Jan Bartek - AncientPages.com - Archaeologists have discovered a peculiar stone disk while investigating an ancient hill fort in Rupinpiccolo, northeastern Italy. The 50 cm in diameter and 30 cm thick stone disk features 29 curious human-made engravings.
Archaeologist Federico Bernardini and astronomer Paolo Molaro next to the stone disk found at the site of an ancient hill fort in Italy. The artifact could represent the oldest celestial map ever discovered. Credit: INAF
It all started when archaeologists discovered two old stones, which at first appeared to be completely ordinary. This was not the case, however. The research team asked astronomer Paolo Molaro, from the National Institute of Astrophysics to take a look at the find, and it soon became clear the Karst rock was of astronomical interest.
Based on the analysis of the engravings, scientists suggest the stone disk could be the world's oldest celestial map! The engravings were not randomly distributed. Instead, the chisel marks were produced to represent the night sky.
The engravings were made 2,400 years ago, in 400 BC, when Castelliere di Rupinpiccolo was still used by the population of that time. That said, all the signs engraved on the stone may overlap the stars of the constellation Scorpio, Orion, and the Pleiades. All characters, except one. The five characters engraved on the back of the stone may instead overlap Cassiopeia.
According to what Bernardini and Molaro explained in the study published in Astronomische Nachrichten, a star, in particular, is no longer visible today from Castelliere. The object in question is Sargas, the southernmost star also known as Theta Scorpii, which was actually above the horizon at least 2,400 years ago. In short, the Karst rocks may be the oldest celestial map ever discovered.
The oldest depiction of the sky is probably the Nebra disk from Germany, dating around 1600 B.C. The Nebra disk is a round bronze plate decorated with gold figures that represent the Moon, the Sun, and the Pleiades. However, the disk is more a representation of folk worldview rather than an astronomical map.
The Dalby and Venslev stones in Denmark, which belong to the late Neolithic and present several cup marks, have been suggested to represent some celestial entities. The first illustrative star charts date back to the 1st century BCE. The earliest is the Kitora tumulus star map located at Nara in Japan, the Ship She Xingjing, and the Korean stone star map entitled Cheon-sang Yeolcha Bunyajido.
The purpose of the Castelliere di Rupinpiccolo celestial map is open to interpretation, but it is possible it was used to determine the time for agricultural tasks.
Digital elevation model of the main face (the one with 24 engravings) of the stone analyzed in the study. Credit: INAF
"The hill fort of Rupinpiccolo was used from about 1800/1650 to 400 BCE. Several data suggest linking the stones to the early building phase of the hill fort during the Bronze Age, even if we cannot completely rule out a Roman origin based on the similarity of the disks with roughed-out blocks of tombstones.
Even for the latest protohistoric chronology (400 BCE), the disk stone would represent one of the oldest cartography of the sky. It should be noted that the population of the Castelliere di Rupinpiccolo did not know writing; therefore, it is difficult to assess the degree of evolution they had reached. However, reproducing a group of stars does not require specific astronomical knowledge. A unit of measurement of angular distances, such as the width of a hand finger or a simple ruler, is sufficient, together with a very basic ability of elementary counting.
Credit: Adobe Stock - vchalup
Today, the tail of the Scorpius constellation is barely visible from the site. However, the precession of equinoxes at about 1800 BCE places Scorpius 13 degrees higher and Orion 12 degrees lower than today. This would have allowed the Scorpius tail to be fully visible from the Rupinpiccolo site.
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Moreover, the two asterisms were at much closer declination, which could explain why they show a similar orientation in the stone, though carved six months apart without invoking any intentionality in the making. The appearance of the asterisms in the heliacal rise could have been a sort of tool marking two different periods of the year. This was a normal practice in agricultural societies," the science team concluded.
Written by Jan Bartek - AncientPages.com Staff Writer
