SEAC 2015 a Roma

SEAC 2015

Astronomy in Past and the Present Cultures

9^th-13^th November 2015

University  Rome “la Sapienza”

Ø  November 9^th

Museum of Classical Art of the Department of Classics, Rome University “La Sapienza”

§  8:00-9:00 Registration and Posters Mounting

§  9:30 Welcome addresses (Michael A. Rappenglück, SEAC President; Prof. Eugenio Gaudio, Rector of Rome University “Sapienza”)

§  Opening session

Chairman: M. A. Rappenglück

10:00 Lectio Magistralis by Prof. G. Bignami, Accademico Linceo : “Science, society and cultures”

11:00 Coffee break

11:15 Lectio Magistralis by Prof. Roberto Buonanno, President of the Italian Astronomical Society “The Harmony of the Celestial Spheres” 

12:15 Lectio Magistralis by Prof. Sen. Lucio Lombardi Satriani, Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma “Astronomy, Anthropology”

13:15 Invited talk by Dr. Juan Antonio Belmonte, Instituto de Astrofìsica de Canaria "Orientatio ad Sidera (OAS): highlights of a decade of archaeoastronomical research in the Mediterranean region and beyond"

13:45 Lunch

• Session “Problems and Methods of Cultural Astronomy”

Chairman: Giulio Magli

14:15 – 14:35 D. Brown Phenomenology of Shadow

14:35 – 14:55 V. F. Polcaro The Credibility of Archaeoastronomy:  Suggestion From Pharmacology?

14:55 – 15:15 M. A. Rappenglück Cosmic Entomology:  The Image and Function of Insects in Archaic Sky Watching and Cosmovisions

15:15 – 15:35 J. Vit, M. A. Rappenglück Looking through a telescope with an obsidian mirror: Would specialists of ancient cultures have been able to view the night sky using such an instrument?

15:35 – 15:55 G. Zotti Open Source Virtual Archaeoastronomy

• 16:00 Coffee break
• Session “Astronomy  in Extra-European Cultures”

Chairman: Elio Antonello

16:15 – 16:35 J. Holbrook, J. de Prada-Samper !Xam Skylore of the Karoo Desert, South Africa

16:35 – 16:55 S. Iwaniszewski Another Look at the Lunar Series from Dos Pilas and Naranjo

16:55 – 17:15 J. McKim Malville Animism and Reciprocity at Sky Watching Places

17:15 – 17:35 R. Moyano The Crossover Among the Incas in the Collasuyu

·         18:00 Welcome cocktail party

Ø  November 10^th

Auditorium of the University Chapel

• Special Session on “Astronomy in Ancient Near East (Mesopotamia, Persia, Levant, Turkey) and Egypt, from the origins to 395 CE”

Chairman: Juan Antonio Belmonte

9:00 – 9:20 E. Orrelle Identifying transition in ritual power in the Neolithic of the Levant

9:20 – 9:40 J. Steele Evidence for the Practice of Astronomy and Astrology in the ‘House of the āšipu’ in Uruk

9:40 – 10:00 D. Nadali, A. Polcaro The sky from the high terrace: study on the orientation of the ziqqurat in ancient Mesopotamia

10:00 – 10:20 L. Verderame Pleiades in ancient Mesopotamia

10:20 – 10:40 S. Pizzimenti The Kudurrus and the Sky. Analysis and Interpretation of the Astral Symbols as Represented in Kassite Kudurrus Reliefs

10:40 – 11:00 S. Gullberg The Babylonian Astronomical Diaries: A Graphical Analysis of their Implied Reference System

• 11:00 Coffee break

Chairman: John Steele

11:15 – 11:35 J. A. Belmonte, M. C. Pérez Die, L. Díaz-Iglesias Llanos Shrines of Ram-Headed Divinities and Canopus:  Skyscaping at Herakleópolis Magna

