Star Constellations of Ancient Egypt and the Astronomical Decipherment of the Northern Arabia Neolithic Camel Site

The Celestial River: Identifying the Ancient Egyptian Constellations, Sino-Platonic Papers, 253 (December 2014), Victor H. Mair, Editor, Dept. of East Asian Languages & Civilizations, Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-6305 USA, vmair@sas.upenn.edu, www.sino-platonic.org

authored by Alessandro Berio

-- as posted by Magdi Saleh at Academia.edu --

presents astronomical analysis that bears significantly upon our recent postings about the Northern Arabia "Camel Site", which we have -- allegedly --- deciphered as Neolithic astronomy, and which, in our opinion maps the stars of the starry night ca. 4800 B.C.

... with "the legs of the Camel" standing on the Celestial Equator at the Vernal Equinox, the left side of the camel marking the Summer Solstice and the right side of the camel marking the Winter Solstice, with the stars in the heavens being marked by carved figures and cupules (holes viz. indentations carved into stone).

We thank here the website Academia.edu for alerting us to the respective link to the article by Berio as found at https://www.academia.edu/23910738/The_Celestial_River_Identifying_the_Ancient_Egyptian_Constellations.

We are sympathetic to Berio's approach, but our present posting does not engage in individual analysis -- pro or contra -- of the ancient Egyptian Constellations identified in Berio's publication or the system of rising and setting stars that is said there to explain some of the hieroglyphs (viz. "emblems") of the nomes. Each reader can evaluate the material on their own starting at the above link.

Given our own knowledge and understanding of the use of rising and setting stars in ancient astronomy and given our own writings about MUL.APIN : Decipherment as Astronomy (see there for a start), we find that Berio has definitely produced a remarkable and highly interesting analysis which deserves our attention. See in this regard also our year 2004 postings on the astronomical and hermetic significance ("as above, so below") of the nomes of Egypt at:

• The Nomes of Egypt and Astronomy - A - Identification - ANE BC P4 
• The Nomes of Egypt and Astronomy - B - Map of Egyptian Nomes - ANE BC P5 
• The Nomes of Egypt and Astronomy - C - Nome Hieroglyph Chart - ANE BC P6
  

What interests us here as a general matter is the star placement comparison of:

• a map of the heavens that results from our decipherment of the ca. 4800 B.C. Neolithic Northern Arabia Camel Site
  

THE NEOLITHIC CAMEL SITE of NORTHERN ARABIA
ASTRONOMICAL DECIPHERMENT as ca. 4800 B.C. by ANDIS KAULINS

with Berio's Classical star map with Ptolemaic constellations compared to nome emblems overlaid on a map of the sky circa 3100 BC as seen from Memphis (30.57° N).

Classical Star Map with Ptolemaic Stellar Constellations and
Nome Emblems Overlaid on a Sky Map ca. 3100 B.C.
according to Alessandro Berio

 

Our decipherment placement of starry night stars at the Camel Site finds numerous comparables in depiction on the above map of Ancient Egyptian stellar constellations as represented by Berio, though we do not agree on all of them, but that latter is not the issue here. Some DO agree, and that is what is important.

Moreover, in terms of researching the importance of the Ancient Egyptian nomes as hermetic astronomy ("as above, so below"), perhaps marking rising and setting stars, take a look at our Camel Site decipherment finding that the dog, Anubis, is there at the position of the stars of Libra, which stellar location was a mystery to us initially, but which makes sense as a placement given the rising and setting star analysis for nome emblems by Berio, who writes as follows:

"Sirius, the brightest star of Canis Major, was identified with the goddess Isis-Sothis, the Egyptian mother goddess. Diodorus explains that the ritual procession of the Festival of Isis was led by dogs, an association illustrated in a passage by Diodorus:

On the stele of Isis it runs: “I am Isis, the queen of every land… I am she who riseth in the star that is in the Constellation of the Dog; by me was the city of Bubastus built.”

The capital of the 18th nome of Upper Egypt ... was a place for the worship of Anubis, the dog-headed god, as the city was known as the “House of Anubis.” This nome corresponded to the time at which Canis Major’s star, Aludra, known as the “Virgins” to early Arab astronomers, was in its lower culmination, and Spica, the brightest star in Virgo, the virgin, was setting ...."

It would seem, therefore, as a possibility, that the astronomy deciphered by us at the Neolithic Camel Site in Northern Arabia may be a precursor to the hermetic ("as above, so below") astronomy of the later Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt. 

