ARCHEOASTRONOMIA LIGUSTICA
Articolo in corso di stampa sugli atti del Congresso internazionale “Représentations d’astres, d’amas stellaires et de constellations dans la préhistoire et dans l’antiquité” tenutosi presso il Musée Départemental des Merveilles, in Tenda (F) dal 24 al 27 settembre 2012.
Archaeoastronomical
hypothesis about the “Capitello dei Due Pini”, Val Camonica, Italy
Mario Codebò, Henry
De Santis
Résumé
Une étude pluriannuel d’archéoastronomie a démontré que le Gravure Camun
du Soleil, dans le Capitello
des Deux Pins, en localité Plas (Val Camonica, Italie), peut
être interprété comme une représentation stylisée
de l'excursion annuelle du Soleil
le long de le profile ouest de l’horizon visible - le coucher du
Soleil aux équinoxes et des solstices - et le mouvement
apparent de
Riassunto
Uno
studio archeoastronomico pluriennale ha dimostrato
che il petroglifo camuno del Sole, presso il Capitello dei Due Pin in località Plas (Val Camonica, Italia)i, può essere interpretato come
una rappresentazione stilizzata dell'escursione annua del Sole sul profilo
occidentale dell'orizzonte visibile - i tramonti agli equinozi ed ai solstizi -
e del movimento apparente lunare intorno all'astro diurno. Si è anche
constatato che gli ultimi raggi del Sole al tramonto durante il solstizio
estivo illuminano la sola parte superiore del Capitello dei Due Pini, ove è
rappresentato il disco solare. Gli autori ritengono che ciò, unitamente ad
altri elementi, confermi l’interpretazione, già proposta da altri in
precedenza, della località Plas come antico luogo di
culto del Sole.
The research
An
archaeoastronomical research focused on Camunian site
Plas, marked by very beautiful engravings (picture 1),
was proposed for the first time by Elena Gervasoni in
1997. At that time, she invited
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Picture 1: The
engravings of Plas (drawing by |
While the 1997
survey ended with a first contact on the environment and with measuring about
two churches’ orientation, Codebò thought to find in the site Plas the typical characterizations of prehistoric cult,
basing on similar experiences (Codebò and Michelini,
1997a, pp. 341-358; Codebò, 1999). The characterizations are: rise on
surrounding ground, panoramic view, heathen frequentation, and Christianization
marks.
After studying the
site’s geomorphology, with a steep left mountainside, and after considering the
tradition of a sacred wedding between the male principle of Pizzo
Badile Camuno and the
female principle of Concarena, we thought Concarena were the focus of ancient observations (tradition
of the wedding is reported by Fratti and Gervasoni; meteorological observations reported in Priuli, 1983, picture n. 1 and Brunod
1997, picture n. 23; astronomical observations reported in Beretta, 1997,
pag.68).
After that, Barale and Codebò found a similar mountain hierogamy in the
We observed that
behind Concarena’s outline we can watch the whole
journey of sunset during the year and, given the fact that two engravings show
the Sun, we concluded that it was the same Sun the object of the cult.
Moreover,
Calzolari, Codebò, Fratti and Gervasoni
were already able to observe, during September 1997, the evening projection of
light and shadows behind the Concarena. This vision
could have been intended as an epiphany of the mountain Gods, like the one that
it is possible to observe sometime behind the
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Picture 2: The
Sun’s (Camunian) Engraving (photo by |
Picture 3: The
Sun’s (Camunian) Engraving (drawing by |
The further step
wanted us to verify our hypothesis and understand the reason for the three Sun
rings, instead of one. So we began to observe and take pictures of the Sun
during three key moments: equinox and solstices. This process went through
winter solstice in 1997- summer solstice 1999. We used the following tools: graduated
spherical surveyor’s cross with direct reading of
Furthermore we
realized that on equinoxes (data of
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Picture 4: The
equinoctial sunset (photo by |
With the height
above the skyline of 7°, the astronomical azimuth is 264° nowadays[3].