11:35 – 11:55 A. C. González-García, J. A. Belmonte, A. Polcaro A diachronic analysis of monument orientation in the Levant: the Jordanian paradigm

11:55 – 12:15 E. Ratson Ideal Lunar Velocity

12:15 – 12:35 S. Shinnar Rabbinic Standards for Accuracy in Lunar Observation: Regulating the Calendar in the Mishnah Rosh Hashanah

12:35 – 12:55 A. Rodríguez Antón, J. A. Belmonte, A. C. González-García Romans in Near East: Orientation of Roman towns and forts in modern Jordan

12:55 – 13:15 A. Jones Eclipses in Greco-Roman Egypt: Trends in Observation, Prediction, and Interpretation

• 13:15 lunch
• Session “Cultural Astronomy in Ancient Greece”

Chairperson: Mary Blomberg

14:00 – 14:20 E. Boutsikas Τhe orientation of Greek temples in sanctuaries of Asia Minor, Sicily and Cyprus

14:20 – 14:40 M. Revello The Sun of Homer

14:40 – 15:00 L. Sims Apollonian Delphi: how history comes to the aid of prehistory.

15:00 – 15:20 B. Castro, I. Liritzis, A. Nyquist       Determining the Oracular Time: Comparative Astronomical Measurements of Apollonian Temples

• Session “Cultural Astronomy in Ancient Italy and in Roman Empire”

Chairman : Marco García Quintela 

15:20 – 15:40 R. Hanna, G. Magli, A. Orlando Astronomy and landscape in the Valley of the Temples of Akragas

15:40 – 16:00 P. Littarru Forty years of archaeoastronomical research in Sardinia

• 16:00 Coffee break

16:15 – 16:35 A. Orlando, D. Gori The Megalithic Temple of Diana on the Cefalù Rock (Sicily)

16:35 – 16.55 M. Ranieri, F. Carnevale Solstices at Sesto Fiorentino: an Investigation on Geometry and Alignments of the Tholos Tombs of the Etruscan Princes

16:55 – 17:15 M. Rapisarda, M. Ranieri A “Phoenician lighthouse” at Capo Gallo (Palermo)?

17:15 – 17:35 M. Monaco The Temple B in Largo Argentina, Rome: CAD Analysis of The Ground Plan Reveals a Geometrical Circle-Pentagon-Circle Scheme

• 18:00 – 20:00 G. Zotti Tutorial: producing and configuring Stellarium landscapes for orientation
  studies

Ø  November 11^th

Auditorium of the University Chapel

•       Session “Cultural Astronomy in Ancient Italy and in Roman Empire”

Chairman: Nick Campion

9:00 – 9:20 M. De Franceschini, G. Veneziano Archaeoastronomy in the Mausoleum of Hadrian in Rome

9:20 – 9:40 D. Espinosa Espinosa, A. C. González-García, M. V. García Quintela  On the Orientation of Roman Towns in the Limes Germanicus

9:40 – 10:00 A. C. González-García, M. V. García Quintela  Celtic Solar Orientation of Lugdunum Convenarum

10:00 – 10:20 N. Lanciano, P. Virgili The urban set of the Pantheon and the Mausoleum of Augustus in Rome, between architectural and astronomical symbolism.

10:20 – 10:40 M. Ranieri, M. Monaco From Desgodetz to Laser Scanner: Measures and Geometries in the Plan of the Pantheon

10:40 – 11:00 S. Sclavi, F. Carnevale, M. Monaco, S. Gaudenzi, M. Ranieri, V. F. Polcaro, C. Scatigno The Orientation of Mithraea In Ostia Antica

11:00 – 11:20 V. Tiede Ara Pacis Augustae:  An Astro-Archaeological Analysis

•       11:20 Coffee break

•       Session “Cultural Astronomy in Ancient Iberian Peninsula and Canary Islands”

