“(Its) location throughout the course of the night, across the course of the year, was important for them to report.”
Symons decided to focus on the orientation of the forelegs, re-drawing them as arrows. When she did this a pattern started to appear. “In general the motion that it follows is the counter-clockwise motion that we would expect.”
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. She believes that this was a scribal error, caused by someone writing down the information in the wrong format.
When the observations were first made they were written on papyrus and the months were probably organized into columns. On the other hand they were written in as rows on the sarcophagus.
“What happens to our table if we just keep all the months together?” And work with them as columns, she wondered. She found that the table had fewer errors and the information fell into place. “Overall the motion is counter-clockwise throughout the year in general,” she said.
An ancient record
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.” The Big Dipper's “location throughout the course of the night, across the course of the year, was important for them to report.”
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She added that this practice, of recording the orientation of the constellation, may have been going on for some time. “We have only a fraction of the original astronomical documents,” created by the Egyptians, she pointed out.
Why they created this year-long record is another matter. Although it would have been of help in timekeeping, Symons thinks that the main reason is probably ceremonial – perhaps something to do with the bull shaped sarcophagus that it is found in. The star record “would be bound up with temple ritual (and) mortuary ritual," she said.
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About The AuthorOwen Jarus
Owen Jarus (follow me: e-mail or RSS feed for owenjarus)
Last three pieces by this author:
19 New Objects from King Tutankhamun's Tomb Discovered in New York | King Tut suffered 'massive' chest injury, new research reveals | Early conservation effort? 3,400 year old wall found at Giza shows Thutmose IV tried to preserve Sphinx
Owen Jarus is a freelance writer based in Toronto ,Canada. He has written articles on archaeology for a variety of media outlets including The Canadian Press newswire (CP), U of T Magazine, The Mississauga News and The Guelph Mercury. Education: BA from the University of Toronto in History, Geography and Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations.
http://heritage-key.com/blogs/owenjarus/unique-astronomical-object-reveals-ancient-egyptians-kept-close-tabs-big-dipper