Prehistoric Origins Archaeoastronomical Sites and Artifacts in Europe and Siberia

Ach Valley Tusk Fragment (ca. 35 000 BC) In 1979, a small ivory tablet was found in a cave in the Ach Valley in Germany's Alb-Danube region. It was dated to be between 32,500 and 38,000 years old, which associates its with the Aurignacian people, Europe's first modern humans. Dr Michael Rappenglueck, formerly of the University of Munich suggests, that the man-like figure in the carving has his arms and legs outstretched in the same pose as the stars of Orion. The theory is still discussed very controversially. If proven true, it would be the oldest star-chart ever found. Source: BBC News, 21 January, 2003

Lascaux and Saint-Marcel (ca. 20 000 BC) In 1996, German researcher Dr Michael Rappenglueck of the University of Munich suggested, that the famous Stone Age cave paintings in Lascaux, France actually contain a star map. The theory is controversial, but the International Astronomical Union accepts it as a posibility and writes: "Archaeological studies have identified possible astronomical markings painted on the walls in the cave system at Lascaux in southern France. Our ancestors may have recorded their view of the night sky on the walls of their cave some 17,300 years ago. It is thought that the Pleiades star cluster is represented alongside the nearby cluster of the Hyades. Was the first ever depiction of a star pattern made over seventeen millennia ago?" Source: International Astronomical Union A similar cave painting, dated to be about 20,000 years old was discovered in 1963 in another cave in France, the Grottes de Saint-Marcel. Source: Wikipedia

Cave painting, Lascaux Source: International Astronomical Union Cave painting, Saint-Marcel Source: Wikipedia

In the 1996 study mentioned above, German researcher Dr Michael Rappenglueck of the University of Munich also mentioned the another painting in the Lascaux cave, the Shaft of the Dead Man, which shows a bison, a man with a bird head and a bird on a stick. Rappenglueck suggests that the eye of the bison, the bird and the "dead man" resemble the position of Vega (α Lyrae) Altair (α Aquilae) and Deneb (α Cygni), together known as the Summer Triangle asterism. Source: Wikipedia

Shaft of the Dead Man Source: newworldencyclopedia.org

Oral Tradition of the Cosmic Hunt (ca. 13 000 BC) The Cosmic Hunt, an old and widely distributed family of cognate myths evolved in Northern Europe and Siberia. The story is about a large animal that is pursued by hunters, wounded, and transformed into a constellation (the Big Dipper). From Siberia, the story was carried with the first humans to settle in the Americas. The original prototype of the myth must have been invented at least 15,000 years ago for it to have diffused across the Bering land bridge. Sources: Enn Ernits: On the Cosmic Hunt in North Eurasian Rock Art, Yuri Berezkin: The Cosmic Hunt: Variants of a Siberian – North-American Myth, Wikipedia

Late Stone Age ocher rock drawing of a hunting scene at the Maia River in Central Siberia Source: Okladnikov & Mazin, 1979

Goseck Circle (ca. 4900 BC) The Goseck Circle is a Neolithic structure in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, dated to approximately the 49th century B.C. It is one of a larger group of circular enclosures in the Elbe and Danube region, most of which show similar solstice alignments. It consists of a concentric ditch 75 meters across and two palisade rings containing entrances in places aligned with the sunrise and sunset at the summer and winter solstice days. Source: Wikipedia, Jonathan Powell: From Cave Art to Hubble

Goseck Circle Sources: pinterest.com

Knowth (ca. 3200 BC) Knowth is a Neolithic burial site in Ireland, built around 3200 BC. It contains over 200 decorated stones forming two passages to a central mound. Both passages have standing stones outside them, which cast shadows on their respective entrance stones around the equinoxes. Among the rock carving are some that are believed to be the oldest known illustration of the Moon. Sources: P. J Stooke: Neolithic Lunar Maps at Knowth and Baltinglass, Ireland, Wikipedia, knowth.com, The Sacret Island

Megalithic art in Knowth Source: Wikipedia

Newgrange (ca. 3200 BC) Newgrange is a Neolithic monument in Ireland, built around 3200 BC. It is believed to be a monument to an astronomically-based faith, worshiping the sun. One idea was that is was designed for a ritualistic capturing of sun rays on the shortest day of the year, the Winter Solstice, as the room gets flooded with sunlight, which might have signaled that the days would start to get longer again. Source: Wikipedia

Newgrange Source: Wikipedia

Mnajdra (ca. 3000 BC) Mnajdra is a megalithic temple complex found on the Mediterranean island of Malta, built around the fourth millennium BC. It is among the most ancient religious sites on Earth. The lowest temple, built in the early Tarxien phase, is astronomically aligned and thus was probably used as an astronomical observation and/or calendrical site. Sources: Wikipedia, Jonathan Powell: From Cave Art to Hubble

Mjandara low temple complex Source: Wikipedia

Nebra Sky Disk (1600 BC) Dating back to 1600 BC and to the Unetice culture of the European Bronze Age, the Nebra sky disk is the oldest concrete depiction of the cosmos yet known from anywhere in the world. The bronze disk is inlaid with gold symbols that are interpreted as the Sun (or a full moon), a lunar crescent, and stars, including a cluster of seven stars interpreted as the Pleiades. At the time the disk was manufactured, the Heliacal rising of the Pleiades occured arround the halfway point between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice, a date that became later known as Halloween in Celtic culture. Source: Wikipedia

Nebra sky disk Source: Wikipedia

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