Obviously, the historical ramifications are substantial if the chronological dates in question -- starting with around 4800 B.C. -- are correct. And it also may raise the question of whether the creators of the Camel Site were indigenous inhabitants, or more distant nomads, or, indeed, especially because of the "megalithic" style of portrayal, were perhaps even more distant ancient surveyors, stargazers and/or navigators from elsewhere who first carved the astronomical figures in Northern Arabia.

See in this wider connection our previous postings at:

• The Four Corner Stones of a Land Survey in Ancient Egypt and Arabia: Sais (Sa al Hajar, Rosetta Stone), Nabta Playa (Table Rock Stone), Mecca (Kaaba), Dumat Al-Jandal (Missing Stone) and
  
  
• Sais, the Rosetta Stone, Champollion and Google Earth in the Context of the Alleged Four Corner Stones of Sais, Nabta Playa, Mecca, and Dumat Al-Jandal viz. Sakaka and Al Rajajil
  
  
• The Standing Stones (Megaliths) of Al Rajajil Deciphered as an Ancient Land Survey Triangulation: لرجاجيل في سكاكا al-Rajajeel Archeological Site
  
  

Neolithic Northern Arabia Archaeoastronomical "Camel Site Decipherment Image" by Andis Kaulins Updated October 20, 2021

Please note:

The graphic Neolithic Northern Arabia Archaeoastronomical
"Camel Site Decipherment Image" by Andis Kaulins
presented in full in previous postings
was updated on October 20, 2021 with some additions
and improved color management of the figures,
thus, for example, retaining a clear view of the legs of the camel.

See the updated decipherment.

The Rock Art "Camel Site" in Arabia Deciphered as a Neolithic Representation of the Night Starry Sky by Figures ca. 4800 B.C.

The Neolithic Rock Art "Camel Site" in Arabia Deciphered as Astronomy

Please note: the graphic below
was updated with some corrected star placements on October 20, 2021.

Our Interactive Lesson #6 consists of our independent archaeoastronomical decipherment of the Rock Art so-called "Camel Site" located in Northern Arabia.

This is the last interactive lesson in this series of postings, which we will follow up with some explanatory postings about various aspects of our decipherment below. 

There are many unexpected surprises, especially for the era in question.

Look at the decipherment graphic and draw your own conclusions.

The Neolithic Rock Art "Camel Site" in Arabia:
Interactive Lesson #6: Our Full Decipherment Image
The Camel Site Portrays the Night Starry Sky
ca. 4800 B.C. by Figures

Click on the graphic below
to obtain a larger, more readable image! 

Please note that the graphic below
was updated on October 20, 2021
with improved color management of the figures
and some corrected star placements

 

The Neolithic Camel Site in Northern Arabia: Interactive Lesson #5: Auriga to the Left of Perseus and Carved Figures and Cupule Stars to the Right of Perseus

The Neolithic Rock Art Camel Site in Arabia: Interactive Lesson #5: Auriga to the Left of Perseus and Carved Figures and Cupule Stars to the Right of Perseus

The stars of Auriga at the Camel Site are represented by the head of a goatherd with typical headdress, plus the head (and fleece ?) of an adult goat with several goat kids. This corroborates the correctness of our previous placement of the stars of Perseus to the right of Auriga. The fleece viz. the "wool" of Auriga is carved in the rock in an appropriate "ruffled" texture way. The adult goat appears to have several goat kids behind it, plus maybe a goat dog ("sheepdog") to the back left. 

The Neolithic Rock Art Camel Site in Arabia: Interactive Lesson #5
Auriga the Goatherd is to the Left of Perseus
Auriga includes a Goat head profile and several goat kids, plus goatherd dog.
Cepheus, Cassiopeia, and Andromeda are to the Right of Perseus

Please click on the graphic below to obtain a larger image.

The figures to the right of Perseus are more difficult to assign with certainty, as they are very strongly characterized by the megalithic style of carving figures within figures within figures, which makes identification more speculative.

We think those figures mark stars of what we moderns identify as the stellar constellations of Cepheus, Cassiopeia, wife of Cepheus, and their daughter Andromeda -- a heavenly family as it were -- whose origins, e.g., in Egypt, and even by mainstream archaeology, reach back far and at least into predynastic ("pre-Pharaoh") times. Just how old these heavenly figures assigned to groups of stars in the starry sky actually are -- nobody really knows, but it is clear from the Neolithic Rock Art Camel Site in Arabia that they are much older then previously thought by the mainstream of researchers.

Just as an aside:
We think the term Auriga originally meant "sheep, lamb" as arguably in what we see as a hypothetical proto-Indo-European root found e.g. in Latvian jēr- jēruk- (=*aurig-) meaning "of (a) lamb".

