'Unique' astronomical object reveals Ancient Egyptians kept close tabs on the Big Dipper

Heritage Key ^ | Tuesday, November 9, 2010 | Owen Jarus

[SunkenCiv]

New research on a 2,400 year old star table shows that the Ancient Egyptians kept close tabs on the Big Dipper, monitoring changes in the constellation's orientation throughout the course of an entire year... Ancient Egyptians represented it as an ox's foreleg...

Professor Sarah Symons, of McMaster University in Hamilton Canada, carried out the new research. She presented her results on Sunday at an Egyptology symposium in Toronto. The star table she analyzed is located inside the lid of a 2,400 year old granite sarcophagus, constructed in the shape of a bull, which is now in the Egyptian Museum. The table is, "unique, though interesting, a very provocative astronomical object," she said... the sarcophagus dates to the 30th dynasty... the last point of time in antiquity where Egypt would be ruled by native born rulers...

Inside the sarcophagus there is an astronomical table, a section of which has rows that show the foreleg of an ox in a wide range of different positions... This section, although confusing to read, includes notation for the three Egyptian seasons, Akhet, Peret and Shemu. Each season is broken down into four months. It also has symbols representing the beginning, middle and end of the night -- although it isn't known at what exact time these points would have been set... Symons decided to focus on the orientation of the forelegs, re-drawing them as arrows. When she did this a pattern started to appear...

But there were problems. Over the course of a year the forelegs sometimes went the wrong way -- as if the stars had stopped obeying the rules of astronomy... This table, she said in an interview, it not made up of casual observations of the Big Dipper but "looks more like a record of it."

[SunkenCiv]

Over the course of a year the forelegs sometimes went the wrong way -- as if the stars had stopped obeying the rules of astronomy... This table, she said in an interview, it not made up of casual observations of the Big Dipper but "looks more like a record of it."

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[BenLurkin]

You better belive I take real good care of my big dipper.

[crazydad]

This is where the aliens came from!!! To help with the Sphincter!

[SunkenCiv]

I feel sorry for all those with Little Dippers. Poor bastards.

[GSP.FAN]

Love the song...

[SunkenCiv]

:’)

[Blood of Tyrants]

Ancient Egyptians kept close tabs on the Big Dipper

I been watchin' it, too and I SWEAR that it is trying to get a scoop from the Milky Way.

[SunkenCiv]

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[SunkenCiv]

It’s a little known fact that the Milky Way is what we can see of the galaxy, the rest is made of Milky Way Dark matter.

[Michael Barnes]

These threads used to be awesome with the knowledge dropped.
Sad to see the bs jokes.

[bigheadfred]

I would say something. But I keep coming up short.

[UCANSEE2]

If only we could see the constellations, the same way the ancients 2400 years ago could see them.

What an amazing thing that must have been.

[bigheadfred]

” The Big Dipper's “location throughout the course of the night, across the course of the year, was important for them to report.”

As it spins lazily through the night sky, it would behoove a person to note it's position, being a prominent constellation, so when it got to a certain position they could expect the rising of Sirius just before the sun which would mean it was flood time in the Nile Valley.

[BenLurkin]

Don’t get me wrong — I find Sunken Civ’s threads to be extremely intersting but...

Exactly what use do you expect to make of the information from this article?

[bigheadfred]

If only we could see the constellations, the same way the ancients 2400 years ago could see them.

You mean the pagan superstition part or the light pollution part?

Speaking of pagan superstition, it's been awhile since I ate mushrooms, painted myself blue, and run nekked thru the forest. Never have tried it at night. Hmmm...

[Zuben Elgenubi]

I remember reading, some time ago, that the embalmers had a tool to insert into the mouth that would conveniently allow the brain to be removed. Naturally, the tool took the shape of the seven-stared asterism, but not scooped. Like a bent metal rod in the shape of the plough.

[Cold Heart]

I've also noticed that change in threads but look at them as a BTTT and tend to skip over them. Hope they don't prevent serious discussion but they seem too.

I noticed in the article it was mentioned that the perceived change of direction of the constellation may have been due to a scribe error. I can imagine a not too interested or sleepy observer putting down the wrong data.

[allmost]

TTIUWP’s

[SunkenCiv]

It went up the nose, typically the left nostril; remember how little kids do art in school (or used to), and poke a hole in one end of a raw egg, carefully scramble the insides, drain ‘em out, and make them into Christmas tree ornaments? That’s kinda the process.