Chairman: Cesar Gonzales Garcia

11:35 – 11:55 C. Esteban Equinox Markers in Protohistoric Iberian Sanctuaries

11:55 – 12:15 M. Pérez, A. Rodríguez Díaz, I. Pavón Soldevila, D. M. Duque Espino A Orientalizing Ritual Building in Aliseda (Cáceres, Spain)

12:15 – 12:35 M. Pérez Gutierrez, A. Ruiz Rodríguez, M. Molinos Molinos The Iberian urban sanctuary of Puente Tablas (Jaén, España)

12:35 – 12:55 F. Silva The Prehistoric Skyscapes western Iberian project: an update

12:55 – 13:15 L. Sims Praile Aitz 1: A Basque Magdalenian lunar-solar cave at 15,500 BP?

13:15 – 13:35 A. Ulla, F. Braña Rey, E. Pérez Fernández Application of cultural astronomy methods to High School by means of studying astronomical decorations and orientations of hórreos in two locations of Galicia (Spain).  Statistics, comparison and educational conclusions.

•       13:35 lunch

•       Session “The Sky Bear”

Chairperson: Roz Frank

14:05 – 14:25 E. Antonello Sky simulations for the Paleolithic epoch

14:25 – 14: 45 M. Ridderstad The Bear and the Year: the Origin of the Finnish Late Iron Age Folk Calendar and Its Connection to the Bear Cult

14:45 – 15:05 D. Gunzburg Time pursued by a Bear: Ursa Major and stellar time-telling in the Paduan Salone

15:05 – 15:25 R. Frank Sky Bears research: Implications for “Cultural Astronomy”  

•       Session “Cultural Astronomy in Ancient Northern Europe and British Islands”

Chairman: Lionel Sims

15:25 – 15:45 P. Amstrong Mesolithic and the Neolithic Skyscapes in Western Britain

15:45 – 16:05 L. Henty Continuity or change? A microscopic scale analysis of monuments and ritual in Aberdeenshire

•        16:05 Coffee break

16:15 – 16:35 C. Maumené The Gundestrup cauldron : is this the key to the enigma?

16:35 – 16:55 M. Ridderstad Sacred or Profane Spaces – Comparing the Orientations of the Neolithic Housepits and the Giants’ Churches of Ostrobothnia

16:55 – 17:15 V. Tumėnas The links in attributes between the Baltic Thunder God Perkūnas and his analogues - Jupiter and Zeus

•       Session “Cultural Astronomy in Ancient Eastern Europe”

Chairperson: Penka Stoeva

17:15 -17:35 O. Kuzmanovska, J. Stankovski Lunar Markers of the Peak Sanctuary Kokino

17:35 – 17:55 A. Stoev, P. Maglova, M. Spasova Late Chalcolithic solar-chthonic rock-cut structures for time measuring in the Eastern Rhodopes, Bulgaria

• 18:00 – 20:00 G. Zotti Tutorial: producing and configuring Stellarium landscapes for orientation
  studies

Ø  November 12^th

•       10:00 – 13:00 Half day excursion to Rome Imperial Fora and Coliseum

Auditorium of the University Chapel

•       Session “Cultural Astronomy in Ancient Eastern Europe”

Chairperson: Penka Stoeva

14:00 - 14:20 A. Mickaelian Armenian Archaeoastronomy and Astronomy in Culture

14:20 – 14:40 S. V. Farmanyan Ancient Cosmology in Armenian Highland

•       Session “Cultural Astronomy in Christian Churches”

Chairman: P. Jean-Paul Hernandez SJ

14:40 – 15:00 B. Vilas Estévez, A. C. González-García  Light and Shadow in Santiago: the Cathedral of Saint James and its orientations

15:00 – 15:20 M. Incerti, G. Lavorati, S. Iurilli, U. Velo Survey, archaeastronomy and communication: the Mausoleum of Teodoric in Ravenna (Italy)