The Latin meaning of "charioteer" may arise out of a linguistic confusion of "auriga" with e.g. the root of a word like "quadriga" and similar terms, which at their root have the meaning "yoke" in proto-Indo-European, as in archaic Latvian "jūgs, jūg-".

The next posting in this series is Interactive Lesson #6. 

Can you already find the stars portrayed on the left side of the carved rock but not yet identified?

The Camel Site in Arabia: Interactive Lesson #4: More Figures at Perseus and the Stars of the Leg to the Left

The Camel Site in Arabia: Interactive Lesson #4: More Figures at Perseus and the Stars of the Leg to the Left

In the image below we see the figure of Perseus, and an additional coiled (?) figure below it -- above the Hyena -- that emerges when we look at the stone-carved figures in detail.

THE STARS OF PERSEUS (IN FULL) AT THE CAMEL SITE
AND THE STARS OF THE CAMEL'S LEG TO ITS LEFT

Click on the image to view a larger image version.

Perseus appears to wear a military-type (?) plumed hat and we can only ask ourselves if the figure below him is Medusa or a serpent-type figure, for this is very speculative and not perfectly clear. Such a hat is not likely to date back to 4800 B.C. Perhaps such figures were added later in time, in another era, by ancients who knew which stars the carved Camel Site represented in the sky.

Posting #5 of this decipherment series on the Camel Site of Northern Arabia follows, deciphering figures and stars to the right of Perseus, including the camel's leg to the right.

The Camel Site in Arabia: Interactive Lesson #3: Where are the Stars of Perseus Marked by a Figure and Cupmarks? And Where is the Hyena?

Once one recognizes that the large camel at the Camel Site marks the Celestial Equator, the Celestial Meridian and the Celestial North Pole by its features...

and if we also have a good idea of the date of the human stone carving work...

then the general positions of the stars at the Camel Site are inevitable...

because their position is thereby determined by the major astronomical parameters.

The stars can not be elsewhere, and we can thus not place them subjectively,

although it is also true, however, that individual stars may be difficult to identify with perfect certainty. Everything is not always as easy as it appears.

We started out with the figure and cupmarks of the stars of Perseus because their placement at the Camel Site is eminently obvious. Just look at the Starry Night Pro star map below, a stellar map which we have already posted previously. Find Perseus on that star map and you will then know where to look for Perseus at the Camel Site stone relief.

THE STARRY SKY SECTION REPRESENTED AT THE CAMEL SITE
MARKS STARS AT AND ABOVE THE CELESTIAL EQUATOR ca. 4800 B.C.
Image clip 2021 A.D. by Andis Kaulins via Starry Night Pro astronomy software

 Click on the image to view a larger image version.
(image updated on 7 October 2021)

As one can see from above, Perseus is to the far right of the Vernal Equinox on that 4800 B.C. star map and that is where we expect to find Perseus represented on the large camel at the Camel Site ... and so it is, as seen below.

THE CAMEL SITE MARKS THE STARS OF PERSEUS
TO THE RIGHT OF THE VERNAL EQUINOX in 4800 B.C.
AND ITS LOWER STARS SHOW A HYENA NIPPING AT THE HEEL OF THE CAMEL
We have previously written that:
"Significant for our discussion of ancient celestial poles
is the fact that the Arabic Bedouins in Egypt, instead of a dragon,
saw a circle of camels at heaven’s center that was being attacked by hyenas."
https://megalithicworld.wordpress.com/2007/11/14/horusfalconcultasastronomy/

 Click on the image to view a larger image version.

The arguably older representation is the tapered relief-carved figure of Perseus.
The arguably younger presentation consists of cupmarks
(carved holes in stone) of the brighter stars of Perseus,
as still used in modern astronomy to portray the figure of Perseus in the sky.

The hyena at the heel of the camel -- supporting ancient heavenly depiction --
is proof of the correctness of our decipherment of "The Camel Site" in Arabia.

 Lesson #4 is forthcoming in the next posting.

 

The Camel Site: Interactive Lesson #2: What is the Camel Carrying? The Camel Carries the Starry Sky

The Neolithic Rock Art Camel Site in Northern Arabia as Astronomy:
Interactive Lesson #2:
What is the Camel Carrying?
The camel carries the starry sky.

The mid-center Celestial Meridian as the prominent left foreleg of the camel and the top of the camel's hump at the location of the North Celestial Pole indicate that the camel carries the stars in the sky, i.e. the vault of heaven.

