Engraving on the Gura Haitii megalith: astronomical investigations
1 Ianuarie 2022
Cuvinte cheie:
calendar
Romania
stars
planets
Pleiades
megalith
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Abstract
This study gives perspectives on the basic astronomical symbolic signs and meanings connected with the engraving on the Gura Haitii megalith from Romania (Eastern Carpathian Mountains, geographic latitude 47°11′50″N, geographic longitude 25°15′49″E, altitude of the village 1040 m, and altitude of the Twelve Apostles peak 1771 m). The andesite megalith at Gura Haitii was found at the confluence of the Paltinu and Haitii streams, at an elevation of 1055 m (Naum et alii 1988). The engravings consist exclusively of incised symbols in the form of circles of various sizes (circles with a central point, concentric circles, and with rotated rays). The circle with rotated rays has the largest diameter (21.5 cm), and above it, smaller circles were engraved, two of which have the center marked with a dot. On the left side of the circles with six rotated rays, there is a more complicated engraving, which is probably the most interesting representation on this megalith. It is a circle with a diameter of 5.8 cm, which has a smaller circle, and three semicircles engraved inside. This is a captivating artwork that imitates prehistoric motifs and rituals in pictures. Since the discovery of the engraved megalith from Gura Haitii in 1987, scientists and amateurs have had presumptions about its meaning and design. One part of the researchers assume that the pictogram use had astronomic, mathematic meanings, calendar aspects (Lazarovici et alii 2011), the other part suppose that the more complicated circle depict an anthropomorphic figure in an abstract manner, some idol in a cosmogonist composition (Colan-Cârciumaru 2023), and some believe that the symbols can be interpreted as signs for marking directions, routes, location. The engraving elements on the Gura Haitii megalith can be interpreted as representing a kind of geometrical construction: circles, semicircles, with a centered point, and rotated rays. It is assumed that the Gura Haitii megalith has astronomical content, and the geometric structure of its symbolism is due to the manufacturing process, which was carried out using a compass. We assume some astronomical elements depicted on the megalith at first view as the crescent Moon or the Sun, total or partial eclipses, the Sun, the Moon, the planets (the Solar System); or the Pleiades (M45) the nearest open star cluster to Earth, containing stars in the northwest of the constellation Taurus and can be observe to the naked eye in the night sky, and which in 2330 BC marked the vernal point (the stellar system); or groups of bright stars from the Milky Way a band of stars in the night sky that is a view of our spiral galaxy from the inside. The analysis from an astronomical point of view communicates plainly that the engraved megalith is a symbolic object with basic astronomical readings (calendar, cosmic myth, cosmovision).
