mid to late June time period, the constellation Aquila and other presented constellations and recognized stars in the night sky, as viewed from the Strait of Gibraltar during the same time of year 33,000 BCE. This epoch is also consistent with archaeological Uranium-series dating of the panel (Pike, 2012).

This interpretation suggests that some Upper Paleolithic constellations had two representative characters, such as the dolphin and whale for Pisces, which were determined by the traveling direction of the skywatchers and with respect to an epic journey myth. Dual constellations may have been difficult to interpret for ancient Greek astronomers who found one character per constellation with some stars overlapping into other constellations. The ancient Greeks also had other established constellations inherited from earlier times, such as Pisces, representing fish. Ancient Greek astronomers appear to have added smaller constellations for these ancient world and Upper Paleolithic duplicates, such as Delphinus for the dolphin.

The pictured constellations and their representative characters overlap on the Gallery of Discs (Taylor, 2020). The overlapping of some constellations may have been later interpreted as wings of the eagle (Aquila) for the horse (Pegasus). Sagittarius may have been developed from the overlapping of the man (Hercules) and the horse (Pegasus). Additionally, there are common spatial elements between the Upper Paleolithic and the ancient Mesopotamian and Greek records, such as the astronomical Sea where we find marine animals for both Pisces and Cetus as well as the Greek Pegasus which was created by Poseidon and arose from a sea.

The astronomical images in this presentation were previously presented at the International Astronomical Union #IAU367 - https://beforeorion.com/index.php/arc...

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