15:20 – 15:40 M. García Quintela, A. C. González-García From Hagiography to Celtic Cosmology: the Early Years of Santa Mariña in the Lagoon of Antela (Ourense, NW Spain) and the Limici Celtic heritage

15:40 – 16:00 E. Spinazzè Alignments at the patron saint’s day of sacral medieval buildings and the light path inside the church at the saint’s day

• 16:00 Coffee break

16:15 – 16:35 M. Zedda A Statistical Analysis on the Orientation of the Romanesque Churches of Sardinia, Corsica and Tuscany

16:35 – 16:55 B. Brady Welsh Monastic Skyscapes: the design and results of a pilot project

16:55 – 17:15 B. Brady The Western Orientation of the Solstitial Churches of Gweynedd, Wales. 

17:15 – 17:35 S. Bartolini, M. Pierozzi  Astronomy and Solar Symbology in the Basilica of San Miniato al Monte and Florence Baptistery in Florence

17:35 – 17:55 B. Benfer Light Beams and Architecture Marked Celestial Events in Colonial Churches and Missions in New Spain and Perú

17:55 – 18:15 B. M. Mak Astral Science from the Near East to China in the late first millennium AD – Dorotheus in Pahlavī and Duli Yusi Jing in Chinese

Ø  November 13^th

Museum of Classical Art of the Department of Classics, Rome University “La Sapienza”

·         Session “ Astronomy in Medieval texts”

Chairman : Vito Francesco Polcaro

9:00 – 9:20 S. Draxler, M. E. Lippitsch Astronomy in the medieval Liber Floridus

9:20 – 9:40 R. Neuhäuser, W. Rada, D. L. Neuhäuser Newly found old Yemenite observations of Supernovae 1006 and 1604

•       Session “Cultural Astronomy in Renaissance and Modern Epoch”

Chairman: Manuela Incerti

10:00 – 10:20 G. Gandolfi Astrology, Prophecy and the birth of Modern Science seen through the Lenses of Renaissance Art

10:20 – 10:40 N. Campion Astronomy and Culture in the Eighteenth Century: Isaac Newton’s influence on the Enlightenment and Politics.

10:40 – 11:00 L. Tirapicos The old and the new Rome: Francesco Bianchini’s astronomical exchanges with the court of Lisbon

•       11:00 Coffee break

•       Session “Cultural Astronomy in Contemporary Epoch”

Chairperson: Jarita Holbrook

11:15  - 11:35 A. Adamo Where telescopes cannot (yet) see: Saturn and the Moon as “seen” by space artists Scriven Bolton, Lucien Rudaux, Étienne Trouvelot, Chesley Bonestell

11:35 – 11:55 H. Gropp Toward one date: The Easter date(s)

11:55 – 12:15 R. Ndlovu Analysing Education as a variable in “the Sky in Our Lives Survey”

•       12:15 – 13:30 Posters discussion

•       13:30 lunch

•       13:30 Poster dismounting

•       14:00 – 15:45 Round Table: What is 'cultural astronomy' today?

Chairman: Michael A. Rappenglück, SEAC President. Participants: Roslyn Frank (University of Iowa), Stanislaw Iwaniszewski (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), Vito F. Polcaro (Institute of Space Astrophysics and Planetology, INAF), Giangiacomo Gandolfi (Rome Planetarium), Alberto Scuderi (Vice-president of the Italian Archaeological Groups)

•       15:45 Coffee Break

•       16:00-18:00 SEAC General Assembly

•       20:30 Conference dinner

November 14^th - 15^th : Post Conference Tour

Posters

1.       A. Adamo           Sound is the night

2.       A. Adamo           Looking the sky in the face

3.       E. Amsterdam  Classical constellation patterns on the ground made up by artificial dwelling hills in Frisia, The Netherlands