The magnetical azimuth resulted to be 260°.
Near winter solstice
(data of
The magnetical azimuth was measured in 225°. Unfortunately, as
the time of sunset wasn’t recorded we couldn’t measure the astronomical
azimuth.
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Picture 5: The
winter solstitial sunset (photo by |
Near summer
solstice (data of
The magnetical azimuth resulted to be 289°.
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Picture 6: The
summer solstitial sunset (photo by |
The range between
the point of equinoctial sunset and the point of summer solstitial sunset was
measured by means of our graduated spherical surveyor’s cross in 29°, while the
range resulting from the difference between the astronomical azimuths was 26.5°.
We can therefore
draw that the average range is 27,75°, with a standard deviation of ± 1,25°
nowadays.
It results that solstitial
setting amplitudes in winter and in summer (that is the two horizon arcs between
the equinoctial, winter and summer solstitial sunset points), are 34,5° and
27,75° nowadays, while the total arc, which shows the annual local apparent
range of the Sun, is 62,25° (the magnetical arc is
64°).
This is also what
you can draw from the engraving which we are examining: the two angles between
the central beam of rays, the one on the left and the other on the right
(looking at the engraving) are, respectively, 32° and 28,5°, while the total
angle is 60,5°.
We think that these
data ratify our first hypothesis: the Sun’s
(Camunian) Engraving reproduces, as stylized
shape but with the quite same angular distance, the three basic sunset points
(of equinoxes and of summer and winter solstices) on the local skyline.
Small rings close
to the big one could represent: 1. Sun position during equinox and solstices;
2. Sun position at sunrise, midday and sunset; 3. Moon extreme positions at
sunset, reached every 18,61 years, when orthiva and occasa[4]
amplitudes are broader than Sun amplitudes during solstices. In these
situations, we think that they represent the option No 3rd, i.e. the
Moon to rise and set southern and northern than the Sunsets during winter and
summer solstices.
Options 1 and 2
don’t look likely, because option 1 has already been represented by the light
behind the rings, while option 2 is difficult, because of the morphology of the
land, with a bad vision during sunrise. So we think that option 3 is the one
pictured on Plas’ rock. Also considering that Moon
extreme positions were the most observed during megalithism in
As a further proof
of our interpretation, on
We also watched a
field (picture 7), at the bottom of the valley, ploughed in a horseshoe way (Brunod 1997, picture n. 5). That made us think that similar
engravings- Caven 3, Cornal,
Borno 1, Ossimo 2- could represent
the whole land-sky environment (see Brunod, 1997,
pictures 74-75).
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Picture 7: The field
ploughed in a horseshoe way from Plas (photo by |
Before the book of Brunod, Cinquetti, Pia and Veneziano printed in
2008, we thought that reproducing the different range of sunset amplitudes of
wintry and summery solstice could have been realized using four wooden posts,
one of them intended as an observation point and the other three posted where
the three sunsets fallen. Using a rope, it was possible to take measurings of
the amplitudes, and reducing the whole structure it was possible to obtain a
“circular field”, where the proportions were the same. In this way, the rope
was a measuring unit for the engraving. We can remember that similar, but more
complex, explanations, have been proposed by A. Thom about the megalitical alignments in Britain and Scotland (Thom, 1971;
Hadingham, 1978; Proverbio, 1989; Cossard,
1993) and by C. A. Newham about Causeway Post Holes in Stonehenge (Hadingham, 1978; Proverbio, 1989). Despite the experts
don’t accept anymore the idea of “megalithical yard”,
proposed by
But nowadays we
agree with the hypothesis of Brunod et Alii (Brunod, Cinquetti,
Pia and Veneziano 2008) that
the ancient engravers used – like a gnomon – the shadow of a wooden (or by some
other material) stick leaned against the centre of the main ring and against the
ground with an inclination of 45°. Brunod, Cinquetti, Pia and Veneziano showed that in these conditions the shadow of the
“gnomon” is superimposed to the central beam of rays at the equinoxes and it
touches the internal one of each beam of rays at the solstices. This is the
simplest and the most careful method to engrave this figure! Thanks to this
idea, our hypothesis that the Sun’s (Camunian) Engraving is a portrayal and a stylization of
the sunset in its four main annual times – i.e. the equinoxes and the solstices
– becomes probable and a probability can be calculated: it would be interesting
to calculate how much it is probable that the angular range of the three beams
of rays coincide randomly with the angular range of the three equinoctial and solstitial
Sunset points on the visible skyline. But we do not agree with the hypothesis
of Brunod, Cinquetti, Pia and Veneziano that the
engravers’ aim was to build a sundial measuring not daily-time but seasonal-time.
In their book 2008, the four authors write that the engravers could use the
movement of the stik’s shadow to know the dates of
equinoxes and solstices: but why to use this strange kind of sundial instead of
to look at the sunset positions on the skyline? The skyline in front of Plas is the best yearly sundial and seasonal calendar because
it allows to determine and to count each day of a year much more carefully by
means of the shifting of the sun-setting position from one solstice to the
other. Therefore, we think that the Sun’s
(Camunian) Engraving is not a yearly sundial,
although it was built using the gnomon shadow, but a stylized symbol
(religious?) of the Sun.
Someone objected
that the Sun’s (Camunian)
Engraving is a jewel or a neck-lace, especially of a Goddess. In our view this is not
in contrast with the precise astronomical significance as we proposed here. In
fact, as is known, according to the orthodox Freudian psychoanalysis, the
original symbolic representation of an "object" or of a pregnant
event undergoes with time a separation from '"object" and its
portrayal, it gets an autonomous development and, at the end, the meaning
original symbol is completely forgotten or "repressed" while the
symbol acquires its apparently independence. Therefore, the original
relationship with the '"mother object" is recognizable only analytically
(Freud, 1900;
In our case, although in
the presence of a very pregnant less motivation drive, we can assume a similar
mechanism: forgotten with the passage of time and generations its original
astronomical and religious[7]
significance, the Sun’s (Camunian) Engraving could have turned into a mere
ornament, thus losing the immediate contact with the event (astronomical) that
had generated. A similar fate might have had the swastika from its original meaning
(heavenly probably) to its spread as a simple ornamental figure (on vases,
etc.)[8].
Therefore, we do not
reject the explanation of the Sun’s (Camunian) Engraving as a jewel or a neck-lace,
but we assert that firstly this engraving was probably a stylization of an
astronomical and religious phenomenon (i.e. the yearly shift of the sun-setting
point on the local skyline) and that it became a jewel or a neck-lace
afterwards and as a result of its religious meaning, just like the cross in
Christianity.
During our surveys,
Adriano Gaspani studied as the same engraving as some others, which can suggest
astronomical interpretation (Gaspani 2000, pp. 32-39). He suggest that it
symbolizes a three-tails-comet between two stars. He names also two other
interpretations: a solar eclipse and a three-planets-conjunction. As the same
engraving is reproduced in other rocks (he mentions ten of them), also far from
Plas place, he suggest that it symbolizes an
extraordinary event “…really watched in the sky by far peoples with different
cultures…”. We think these are weak interpretations, because they are founded
only on a morphological likeness of a not just demonstrated but only guessing
heavenly event. Really the presence of the same – or, better, alike - engraving
in far cultural areas[9][10]
put some questions and force to regard it as the representation of an important
and diffused “thing” (like, for instance: the calcolithic
dagger with triangular blade, central rib and half-Moon shaped pommel; the
tongue shaped axe; the metal double spiral; the pintaderas;
etc.). But we think that the collected (by us and by Brunod,
Cinquetti, Pia and Veneziano) and up-discussed data back up more strongly the hypothesis
that it symbolizes the sunset, which was much watched during the Metal Age,
like the European and Mediterranean megalithic monuments show. If a surveys in
these other places would show similar bearings towards the sunset (or the sun-rising)
and similar correspondences between engraving angles and Sun movements on
skyline, this hypothesis would be strengthened. Unluckily some of the more
important menhirs with the alike engraving (as, for instance, Caven) were removed and it’s not possible to restore their
exact position any longer. People who will decide a this kind survey in the
future, will be obliged to get their data only from irremovable engravings.
The question of equinoxes: wilful or
random?
During the archaeoastronomical
international meeting Archaeoastronomy: a
debate between archaeologists and astronomers looking for a mutual method
taken place in Genoa (Italy) on 08-09 February and in Sanremo (Italy) on 01-
A first method is
to recognise, by means of a Polar Star (if there is in that time), the
direction N-S, which is the polar axis: its orthogonal line is the direction
E-W.
To recognise the
North or South Pole in absence of a Polar Star can be made in the following
ways:
a) watching the starry sky very carefully during a
large number of nights: a diligent observer can locate the point around which
the starry sky turns;
b) looking the rising and setting of a circumpolar star
through an horizontal plane: as the circumpolar star describes a ring in the
sky, the central point between the two extremes of the half ring is the sky
pole (Romano 1992 pp.186-189).
c) Looking at the highest height of the Sun, which
coincides in the transit over the local meridian with enough approximation.
All these methods are simple, intuitive and within a diligent observer’s
grasp.
A fourth method is to use the gnomon put upright in the middle of some
horizontal and concentric circumferences, whose points, touched the first in
the morning and the last in the afternoon by its shade, lie on the axis E-W
(Romano 1992 pp. 37-38, 186-189).
It needs more knowledge than the first three methods, but it seems to be
very ancient.
A fifth method is to calculate the mean time between two solstice: it is
not exact because the not uniform speed of the Earth around the Sun (Romano
1992, 38-39; Proverbio 1989 pp. 190-194), but the mistake totals few days only.
According to A. Thom a prehistoric
calendar was got dividing in two the distance between the solstitial sun-rising
or sun-setting points; than dividing in two each one of these halves and
repeating this division till they got sixteen partitions, i.e. sixteen
directions, i.e. sixteen months (Proverbio 1989, pp. 190 – 194). More probably
the undeniable megalithic alignments E-W were made using a mixture of all methods:
there are few doubts that old calendars began since the spring (or, less often
the autumnal) equinox. See for instance the fragment 4Q318 from Qumran (Eisenman and Wise 2006,
pp. 258 – 263; Codebò submitted) and the MUL.APIN (Hunger and Pingree 1989, pp. 153 – 154).
It is important that the archaeoastronomers do not mistake the astronomical
equinox (which is not obvious) for the E-W alignment (which is easily building).
We think that it would be useful the experimental archaeoastronomy, in order to
test what prehistoric peoples could really see and understand about heavenly
motions by the means they had.
Conclusions and synthesis
Plas was an exceptional “emplacement” of territory’s control for a wide
beam, guaranteeing not only a visual dominion on fields, pastures and ways of
communication, but also a place for the Copper Aged religious cult of Sun and
visual width on local skyline, on which it was possible to follow the path of
the sun-setting from the winter solstice to the summer solstice and back. The
angular distance between the sun-setting points of solstices and of equinoxes
is quite the same between the three rays bundles of the Sun’s (Camunian) Engraving, which we can
therefore interpret as a stylized portrayal of Sun’s yearly movements. The two
side minor circles may stand for the extreme Moon’s standstills. The engravers
used probably the shadow of a gnomon to engrave it. This engraving became a
“symbol” of the Sun religion and was exported elsewhere. First the Romanization
and than Christianity caused the oblivion of its original astronomical meaning
and this symbol – and many others – became incomprehensible. To understand
prehistoric symbols and civilization we must recover their explanatory keys (
Acknowledgements
We must thank the
other authors of our first survey
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