Stefan Maeder: Cupules, Whales and Croziers - Pole-finding and Centralisms in Neolithic Brittany скачать в хорошем качестве

Stefan Maeder: Cupules, Whales and Croziers - Pole-finding and Centralisms in Neolithic Brittany

Stefan Maeder, Freiburger Institut fuer Palaeowissenschaften: Cupules, Whales and Croziers - Pole-finding and Centralisms in Neolithic Brittany, ca. 5000 - 2500 BC Date: 17.12.2019. Abstract: Drawing from the archaeological, astronomical, and symbolical record, recurring patterns in cupule arrangements, as well as two literally central motifs from Neolithic funerary contexts in the Morbihan region of Brittany, France, are introduced and interpreted. In this region anthropogenic cupules/cupmarks (round depressions in rock surfaces, often between 4 and 10 cm diametre) occur mainly on megalithic monuments, rarely on rock outcrops. The “sperm-whale” (fr. “cachalot”) and the “crozier” (fr. “crosse”) occur on menhirs/steles (“standing-stones”) hitherto dated to around the middle of the 5th millennium BC, as well as on central-capstones and orthostats in slightly later passage-graves commonly dated to ca. 4200 - 3900 BC. Here, the often combined and seemingly disparate representations of both motifs are associated for the first time with the phenomenon of precession of the earth's polar axis. “With respect to spatial orientation, navigation, chronometry, as well as underlying worldviews and aspects of funerary culture (i.e. cosmologies), the apparent and changing centre of the cosmos, the Northern Celestial Pole (NCP), and conspicuous circumpolar asterisms played a pivotal role in Neolithic Europe also.” Since 2009 this working hypothesis proved valid in a variety of instances between Japan and Ireland. In 2017, two asterisms of a “sperm-whale” and “crozier“, closely matching the outline of four 5th millennium BC engravings from Locmariaquer, were identified as concrete and still easily verifiable pole-finders in 4600 BC (+/- 200 years). These not only provide a detailed explanation for accepted regularities concerning megalithic funerary and ritual monuments, but further elaborate most recently published results in support of a “maritime diffusion model for megaliths in Europe”. The presentation is intended as a probe into the largely neglected perspectives of a systematic cooperation between the next generation of astronomers and archaeologists, concerning the pre-history of astronomical observations and their application for navigational and ritual purposes.