4.       R. Assasi              Astronomical alignment of Roman quadrifrons structures

5.       N. Ayash             The Stars in the Minoan Religion

6.       N. Bekbassar     Twelve year’s cyclic calendar in numismatics of the Golden Horde and Ilkhanate

7.       D. Brown, Ana Souto     Skyscapes of Clifton Campus - Exploring Nocturnal Environments & Sky with Stellarium

8.       M.P. Burillo Quadrado, F. Burillo Coelum Empireum, Habitaculum Dei and souls’ destination

9.       C. Clausen          Inter-visibility, Sightlines and Alignments

10.   M. Codebò, H. de Santis, G. L. Pesce     A stone observatory at Bric Pinarella (Italy)

11.   P. Colona            Ixion, an astronomical interpretation

12.   I. De Angelis, T. Bosco, A. Altamore Under The Same Sky: An Italian approach to Astronomy for the Developing World

13.   J. de Jager          The Pyramids of Ancient Egypt - Paradox and Symmetry

14.   M.D. Duarte da Cunha A bull on the water (astronomy and navigation in the Eastern Mediterranean by Minoans in MM III period 1,600 BC and 1,200 LM III ACC)

15.   C. Esteban, L. B. de Lugo Enrich                Venus and the Temples of Astarte across the Mediterranean

16.   C. Esteban, D. Iborra Pellín         Archaeoastronomy in Bronze Age Tumular Tombs and Settlements of La Mancha (Spain)

17.   N. L.Furbee       Disarticulated Dual Seasons and Maya Cosmology

18.   G. Henriksson   King David’s Altar dated by the appearance of comet Encke in 964 BC

19.   R. Herrera          Sundials and Some Other Astronomical Instruments to Measure the Sky

20.   S. Ivanova, A. Raduncheva, V. Koleva, D. Kolev                Rock Sites in the Eastern Rhodopes: Archaeology and Astronomy

21.   M. Koeppl          A Calendar-astronomical Explanation of Homer´s Odyssey

22.   A.  Kuzmin          The Astronomical Birth of Napier’s Logarithmics

23.   G. Latura             The Mysteries of Eleusis & the Zodiacal Light

24.   L. Lombardi, L. Ruggiero, L. Fabrizi, M. Chirri Rome is star shaped: STAR, an APP for the spread of Cultural Astronomy

25.   A. Mulas, M. P. Zedda Orientation of the Sardinian Nuraghic “Huts of Reunions”

26.   A. V. Mushich-Gromyko Archaic Astronomical Slavic Concepts and their Reflection in the Metrics of the Textile

27.   A. Orlando, M.T. Magro, M. S. Scaravilli               The oriented altars of Pizzicata Rocks and the rocky sites of Alcantara Valley

28.   A. Orlando, D. Tanasi     Rediscovering the Maltese temple of Borġ in-Nadur

29.   R. Park                 Damnatio ad astra on the Dendera Zodiac

30.   M. Pérez Gutierrez, D. Bea Castaño, J. Diloli Fons, J. Vila Llorach, M. Prades Painous     La Gessera: an Iberian building for worship?

31.   R. Perez-Enriquez, J. Galindo Trejo        Basis of a Gnomonic Paradigm in Mesoamerica: the Case of Mayapan

32.   S. Rothwangl     Heaven upon Earth: Educational model of the solar system on a scale of 1:1 billion

33.   F. Stanescu The Small Round Sanctuary of the Sacred Terrace of    Sarmizegetuza Regia, Romania. The Problem of Number 13

34.   A. Stoev, P. Maglova     Research project "Astronomical orientations and geophysical anomalies of trapezoidal niches in the Eastern Rhodopes, Bulgaria": in search of an international partnership

35.   A. Stoev, P. Maglova, V. Markov, M. Spasova   Prehistoric rock sanctuary with arch near the village of Kovachevitsa, Bulgaria: spatial orientation and solar projections

36.   M. Zedda            Hypothesis about a Astronomical System of  Ligures Apuan in Garfagnana

37.   B. Zlatev              On the Value of Proclus’ Perfect Year and Its Meaning