The petroglyphs on Monolith #3 at the Herschel Petroglyphs clearly mark stars at the front of the head of Scorpio.
It is currently unclear if this stone marks a particular date. We could abide by a general date of ca. 3000 B.C., as for the other stones, without difficulty.
On the other hand, if one assigns a date significance to the cupmarks (cupules), and such a conclusion is not necessarily mandated, then the cupules found on that stone could be interpreted to marks stars at the head of Scorpio at the Autumn Equinox ca. 2500 B.C.
Important to note is that we can not "read" the stone further toward the back in the photograph available to us online. If there were cupules towards the back, they could just mark that Autumn Equinox further back on that stone, putting it at 3000 B.C. just as on the other stones, so we can not be sure. Accordingly, the dating aspect of this stone is not a critical thing here, since uncertain.
Nevertheless, one must also note that some of the dimmer stars marked on that monolith (large rock, boulder) are normally of no great consequence, but in ca. 2500 B.C. are important, since they mark the crossing point of the ecliptic, the ecliptic meridian, the celestial equator and the celestial meridian at the Autumn Equinox point in the stars.
This is shown in the image below in a decipherment by Andis Kaulins:
This result must in any case be regarded as provisional since the cupmark (cupule) placements need to be confirmed by outside sources, here being based solely on our interpretation of cupmarks viz. cupules that we claim to see on Monolith #3 and which we have marked relying on a photograph by Erinn Dayle Schneider. We are aware of no other such photos and have found no online published results elsewhere of the cupmark placements on this monolith.
That sole photograph is found as Figure A29 of Monolith #3 at the Herschel Petrolgyphs, as published in Schneider's Masters Thesis, Rock art in southern Saskatchewan, Department of Archaeology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, 2003 -- online at eCommons Electronic Theses and Dissertations: http://ecommons.usask.ca/handle/10388/etd-03052009-135851 and http://hdl.handle.net/10388/etd-03052009-135851.
In any case, should our analysis of the three monoliths be correct, this would mean that the petroglyphs on each of the three large monoliths may mark the Autumn Equinox in a slightly different era in the 3rd millennium B.C, i.e. Monolith #1 ca. 3000 B.C or perhaps a bit earlier, Monolith #2 perhaps a few years later in ca. 2965 B.C. and Monolith #3 then cupmarked in ca. 2500 B.C.
Such a dating conforms generally to mainstream archaeological dating of southern Saskatchewan petroglyph sites into the Archaic Period ca. 5000 years ago or earlier.
THIS POSTING IS Posting Number 25 of
The Great Mound, Petroglyph and Painted Rock Art Journey of Native America
Herschel Petroglyphs Monolith #3 Marks Stars at the Head of Scorpio
It is currently unclear if this stone marks a particular date. We could abide by a general date of ca. 3000 B.C., as for the other stones, without difficulty.
On the other hand, if one assigns a date significance to the cupmarks (cupules), and such a conclusion is not necessarily mandated, then the cupules found on that stone could be interpreted to marks stars at the head of Scorpio at the Autumn Equinox ca. 2500 B.C.
Important to note is that we can not "read" the stone further toward the back in the photograph available to us online. If there were cupules towards the back, they could just mark that Autumn Equinox further back on that stone, putting it at 3000 B.C. just as on the other stones, so we can not be sure. Accordingly, the dating aspect of this stone is not a critical thing here, since uncertain.
Nevertheless, one must also note that some of the dimmer stars marked on that monolith (large rock, boulder) are normally of no great consequence, but in ca. 2500 B.C. are important, since they mark the crossing point of the ecliptic, the ecliptic meridian, the celestial equator and the celestial meridian at the Autumn Equinox point in the stars.
This is shown in the image below in a decipherment by Andis Kaulins:
This result must in any case be regarded as provisional since the cupmark (cupule) placements need to be confirmed by outside sources, here being based solely on our interpretation of cupmarks viz. cupules that we claim to see on Monolith #3 and which we have marked relying on a photograph by Erinn Dayle Schneider. We are aware of no other such photos and have found no online published results elsewhere of the cupmark placements on this monolith.
That sole photograph is found as Figure A29 of Monolith #3 at the Herschel Petrolgyphs, as published in Schneider's Masters Thesis, Rock art in southern Saskatchewan, Department of Archaeology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, 2003 -- online at eCommons Electronic Theses and Dissertations: http://ecommons.usask.ca/handle/10388/etd-03052009-135851 and http://hdl.handle.net/10388/etd-03052009-135851.
In any case, should our analysis of the three monoliths be correct, this would mean that the petroglyphs on each of the three large monoliths may mark the Autumn Equinox in a slightly different era in the 3rd millennium B.C, i.e. Monolith #1 ca. 3000 B.C or perhaps a bit earlier, Monolith #2 perhaps a few years later in ca. 2965 B.C. and Monolith #3 then cupmarked in ca. 2500 B.C.
Such a dating conforms generally to mainstream archaeological dating of southern Saskatchewan petroglyph sites into the Archaic Period ca. 5000 years ago or earlier.
THIS POSTING IS Posting Number 25 of
The Great Mound, Petroglyph and Painted Rock Art Journey of Native America
Herschel Petroglyphs Monolith #3 Marks Stars at the Head of Scorpio
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