“Astronomers have watched sunspots come and go on the sun’s surface for at least 400 years.
But to learn about the history of the sun’s activity before the time of telescopes, they have to turn to historical references to phenomena linked to solar activity, like the northern lights.
Now, a team of scientists have discovered what may be the oldest written records of aurorae to date.
These three Assyrian and Babylonian cuneiform tablets from about 680 to 650 B.C. seem to refer to aurorae lighting up the skies.
Chemical analysis of tree rings also show that there was likely a spike in solar activity around that time.
This extends the known time span of aurora records to about 2,700 years, as the team reported earlier this month in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.”
[Well done Astronomy Magazine for bringing this important discovery about the competance of ancient astronomers to a much wider audience worldwide!
It seems, yet again, that the more theses ancient cunieform records are studied the more it can be seen that in ancient times skywatchers were far more capable of observing and accurately recording events in those ancient skies than has previously been acknowledged.
It’s well worth a visit to read the full story and see the diagrams of the cunieform tablets – Ed]
“The entire Deccan Plateau that consists of a major part of Telangana including Hyderabad is dotted by numerous megalithic sites, etched with prehistoric art.
However, till the long time, the significance of these etchings were not known to the people, but a recent research published in the TRC School of Telangana Studies has found that the prehistoric art that is found on one of these historic structure in Mudumal and at Gachbiowli depict constellations such as Ursa Major, Gemini, Orion, and others.
The research titled, Stars and Stones: The Interpretation of Megalithic Cup-Marks from South India, by K P Rao talks about the knowledge of astronomy in the megalithic community.
While talking about the cup marks at Mudumal, Rao noted that these cup marks depicted a formation, which closely resembled to a constellation called Ursa Major.”
[Another interesting archaeological discovery in India reported by New Indian Express. The megalithic culture in India has much in common with that in other areas around the world – an understanding of astronomy only recently acknowledged. It’s well worth a visit to read the full story – Ed]
“The astronomers at the European Southern Observatory might not have been the first to stand on the spot and look upwards.
The complex astronomical measurements that underpinned many aspects of the Inca civilisation may have an ancient forerunner of 10 centuries earlier and 2000 kilometres distant, a prominent archeoastronomer suggests.
Steven Gullberg, of the University of Oklahoma, US, and chair of the International Astronomical Union Working Group for Archaeoastronomy and Astronomy in Culture, is the latest scientist to comment on the origin and purpose of some mysterious stones and engravings, known as petroglyphs, at a site known as La Silla, in Chile.
The complex designs etched in rock, together with a set of standing stones, were first studied in depth by researchers in 2012.
It was suggested that the artefacts were set up to mark the positions of two very brilliant stars, Canopus and Hadar, and were the work of the El Molle, a pre-Columbian culture that occupied the region for five centuries from about 300 CE.”
[Nice One Cosmos! This is a very interesting story about the astronomical achievements of ancient peoples in South America, who seems to have been very knowledgeable about the cosmos, and who accurately measured and recorded in stone the heliacal risings of two stars that were of significance to that culture.
Well worth a visit to read the full story and see the image of one of the carved stones – Ed]
“Archaeoastronomy is the study of how people in the past have understood the phenomena in the sky, how they used these phenomena and what role the sky played in their cultures.
In Kashmir such examples abound at various archaeological sites, geographically distributed from north to south.
In 2020 if you look at the sky and observe two moons or what is called on scientific parlance as Supernova you will certainly like to share the picture or video with friends on social media.
Likewise this phenomenon has puzzled people from the time immemorial and they have been recording it in different forms.
Similarly the earth has witnessed various meteorite showers through the course of history. Scientists say this is what happened back in 3600BC.
Petroglyph discovered in Burzhom is believed to be that oldest sky chart drawn which was made on a stone slab.
The rock art depicts the two bright objects in the sky with shapes of humans and animals.
In Bomai, Sopore such rock engravings represent the meteorite shower which experts believe has occurred some 40000 to 6000 years back.”
[An excellent story from the Kashmir Observer! That meteoritic impacts can create lakes is well known from other areas around the world, and this is a great example of this in India.
The interpretation of the symbols carved into stone petroglyphs is insightful, and other archaeologists should take note – ancient peoples were very capable observers of temporary celestial phenomena such as meteorite showers, and more than capable of recording those observations in stone.
It really is well worth avisit to the site to read the full story – Ed]
“Astronomical knowledge was used by the Incas to identify solstices, seasonal changes, and the best time for sowing and harvesting, resulting in the ancient civilisation becoming the largest empire in the western hemisphere.
The Inca civilisation in Peru placed great importance on astronomy.
They were the only culture in the world to define constellations of both light and darkness.
The Incas not only identified constellations and individual stars, but they also assigned each a purpose.
They believed that everything in and around our world was connected.
It has long been known that astronomy played a central role in the culture, religion, and daily lives of the Inca, who used astronomical events to govern ceremonial occasions and for planning agricultural activities.
Cusco for example lies on a radial plan, mimicking the sky and pointing to specific astronomical events on the horizon.”
[Well Done Daily Express Online for this excellent article! Written succinctly by Matthew Kirkham, a journalist who seems to know what he’s talking about regarding advanced knowledge of astronomincal reality in ancient societies, it is a most welcome addition to the body of knowledge about such matters that has developed over the past few decades.
Sadly, the ‘Great European Reconnaissance’ of the world starting 500 or so years ago, seems now to have deliberately set about trashing all the ancient societies they encountered in their global pillaging rampage, with a main focus on destroying all evidence of their advanced knowledge of the natural world – a world which did not end at the horizon, but which continued on out into the cosmos and was the perspective of all ancient societies.
This article is an excellent place to start in any new understanding that our own interpretation of ancient celestial events needs to be as much urgently reviewed as does the standard archaeological paradigm of the abilities of ancient peoples to accurately record them.
We highly recommend a visit to read the full story, but the page also has several links to ‘ancient aliens’ conspiracy nonsense, theories that are themselves designed to belittle the amazing astronomical knowledge and achievements of ancient peoples in order to perpetuate the racist Euro-centric narrative that has dominated since the global rampage itself. So be aware…. – Ed]
[In October 1900, Captain Dimitrious Kondos was leading a team of sponge divers near the the island of Antikythera off the coast of Greece. They noticed a shipwreck about 180 feet below the surface and began to investigate. Amongst the artifacts that they brought up was a coral-encrusted piece of metal that later archaeologists found was some sort of gear wheel.
The rest of the artifacts, along with the shape of the boat, suggested a date around 2000 years ago, which made the find one of the most anomalous that had ever been recovered from the Greek seas. It became known as The Antikythera Mechanism.
In 2006 the journal “Nature” published a letter, and another paper about the mechanism was published in 2008, detailing the findings of Prof. Mike G. Edmunds of Cardiff University. Using high-resolution X-ray tomography to study the fragments of the anomalous Antikythera Mechanism, they found that it was in fact a bronze mechanical analog computer that could be used to calculate the astronomical positions and various cycles of the Moon – as seen from the Earth: – Ed]
Part of the Antikythera Mechanism
Antikythera Mechanism Research Project
2000-year-old analog computer recreated
More Antikythera Mechanism Information & Commentary:
“The 2300 BC Event takes a new look at an old puzzle: what happened at this date to cause the various advanced societies on the Earth to simultaneously collapse?
Civilizations in Anatolia and Greece, through Egypt and the Middle East, and eastward to India and Central Asia were at their height. The collapse of these civilizations due to earthquakes and climatic changes has been mirrored by similar interruptions on all continents, in the Arctic, and extending to the Pacific.
The discontinuities have long puzzled archaeologists and historians. New religions and accompanying mythologies appeared at this time in all cultural regions describing bombardment and flooding from the skies.
Strangely, the dominant aspect of the mythologies, however, is the observation and worship of a ring appearing to surround the Earth, oriented to the two Ursa (Bear) constellations.”
“Some time around 2300 BC the Eath encountered a dense clustering of space debris, the early Southern & Northern Taurid meteoroid stream. The result was an intense fall of meteoroids, some of them sufficiently large to cause surface destruction.
Simultaneous with the meteoroid fall was a huge downpouring of water which caused flash flooding. Extensive destruction and loss of life resulted. An astonishing aspect of the event was the formation of a ring surrounding the Earth, reflecting sunlight during the day, hiding some stars at night, and moving around the sky through a 24-hour period.
Following the ‘main event’, there were crustal movements which shifted the location of water sources, and caused earthquakes which destroyed settlements. Abrupt severe climate changes occurred.”
“The Northern/Southern Taurid meteoroid stream is identified as the specific meteoroid stream that the Earth encountered at 2300 BC.
The Earth’s encounter with a dense cluster of large objects would produce atmospheric phenomena very different from the pleasant and interesting night displays of meteor trails that are within our own experience.
The rain of objects would have generated extraordinary visual and auditory effects combined with ground vibrations; and under extreme conditions would bring about severe surface destruction and loss of life.
The overall event was associated by the people with powerful deities and formed the basis for major religions. The mythologies and traditions are, in large part, the residues of those religions.”
