Abstract
For most of the Paleolithic period [or Old Stone Age, beginning more than ~21/2 million years before present (b.p.)], there are few materials that could be interpreted as relevant to human understanding of astronomy, even in the vaguest terms. Evidence for interest in the heavenly bodies has been suggested only for Australia (see §11) and for Western Europe during the Upper Paleolithic (70,000 to ~10,000 years b.p.). A critical summary of the European Upper Paleolithic is provided by Hadingham (1979) in Secrets of the Ice Age. Despite its provocative title and popular nature, this work reviews the results of modern scholarship about the hunters and gatherers of the last 70,000 years or so, mostly from Italy, France, and Spain. He emphasizes the difference of the environment of that time from any existing today: colder, wetter, but in some ways richer, with vastly different fauna. He discusses both continuities and changes among human populations, their tool kits, and other aspects of the culture. The people were Neanderthals (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis) or Cro-Magnon (Homo sapiens sapiens)—both much like ourselves in physical type and inherent capabilities. They were skilled in making stone tools and had some crude housing, at least in some areas. They depended heavily on game, and some became skilled (and perhaps overspecialized) reindeer hunters. Others depended on wild cattle, and most groups probably killed a wide range of animals. Gathering of vegetable foods was surely of great importance, although usually this must be inferred from sketchy evidence. Fishing was probably of some importance, with more lakes and streams than today. Most sites that were then along the coast, where we might expect some evidence of fishing and indications of whether it was based on use of good watercraft, are now sunk deep beneath coastal waters, which have risen many meters since the melting of so much glacial ice. It has been suggested that in some areas there were substantial attempts to control the animal populations and that some of the reindeer could be considered as having been at least semidomesticated. Similar suggestions have been made for horses.
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Notes
- 1.
The same criticism applies to the use of certain features of a site, for example, the Aubrey holes at Stonehenge, which are to some a stone age computer (or perhaps abacus?), and to others a collection of 56 chalk-filled holes arranged (more or less) around a circle.
- 2.
See Broadbent (1955). The test involves the average of the squares of deviations.
- 3.
The modern inch, span, fathom, and foot all have such anthropological origins.
- 4.
Recall that we have defined azimuth to be measured from the North Point (in the Northern Hemisphere) positive eastward. With a similar convention for treating azimuths at Southern Hemisphere sites, measured from the South Point eastward, the same comment holds for the Southern Hemisphere.
- 5.
Tradition implies a common background. A convergent tradition involves groups becoming more alike, usually because of common external factors. A parallel tradition merely preserves common, older features, but that may not have been originally explicit.
- 6.
We say “almost” because the obliquity of the ecliptic has decreased by about 0.5° over that interval, decreasing the azimuth of rise of the midwinter Sun by about 1°.
- 7.
In her book on Polynesia, Makemson (1941, p. 22) refers to “the spiraling path of the Sun.”
- 8.
The designations of the standing stones are those of M.J. O’Kelly: proceeding clockwise from the tomb entrance, but allowing for gaps, as GC1, GC3, and so on; and the stones proceeding in a counterclockwise direction just to the northeast of GC1 are labeled GC-1, GC-2, and so on.
- 9.
Generally, the chance probability in achieving 1 successes out of N trials in any situation in which the probability of a “success” is p can be written: NC1 p 1(1 − p)N−1, where NC1 is the number of ways (combinations) to achieve these successes: NC1 + N!/[1! × (N − 1)!] = [N × (N − 1) × (N − 2) × . . . (N − 1 + 1)]/[1 × 2 × . . . × 1].
- 10.
Celtic deities, later euhemerized to become early rulers of Ireland.
- 11.
The rising line of the ecliptic is tilted toward the south in the spring and north in the fall (see Figure 2.20). Thus, the diurnal path of the Sun continuously varies in a small but discernible way and with it the azimuth and altitude that together determine shadowing effects. Here, the effect may be enhanced by altitude variation along the eastern horizon.
- 12.
Thor, the northern axe and thunder god, became the ruler of our day Thursday, the day of Jupiter in the planetary week.
- 13.
Linguists use an asterisk to mark recontructed forms. See §11.4, footnote 10.
- 14.
The other coves are located at Stanton Drew in Somerset (where it lies WSW of the main circle) and faces roughly south, at Cairnpapple in West Lothian and faces east, and at Avebury, where it faces NE.
- 15.
In Greek, σφαιροειδη
.
- 16.
“Community” may be a better rendering of the Greek πóλιν in this case.
- 17.
The wren appears as Bασιλισκος or “little king” in classical Greek, as Regulus and rex avium in Latin, and similarly in Italian, Spanish, French, German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, English, and Welsh.
- 18.
In 18th-century Ireland and on the Isle of Man, the wren was killed on Christmas Day and was hung by a leg from two hoops crossed at right angles.
- 19.
It was this feature that so impressed Thom and was so critical in the development of modern archaeoastronomy.
- 20.
Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of England contains a summary of legends regarding the site.
- 21.
Named after John Aubrey. Aubrey inspected and reported on the site for Charles II, beginning in 1663. His description of the chalk-filled holes is contained in his unpublished manuscript entitled Monumenta Brittanica now in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.
- 22.
A stone layer that extended upstream from the boulders appeared to be artificial in terms of location and in the orientation and dip of the stones themselves.
- 23.
The perturbation is actually on the inclination; at a major/minor standstill, however, the perturbation adds directly to the declination; see Figure 2.17b.
- 24.
The apparent variation in declination of the Moon, whether in the 18.y61, the 27.d32 or 173.d3 cycles, or that of the Sun in the 365.d2422 cycle, is sinusoidal and at the peak of the cycle can be approximated by an expression such as Δδ = δmax − δmax × cos(2π × Δt/P), where Δt is the time interval from the maximum value of the declination, δ. From this, Δδ = δmax × [1 − cos(2π × t/P)] = δmax × [2 sin2 (π × Δt/P)], which for short intervals from the moment of maximum (i.e., for Δt << P), becomes Δδ = 2δmax × (π × Δt/P)2 = k(Δt)2.
- 25.
The quantity G can also be understood geometrically as a sagitta. Given the stepping technique, and the tracing of a parabolic arc on the ground, it is the line between a point on the arc midway between the two stakes and the center of the straight line between the two stakes.
- 26.
One of the questions raised about the site of Kintraw, discussed above, was whether the ledge provided sufficient space to recreate the alignment within a day.
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Kelley, D.H., Milone, E.F. (2011). Paleolithic and Neolithic Cultures. In: Exploring Ancient Skies. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7624-6_6
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