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Session 35 - HAD III: From Hamlet to Crop Circles.
Oral session, Wednesday, January 07
Monroe,

[35.04] The Portraits of Ancient Constellations:A Seven Was Their Number

A. A. Gurshtein (Mesa State College, CO)

In seeking for genesis of archaic astronomical knowledge, I have found evidence that the "figure-of-seven" and the "figure-of-twelve" became sacred as the indirect result of celestial observational practices during very different historical epoches. While the figure-of-twelve became sacred after the time of the Egyptian heretic pharaoh Akhenaten and Moses (and concurrently with the oldest parts of the Holy Bible), the figure-of-seven originated as far back in prehistory as (at least) 30-20 thousand years B.C.E. -- the time of the recognition of a lunar month. I propose that the first constellations were credited as attributive groups of seven stellar objects. The hypothesis is based, in particular, upon evidence produced through interpretation of sky maps.


Program listing for Wednesday