​Archaeoastronomy – The Link Between Stars And Stones

“One day Jesus explained the secrets of the stars to us. It was a spring morning. From the top of the
hill we saw, in the distant plain, the sun rise where a luminous constellation still shone on the horizon.
“The constellations pass – said Jesus – after Aries the Pisces and then Aquarius will come. Then man
will discover that the dead are alive and that death does not exist”. (Apocryphal Gospel of Thomas).

Archeoastronomy is a fairly recent discipline that combines the simulation of ancient skies and their relationship with archaeological ruins and historical monuments.

It is much more than just a branch of astronomical study: it is an interdisciplinary science that includes architecture, archeology and astronomy.

For a long time the scientific establishment has shown some resistance to the idea that astronomy was practiced in prehistoric times but a re-reading of the finds and even a new analysis of temples, cathedrals, monuments, tombs and even entire ancient cities have proved their worth. orientation with specific celestial bodies.

Man has always been attracted to his surroundings, that is, from Nature, the Earth, the Sky, from the infinitesimally small to the infinitely large. The "celestial spectacle" fascinated all the ancient peoples of the world.

The first suggestions of human astronomical observations date back to the Paleolithic.

Alexander Marshack (1972) analyzed and interpreted some signs on various artifacts that correlate with lunar or solar motion.

In rock art, the graphic representation of astronomical events and cosmological concepts is incredibly common to all cultures. Two of the most used symbols are the spiral and the double spiral (sistrel) which represent the motion of the Sun, the star object of veneration because it is universally considered the origin and guardian of life.

The knowledge of the motions of the planets and the Sun was useful for knowing the passing of the seasons given by the marking of the equinoxes and solstices.

Four very important dates for the ancients, so much so as to dedicate specific ritual festivals related to agricultural work and spiritual energies to them.

Winter Solstice

It represents the moment of apparent death of the Sun which reaches the nadir and seems to leave
room only for darkness. It is the time of darkness and silence but also of preparation for rebirth. The
main religions coincide, in that period, the birth of their divinities: Horus, Attis, Krishna, Dionysus,
Mithra, Jesus, Tammuz and Odin.

Spring Equinox

It is a time of awakening, but also of renewal; awakening of Nature in all its explosion and manifestation of the return of the Goddess. The sun’s rays now touch the earth with more heat and begin to vivify the seeds, they also spur us on the path of growth and inner and intellectual development. The energies that are unleashed in this period are very strong.

Summer Solstice

It is the longest day of light of the year, the one that opens the doors to the period in which the sun expresses its maximum energy and we, similarly, are able to fully realize everything. Vitality and strength, always balanced by the light of wisdom.

Autumn Equinox

Summer is over and now we are proceeding to the end of the harvest and the last grape harvest. It is a new balance between day and night, we are now aware of the impending winter and it is therefore a moment of peaceful meditation and acceptance of what we have brought to completion. During the ceremonies, the fruits of the earth are blessed and the Mother Goddess is thanked with bread and wine, symbols of alchemy that transforms cereals into bread and fruits into drinks. The great cycle of the year ends, always in the recurring concept of death and rebirth.

Sacred Constructions

Building was considered a sacred rite and the ancient inhabitants of the planet mastered rules considered to be of a divine nature, capable of repeating the face of Heaven on Earth, aligning the buildings of worship and power with the motions and astral configurations.

Sacred Geometry was a channel for dialogue between God and Man, a tool used by the Masters of the Stone to encode esoteric messages.

Chaldeans, Babylonians, Chinese, Jews, Mayans or Aztecs, all have observed the celestial spectacle with fascination and throughout ancient mythology we find the same arguments, the same characters and the same numbers. In the stones we find "frozen" knowledge of high astronomy. 

The study of famous monuments, historical sculptures and ancient temples allows us to better understand the symbolic interaction of our ancestors with the sky above.

The Pyramid of Bomarzo

Located in the municipality of the same name, in the province of Viterbo, this huge boulder hides secrets that have not yet been deciphered. It is a monumental structure, in fact a large altar, obtained from a large pre-existing monolith.

According to scholars it is an astronomical observatory and its orientation has a link with two precise celestial bodies, in addition to the sun and the moon.

