Article ID: CBB033495991

An Investigation of the Possible Equinox Alignment at Mnajdra, Malta (2017)

unapi

A general study of the orientations of the prehistoric temples of Malta showed that the main axis of the Mnajdra I temple had the same orientation as the equinox sunrise. But was this a coincidence or a deliberate choice of the temple builders? This query led to a survey of the karstic terrain forming the eastern skyline of Mnajdra for any evidence of observations of sunrise in the Neolithic age, especially at the solstices. This report describes the procedure, observations and challenges of this survey, as well as the discovery of some interesting features, including two possible postholes. Further measurements showed that a post in the southernmost hole could have been used as a foresight, marking winter solstice sunrise fairly accurately. The other possible posthole is off-set from the summer solstice sunrise position by about three degrees in azimuth. A discussion of the relevance of these findings concludes this report.

...More
Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB033495991/

Similar Citations

Article Davide Tanasi; Andrea Orlando; (2016)
Rediscovering The Maltese Temple Of Borġ In-Nadur: An Archaeoastronomical Perspective (/isis/citation/CBB415715597/)

Article Lionel Sims; Xabi Otero; (2016)
Praileaitz I: A Magdalenian Lunar-Solar Cave At 15,500 Bp In The Basque Country (/isis/citation/CBB560159056/)

Article Olwyn Pritchard; (2016)
Shadows, Stones and Solstices (/isis/citation/CBB643693960/)

Article Andrea Rodríguez-Antón; A. César González-García; Juan Antonio Belmonte; (2017)
Estimating the Reliability of Digital Data Acquisition in Cultural Astronomy: The Case of Roman North Africa (/isis/citation/CBB486587488/)

Article Giulio Magli; Eugenio Realini; Mirko Reguzzoni; Daniele Sampietro; (2014)
High-Precision GPS Survey of Via Appia: Archaeoastronomy-Related Aspects (/isis/citation/CBB893507007/)

Book Cilia, Daniel; (2004)
Malta before History: The World's Oldest Free-Standing Stone Architecture (/isis/citation/CBB000773545/)

Article Gail Higginbottom; A. César González-García; Benito Vilas-Estévez; Víctor López-López; Felipe Criado-Boado; (2023)
Landscape, orientation and celestial phenomena on the ‘Coast of Death’ of NW Iberia (/isis/citation/CBB045599609/)

Article Alexey Stoev; Penka Maglova; Vassil Markov; Mina Spasova; (2016)
Prehistoric Rock Sanctuary With Arch Near The Village Of Kovachevitsa, Bulgaria: Spatial Orientation And Solar Projections (/isis/citation/CBB087510131/)

Article Alberto Scuderi; Vito F Polcaro; Ferdinando Maurici; (2014)
New Archaeoastronomical Findings in the Alto Belice Valley (Sicily) (/isis/citation/CBB871002166/)

Article Cecilia Dal Zovo; A César González-García; Yolanda Seoane-Veiga; (2014)
Orientation of Early Bronze Age Mounds in the Altai (/isis/citation/CBB148696437/)

Book Clive L. N. Ruggles; (2015)
Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy (/isis/citation/CBB622952592/)

Article M. Pérez Gutierrez; D. Bea Castaño; J. Diloli Fons; J. Vila Llorach; M. Prades Painous; (2016)
La Gessera: An Iberian Building For Worship? (Tarragona, Spain) (/isis/citation/CBB540703705/)

Article Claude Maumené; (2016)
The Gundestrup Cauldron: Is This The Key To The Enigma? (/isis/citation/CBB467951276/)

Article V. R. Tiede; (2016)
Ara Pacis Avgvstae: An Astro-Archaeological Analysis (/isis/citation/CBB294902373/)

Article Davide Gori; Andrea Orlando; (2016)
The Megalithic Temple of Diana on the Cefalù Rock (Sicily) (/isis/citation/CBB963904706/)

Authors & Contributors
González-García, A. César
Maglova, Penka
Orlando, Andrea
Stoev, Alexey
Ventura, Frank J.
Maurici, Ferdinando
Concepts
Archaeoastronomy
Archaeology
Sun
Prehistory and primitive societies
Surveying
Megalithic monuments
Time Periods
Bronze age
Ancient
Prehistory
Places
Malta
Spain
Italy
Rome (Italy)
Bulgaria
Wales
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment