Zodiacal dating prehistoric artworks

Martin B. Sweatman

doi:10.30958/ajhis.6-3-2

Zodiacal dating prehistoric artworks

Martin B. Sweatman

School of Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Recent work has shown that animal symbols in European Palaeolithic cave art and at two ancient sites in southern Turkey, namely Gobekli Tepe and Catalhoyuk, can be interpreted as star constellations, practically the same constellations we continue to use in Europe today. It appears they were often used to represent dates using precession of the equinoxes, where each animal symbol represents a constellation corresponding to one of the solstices or equinoxes. Here, I trace the evolution of this method for writing dates after Catalhoyuk was abandoned in the 6th millennium BCE through to its last known use in Pictish symbol stones during the 1st millennium AD.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	199-222
Number of pages	24
Journal	Athens Journal of History
Volume	6
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.30958/ajhis.6-3-2
Publication status	Published - 30 Jul 2020

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AB - Recent work has shown that animal symbols in European Palaeolithic cave art and at two ancient sites in southern Turkey, namely Gobekli Tepe and Catalhoyuk, can be interpreted as star constellations, practically the same constellations we continue to use in Europe today. It appears they were often used to represent dates using precession of the equinoxes, where each animal symbol represents a constellation corresponding to one of the solstices or equinoxes. Here, I trace the evolution of this method for writing dates after Catalhoyuk was abandoned in the 6th millennium BCE through to its last known use in Pictish symbol stones during the 1st millennium AD.

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JO - Athens Journal of History

JF - Athens Journal of History

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Zodiacal dating prehistoric artworks

Abstract

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