Tuesday, December 16, 2008

New Discovery in the World's Oldest Star Map

UPDATED ANCIENT ASTRONOMY:
The astronomical knowledge of the ancient Egyptians turns out to be surprising broader than previously imagined. According to a new analysis, the world's oldest star- map seems to contain information of an actual celestial event of its time. This recent discovery, uncovers the earlies scienticfic description of an otherwise rare but not unknown celestial phenomenon.
This 3,500- year old star map, which decorates one of the ceilings in the tomb of SENUMUT (Senenmut) near Luxor (Thebes), appararently demonstrates a previously unknown aspect of the astronomical situation in Egypt around 1,500 BC. This revelations is the result of investigations by Danish researcher Ove von Spaeth, and published in July-August-00 in vol. 42 of the international journal of history of science "Centaurus".

The Map configurations have been considered mostly as mythological displays, are now disclolsed to be accurate depictions of a rare gathering of planets in well-defined celestial positions. The information contained in the map refers to a specific point of time. The re-evaluations of this subsequent maps give birth to perspectives: by introducing these new reference points of time, the appropriate chronology of the epoch in question, which has been much disputed, may now be dated with considerably greater precision than hertofore possible.

http://www.moses-egypt.net/star-map/senmut1-mapdate_en.asp

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