Sims, Lionel (Author)
Otero, Xabi (Author)
Hayden et al. (2012) have questioned whether there was a Palaeolithic „astronomy", yet nevertheless show that ethnographic evidence confirms such knowledge amongst extant „complex hunter-gatherers". Included in their critique is a rejection of Marshack"s (1972) suggestion that Palaeolithic modern humans made nondecorative lunar notational systems. During fieldwork in the Basque country in March 2015 the authors examined the orientation of the Praileaitz I cave in the valley of the River Deba. The site excavation report (Peñalver, 2014) reveals that the cave was a place of ritual for local hunter-gatherers during the Magdalenian period around 15,500BP. The cave was one of 22 probably inhabited by the same group during the Magdalenian. Since none of the remaining 21 caves displayed any evidence as being places of ritual, then this data-set allows a statistical procedure to identify what particular portfolio of characteristics led to this cave being chosen as a place of ritual. The Praileaitz I cave has a vulva shaped entrance, 29.5 pendants arranged around the cave"s chambers, an outward facing vestibular seat, red ochre crayons, a cutting antler baton and abstract „art". Many of the pendants displayed marks consistent with Marshack"s lunar model. The field archaeoastronomy reveals that the cave entrance had an alignment on summer solstice sunrise. This lunar-solar astronomical finding shows a step-change from tracking discrete months as demonstrated by Marshack to organising „lunar" rituals abstracted from any particular month displaced onto a solarized time scale. This suggests that the Magdalenian Praileaitz I rituals served as a bridging ritual form between monthly, synodic, rituals in the early Palaeolithic and later monumental alignments on the solarized sidereal moon in the Mesolithic, as for example at Warren Field in Scotland (Gaffney et al., 2013), and in the Neolithic, as for example at Stonehenge (Sims, 2006).
...More
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
Frank J. Ventura;
George Agius;
(2017)
An Investigation of the Possible Equinox Alignment at Mnajdra, Malta
(/isis/citation/CBB033495991/)
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
César Esteban;
Carmen Rísquez;
Carmen Rueda;
(2014)
An Evanescent Vision of the Sacred? The Equinoctial Sun at the Iberian Sanctuary of Castellar
(/isis/citation/CBB646029346/)
Article
Alexey Stoev;
Penka Maglova;
(2016)
Research Project "Astronomical Orientations And Geophysical Anomalies Of Trapezoidal Niches In The Eastern Rhodopes, Bulgaria": In Search Of An International Partnership
(/isis/citation/CBB567529150/)
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
César Esteban;
Daniel Iborra Pellín;
(2016)
Temples Of Astarte Across The Mediterranean
(/isis/citation/CBB858090060/)
Article
Alberto Scuderi;
Vito F Polcaro;
Ferdinando Maurici;
(2014)
New Archaeoastronomical Findings in the Alto Belice Valley (Sicily)
(/isis/citation/CBB871002166/)
Article
Davide Tanasi;
Andrea Orlando;
(2016)
Rediscovering The Maltese Temple Of Borġ In-Nadur: An Archaeoastronomical Perspective
(/isis/citation/CBB415715597/)
Article
Frank J. Ventura;
(2017)
Beyond Orientations and Intentions Towards Motivation and Meaning: An Enduring Challenge and a Possible Response
(/isis/citation/CBB303335111/)
Article
Silva, Fabio;
Pimenta, Fernando;
(2012)
The Crossover of the Sun and the Moon
(/isis/citation/CBB001232488/)
Article
J. McKim Malville;
(2016)
Animism, Reciprocity And Entanglement
(/isis/citation/CBB445937670/)
Article
Douglas Scott;
(2016)
The Solar Lunar Orientations of the Orkney-Cromarty and Clava Cairns
(/isis/citation/CBB787754900/)
Article
R. Moyano;
(2016)
The Crossover Among The Incas In The Collasuyu
(/isis/citation/CBB754564988/)
Article
Benítez, Sixto Ramón Giménez;
Alejandro Martín López;
Granada, Anahi;
(2006)
The Sun and the Moon as Marks of Time and Space among the Mocovíes of the Argentinian Chaco
(/isis/citation/CBB001252027/)
Article
J. McKim Malville;
(2015)
Chimney Rock and the Ontology of Skyscapes: How Astronomy, Trade, and Pilgrimage Transformed Chimney Rock
(/isis/citation/CBB727067312/)
Article
Davide Gori;
Andrea Orlando;
(2016)
The Megalithic Temple of Diana on the Cefalù Rock (Sicily)
(/isis/citation/CBB963904706/)
Article
Steven Gullberg;
J McKim Malville;
(2014)
The River Intihuatana: Huaca Sanctuary on the Urubamba
(/isis/citation/CBB095812274/)
Article
Penka Maglova;
Alexey Stoev;
Mina Spasova;
(2016)
Late Chalcolithic Solar-Chthonic Rock-Cut Structures For Time Measuring In The Eastern Rhodopes, Bulgaria
(/isis/citation/CBB950981478/)
Article
V. R. Tiede;
(2016)
Ara Pacis Avgvstae: An Astro-Archaeological Analysis
(/isis/citation/CBB294902373/)
Be the first to comment!