Only two stars satisfy the constraints imposed by the geometry and orientation of the artefact: Sirius, in the constellation of Canis Major and Antares in Scorpio.

From this it can be deduced that the date of the Bomarzo artefact can be traced back to the 9th century BC.

Poggio Rota

We are in Pitigliano (GR), near the Fiora river. Discovered by Giovanni Feo in 2004, the archaeoastronomic nature of the site was immediately evident. These megaliths were built in the third millennium BC. and allow the passage and observation of the sun’s rays from the summer to the winter solstice. With all the load of meanings and symbols linked to these events.

Next to the megaliths there is a tank that collects water.

It is not the only site in the Fiora Valley.

Lchashen

The Lchashen site in Armenia was built around 9500 BC. It was abandoned and completely buried by its inhabitants around 8000 BC.

An artifact reproducing a Model of the Solar System was found in a tomb near Lake Sevan. 

The astronomical symbol of the planet Earth is recognizable at the lower end, surrounded by two rings which, according to the researchers, represent water and the atmosphere.

In the upper part it is possible to recognize the symbol of the Sun.

Between the Sun and the Earth are the symbols of the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and that of the Moon.

This model is mentioned in ancient manuscripts, however, scholars still have a hard time understanding how this unique discovery was used.

Ancient iron tools have been found in many areas of Armenia.

The Armenian Iron

Earth’s ancient inhabitants learned about iron quite early, but the technology of smelting remained a mystery for a long time.

Armenia was considered the homeland of iron by Homer and Aeschylus; Euripides and Xenophon mentioned the high quality of Armenian iron while Aristotle observed that it did not rust.

Archaeologist Gordon Childe believes that an effective method of smelting was discovered by a tribe of the Armenian highlands that it would have kept secret for a long time.

German specialist Karl Bachs argues that knowledge of iron among other peoples should be seen in the context of the migration of Armenian tribes, “the mountain populations called dwarves by other European peoples because of their short stature”.

Bachs believes that this is the origin of the figure of the “miners” typical of European myths.

Sun Dagger – Sunblade

We are located in the region of New Mexico, along the Rio Grande river, precisely in the Chaco Canyon, an area inhabited in ancient times by the Anasazi people, today called Ancestral Pueblos.
The Anasazi did not know the writing but they left information through rock art. They were peasant experts and had a deep interest in the sky and the energies of the Earth.
They were called Anasazi by the Navajo, which means “the ancients”. 
In 1977 the photographer Anna Sofaer went to Chaco Canyon to reproduce the petroglyphs preserved on the walls of Fajada Butte.
On the wall of a cave he found two spirals engraved which, as we have already said, were a recurring sign among ancient cultures.

Sofaer had noticed that just above the place where the two spirals were located there were three stone slabs whose position allowed the sun’s rays to filter through. But he realized that, according to the different periods of the year in which he visited the Fajada Butte, the strip of sun (the sun blade, hence the name) that hit the spirals moved, and not randomly.
The Sun Dagger was a precise astronomical clock. 
It is no longer possible to see the Sun Dagger in action because due to too many visitors the site is ruined.

These very ancient and very important sites must be respected and preserved. Let us be satisfied with the documentation that the discoverers offer us and avoid crowding sacred places which, if left uncontaminated, will continue to “give the planet” their energies.

Stonehenge

Located in Wiltshire, England, Stonehenge is arguably one of the most famous astronomical sites in the world.

It was a ceremonial center also used as a calendar for agricultural work.

On the summer solstice, the sun's rays passing through one of the triliths illuminated the central altar, marking the change of season.

Having visited this site we can say that all the infrastructures specially created to accommodate thousands of visitors have contaminated the place and muffled its immense and archaic energy.

We want to reiterate that archaeological sites, especially of this type, are not amusement parks… we must always visit them with extreme respect.

Newgrange

The great mound of Newgrange in Ireland is particularly famous for the winter solstice when the Sun, every year, illuminates the passage and the chamber inside.

The winter solstice began a period of rituals linked to renewal and rebirth.

Light enters about four minutes after dawn, but calculations based on the precession of the Earth show that 5,000 years ago the first light would have entered exactly at dawn.

