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Nabta Playa


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Note approximate location circled near bottom.

*Nabta Playa* was once a large basin in the Nubian Desert , located
approximately 800 kilometers south of modern day Cairo ^[1] or about 100
kilometers west of Abu Simbel in southern Egypt ,^[2] 22° 32' north, 30°
42' east.^[3] Today the region is characterized by numerous archaeological
sites.^[2]



Contents

[hide ]

* 1 Early history 
* 2 High level of organization 
* 3 Religious ties to ancient Egypt 
* 4 One of the world's earliest known examples of archeoastronomy

* 5 See also 
* 6 Notes 
* 7 References 
* 8 External links 


[edit ] Early
history

We have to look at the climate of this remote region before understanding
what happened in this barren region. Whilst today, the western Egyptian
desert is totally dry, it was not the case in the past. There is good
evidence that there were several humid periods in the past (when up to 500
mm of rain would fall per year) the most recent one during the last
interglacial and early last glaciation periods which stretched between
130.000 and 70.000 years ago. During this time, the area was a savanna and
supported numerous animals such as extinct buffalo and large giraffes,
varieties of antelope and gazelle. Beginning around the 10th millennium BC
, this region of the Nubian Desert began to receive more rainfall, filling
a lake.^[2] Early people may have been attracted to the region as a source
of water.

Archaeological findings indicate occupation in the region dating to
somewhere between the 10th and 8th millennia BC .^[2] These peoples have
been suggested as being early pastoralists, by Fred Wendorf and
Christopher Ehret , although this is disputed by other sources as the
cattle remains found at Nabta have been shown to be morphologically wild
in several studies, and nearby Saharan sites such as Uan Afada in Libya
were penning wild Barbary sheep , an animal that was never domesticated.
They consumed and stored wild sorghum, and used ceramics ^[2] adorned by
complicated painted patterns created perhaps by using combs made from fish
bone.^[2]

By the 7th millennium BC , exceedingly large and organized settlements may
be found in the region, relying also on deep wells for sources of
water.^[2] Huts are found constructed in straight rows .^[2] Sustenance
included fruit , legumes , millets , sorghum and tubers .^[2]


Also in the late 7th millennium BC , but a little later than above,
imported goats and sheep , apparently from Southwest Asia [1] , appear.
Many large hearths also appear.^[2]


[edit ] High level of organization

Archaeological discoveries reveal that these prehistoric peoples led
livelihoods seemingly at a higher level of organization than their
contemporaries who lived closer to the Nile Valley :^[2]

* above-ground & below-ground stone construction , * villages designed in
pre-planned arrangements, and * deep wells that held water year-round.

Findings also indicate that the region was occupied only seasonally,
likely only in the summer when the local lake filled with water for
grazing cattle .^[4] ^[2] Analysis of human remains suggest migration from
sub-Saharan Africa .^[4]



[edit ] Religious ties to ancient Egypt

By the 6th millennium BC , evidence of a prehistoric religion or cult
appears, with a number of sacrificed cattle buried in stone -roofed
chambers lined with clay .^[2] It has been suggested that the associated
cattle cult indicated in Nabta Playa marks an early evolution of Ancient
Egypt 's Hathor cult . For example, Hathor was worshipped as a nighttime
protector in desert regions (see Serabit el-Khadim ). To directly quote
professors Wendorf and Schild:^[2]

/... there are many aspects of political and ceremonial life in the
Predynastic and Old Kingdom that reflects a strong impact from Saharan
cattle pastoralists .../

Nevertheless, though the religious practices of the region involving
cattle suggest ties to Ancient Egypt ,^[2] Egyptologist Mark Lehner ^[1]
cautions:

/It makes sense, but not in a facile, direct way. You can't go straight
from these megaliths to the pyramid of Djoser /.



Circular chromlech at Nabta

Other subterranean complexes are also found in Nabta Playa, one of which
included evidence of perhaps an early Egyptian attempt at sculpture .^[2]


[edit ] One of the world's earliest known examples of archeoastronomy

By the 5th millennium BC these peoples had fashioned one of the world's
earliest known archeoastronomical devices (roughly contemporary to the
Goseck circle in Germany and the Mnajdra megalithic temple complex in
Malta), about 1000 years older than but comparable to Stonehenge ^[2] (see
sketch at right). Research suggests that it may have been a prehistoric
calendar which accurately marks the summer solstice .^[3]

The research done by the astrophysicist Thomas G. Brophy suggests that
these monoliths might tell much more. The calendar circle itself is made
up of one doorway that runs north-south, a second that runs
northeast-southwest marking the summer solstice, and six center stones
(see sketch above). Brophy's hypothesis proposes first that the southerly
line of three stones inside the calendar circle represented the three
stars of Orion’s Belt and the other three stones inside the calendar
circle represented the shoulders and head stars of Orion as they appeared
in the sky. These correspondences were for two dates -- circa 4,800 BC and
at precessional opposition -- representing how the sky "moves" long term.
Brophy proposes that the circle was constructed and used circa the later
date, and the dual date representation was a conceptual representation of
the motion of the sky over a precession cycle.

Near by the calendar circle, which is made of smaller stones, there are
alignments of large megalithic stones. The southerly lines of these
megaliths, Brophy shows, aligned to the same stars as represented in the
calendar circle, all at the same epoch, circa 6270 BC. The calendar circle
correlation with Orion's belt occurred between 6400 BC and 4900 BC,
matching the radio-carbon dating of campfires around the circle.^[5]


Brophy found that the lines made to these megaliths match the spots in the
sky where the various stars rose in vernal equinox heliacal rising . In
analyzing the varying distances, mulling through assumptions such as that
they represented the brightness of the stars, he inadvertently found that
they matched the distance of the stars from Earth on a scale of roughly 1
meter = .8 light years within the margin of error for astronomical
distances calculated today.^[6] .


[edit ] See also

* List of archaeoastronomical sites sorted by country




5. *^ * Brophy, T.G. and Rosen, P.A.
/Satellite Imagery Measures of the Astronomically Aligned
Megaliths at Nabta Playa/, Mediterranean Archaeology and
Archaeometry 5(1) (2005) 15 - 24
6. *^ * Brophy, Thomas G. /The Origin Map:
Discovery of a Prehistoric, Megalithic, Astrophysical Map and
Sculpture of the Universe/, 2002, ISBN 0595241220