Arab sources of antiquity place the camel at a position near the North Celestial Pole. Citing to Richard Hinckley's Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning (Dover edition, 1963)We have previously written that:

"Significant for our discussion of ancient celestial poles is the fact that the Arabic Bedouins in Egypt, instead of a dragon, saw a circle of camels at heaven’s center that was being attacked by hyenas."

See:
https://megalithicworld.wordpress.com/2007/11/14/horusfalconcultasastronomy/

Before we present our decipherments, the reader may try to identify stars represented at the Camel Site by carved figures and holes carved in stone to represent bright stars or groups of bright stars. Good luck!

Groups of stars can be represented by figures, as we still do in modernity by the stellar constellations.

But stars can also be represented individually by "cupmarks" (cupules, holes carved in stone to represent stars).

Usually -- the larger the hole, the brighter the magnitude of the star.

Please note:

The carved figures at the Camel Site are likely to be older than the identifiable cupmarks, which appear to be younger, because they cover less space than the corresponding figures. We see this at the representation of the stars of Perseus, which we add to our decipherment image in the next posting.

This same phenomenon is found at sites such as Lascaux in France -- but, to our knowledge, is something not recognized by mainstream archaeologists -- where cave paintings cover rocks that were already previously carved to mark the same stars as the later paintings.

People often see what they want to see or things easy to see ... and miss the rest. No less an observer than Albert Einstein said that he had little patience with scientists who drilled only where the drilling is easy.

The Camel Site in Northern Arabia ca. 5000 BC: Neolithic Rock Art as Astronomy: Interactive Lesson #1: Where does the Camel Stand? It Stands on the Celestial Equator

The Neolithic Rock Art Camel Site in Northern Arabia as Astronomy:
Interactive Lesson #1:
Where does the Camel Stand?
It Stands on the Celestial Equator

Our interactive decipherment begins with a clip of the section of sky that we regard to be represented by carved figures and cupmarks at "The Camel Site"
-- figures and holes carved in stone to mark bright stars viz. star groups.

The starry sky corresponding to the stars represented by the Camel Site is found
in the image below -- applying to stars ca. at or above the Celestial Equator on which the camel stands ... carrying the heavens. Our image clip from Starry Night Pro astronomy software is the year 4800 B.C., close to the dates of ca. 5600 to 5200 BCE estimated by archaeologists for human inhabitation of the site.

THE STARRY SKY SECTION REPRESENTED AT THE CAMEL SITE
MARKS STARS AT AND ABOVE THE CELESTIAL EQUATOR ca. 4800 B.C.
Image clip 2021 A.D. by Andis Kaulins via Starry Night Pro astronomy software

 Click on the image to view a larger image version.
(image updated on 7 October 2021)

 

The Celestial Equator in the star map above is the red nearly horizontal line running through the Vernal Equinox. The Celestial Equator at the Camel Site is the line drawn below -- and identified by us -- upon which the camel stands:

THE CAMEL SITE CELESTIAL EQUATOR ON WHICH THE CAMEL STANDS

Click on the image to view a larger image version.

That line provides the foundation for the astronomical decipherment. Once such an important astronomical parameter is correctly identified, the rest follows. 

See if you can now identify the stars represented at the Camel Site without referring to our decipherment. You have the star map above.

This posting begins a series of experimental interactive presentations of our recent, independent, and unaffiliated archaeoastronomical decipherment of the so-called archaeological "Camel Site" in Northern Arabia...

as that site is described by the following authors
Maria Guagnin, Guillaume Charloux, Abdullah M. AlSharekh, Rémy Crassard, Yamandú H. Hilbert, Meinrat O. Andreae, Abdullah AlAmri, Frank Preusser, Fulbert Dubois, Franck Burgos, Pascal Flohr, Pascal Mora, Ahmad AlQaeed, and Yasser AlAli...

in their article
Life-sized Neolithic camel sculptures in Arabia: A scientific assessment of the craftsmanship and age of the Camel Site reliefs, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2021, 103165, ISSN 2352-409X
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2021.103165 as found published online at...

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X21003771.

More Camel Site photos are also published at Artnet.com in Thousands of Years Before the Pyramids, Neolithic Peoples Were Carving Camels into Saudi Arabia’s Rocky Desert, an article by Sarah Cascone online at :

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/ancient-saudi-arabian-camel-carvings-are-actually-older-than-stonehenge-and-the-pyramids-of-giza-2012754

In order to avoid copyright image issues -- we make our own drawings for use in the course of our decipherment and refer readers to original photographs in the above cited sources for review. We have no affiliation with any of the above.

We now look at the Celestial Meridian and Celestial North Pole in Lesson #2, i.e. the next posting. The question is: What is the Camel Carrying?