This makes the solar alignment at Newgrange very accurate compared to similar phenomena in other astronomical sites. This show lasts 17 minutes today.

The structure itself remained hidden underground for over 5,000 years, until its rediscovery in the late 17th century.

Lascaux Cave

This archaeological site is located in the Dordogne region of France.

The cave paintings found here could represent prehistoric star charts, maps of the cosmos filled with animals and guiding spirits.

In this case, the groups of points within the painted images would reproduce the constellation of Taurus.

The engravings date back to 15,000 BC.

At that time there was a global climate change on the planet that is supposed to have been caused by a comet that collided with the Earth.

Rujm el-Hiri

Contemporary to Stonehenge, it is made up of 40,000 stacked stones arranged along five concentric rings, with a central mound that is not a tomb.

In the solstices of June and December, the sunrise lines up with the openings in the rocks.

It is believed to have been a place for astrological observation or a place of worship of the Sun, until the central mound was installed, which blocks the sun’s rays on special days.

Machu Picchu

The entire sacred Inca city of Macchu Picchu, in Peru, was built in relation to the sky. Torreon and Piazza Sacra perfectly indicate the winter solstice, which occurs in June in the southern hemisphere.
The window indicated in red (1) is the largest of the three. It is oriented NNW at about 340 ° of Azimuth. During the Winter Solstice, early in the morning it is possible to see the sunset of the stars on the tail of the Big Dipper, aligned in a curved way, reminiscent of a snake. The window indicated in orange (2) orange is oriented to the NE at about 65 ° of Azimuth, agrees with the sunrise during the winter solstice. That day, the first ray of sunshine casts its ray of light on the rock carved on the floor. 
In the previous hours you can see the Pleiades and Hyades, with their bright red star Aldebaran that anticipate the presence of the Sun. Through the third window (3, yellow) located SE at about 132 ° of Azimuth, you can see the portion that corresponds to the tail of the western constellation of Scorpio, which has a shape that is close to the design of the tower.

Chichén Itzá

Important Mayan archaeological complex, located in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico.

The site includes numerous buildings, the most famous being the pyramid of Kukulkan (Mayan name of Quetzalcoatl), and the astronomical observatory.

The step pyramid has stairways that run along the four sides to the top.

During the spring and autumn equinoxes, as the sun sets and rises, the corners of the pyramid cast a shadow in the shape of a feathered snake, Kukulkan, along the northern staircase.

The Pyramids of Giza

Astronomy was extremely important to the ancient Egyptians, not just a valuable guide that reported the floods of the Nile. The importance of the stars extends much further, as it was thought that the Pharaohs themselves came from the stars and were destined to ascend there after death. The kingdom of Osiris is located in Duat, in the place where Orion and Sirius rise before the dawn of the summer solstice.

Although officially Egyptology lists the pyramids of Ancient Egypt as tombs of the Pharaohs, this explanation is not conclusive.

In 1983, British researcher Robert Bauval observed that the three great pyramids of Giza were perfectly aligned with the three stars of the Orion Belt. This demonstrated not only the amazing architecture of the Pyramids but also an unimaginable knowledge of astronomy.

In order for the alignment of the three Pyramids with the Orion belt to be consistent, it was necessary to go back in time, to the exact moment when the stars were perfectly aligned. In fact, we know that the stars move in the sky due to the precession of the equinoxes.

Archeoastronomy has given the answer: the sky had that configuration about 10,500 years before Christ. From this it follows that the Pyramids were built well before what is believed. And that date marked the beginning of the Astronomical Era of Leo.

Gobekli Tepe

A complex still to be studied, located in Turkey, on the border with Syria that dates back to 12,000 years ago.

Only recently has its archaeoastronomic relevance been highlighted.

The central pillars are oriented towards the star Deneb, the brightest star in the Swan, also known as the Northern Cross.

The probable astronomical alignments of two other enclosures in Göbekli Tepe seem to point towards the rising of the Sun on the summer solstice and the autumn equinox the first, towards the rising point of the Moon the second.

In Egyptian and Hindu myth it was a primordial swan that generated the universe.

By aligning their buildings with the stars, the ancients believed they were attracting divine energy to Earth.