Archeology and Astronomy

Rastermon2 · #1 (**permalink**) 20-July-2006, 07:49 PM

I can't recall exactly which shows I've seen this oversight...
Many times I'll be watching a show about ancient civilations Mayan, Egyptian, etc. And they talk about how the ruins are pointed to significant celestial objects. But they rarely take into account the earth's precession. It wobbles over a period of 26K years or something.
What it was pointing at 5,000 years ago is not there now.

Effendi · #2 (**permalink**) 20-July-2006, 08:00 PM

There are many misconceptions about the ruins and the precession of equinoxes. I suggest looking for example at this site:
http://www.hallofmaat.com/index.php
This man has done a lot of great work.

ToSeek · #3 (**permalink**) 21-July-2006, 05:02 AM

Moved from "Bad Astronomy Stories" to "Small Media at Large."

hhEb09'1 · #4 (**permalink**) 21-July-2006, 06:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Effendi

There are many misconceptions about the ruins and the precession of equinoxes. I suggest looking for example at this site:
http://www.hallofmaat.com/index.php
This man has done a lot of great work.

What are we looking at specifically there? The focus (now) seems to be Grounding the Nasca Balloon, by Katherine Reece:

Quote:

"In his book Nazca: Journey to the Sun Jim Woodman puts forth the idea that the ancient Nascans flew with the aid of hot air balloons. In this article his evidence is examined and found to be flawed."

Sticks · #5 (**permalink**) 21-July-2006, 07:10 AM

I would reccommend the book "God's in the Sky" by professor Allen Chapman

Ronald Brak · #6 (**permalink**) 21-July-2006, 07:25 AM

The Nascan balloon thing always seemed pie in the sky to me. One thing you do get over deserts is birds of prey riding on thermals. Makeing giant pictures to please birds might not sound like very sensible behavior, but when humans suddenly become all sensible, let me know.

Sticks · #7 (**permalink**) 22-December-2006, 05:46 AM

shameless bump to get this on my subscription list

Any hue is there any software that can show the night sky at different periods of time taking account of stellar drift and precession?

Sometime I will need to get my gyroscope out and film it to do a piece on precession.

hhEb09'1 · #8 (**permalink**) 22-December-2006, 07:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sticks

shameless bump to get this on my subscription list

FYI, last item on the Thread Tools drop down, at the top of the thread page

Forskern · #9 (**permalink**) 23-December-2006, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rastermon2

Many times I'll be watching a show about ancient civilations Mayan, Egyptian, etc. And they talk about how the ruins are pointed to significant celestial objects. But they rarely take into account the earth's precession. It wobbles over a period of 26K years or something.
What it was pointing at 5,000 years ago is not there now.

The ancient egyptians pointed their pyramids (at least the stargazing part of them) towards Thuban, which was the north star ~1000BC. There is a small list with further links at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Star.

hhEb09'1 · #10 (**permalink**) 25-December-2006, 04:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Forskern

The ancient egyptians pointed their pyramids (at least the stargazing part of them) towards Thuban, which was the north star ~1000BC. There is a small list with further links at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Star.

And, pretty much, if it pointed towards Thuban then, it would point towards Polaris now, right? Still, the north star in both instances.

There are such things as continental drift, and true polar wander that would add even more complexity into the mix, but I think the effects aren't as great over three or four thousand years.