“Chantal Jègues-Wolkiewiez … has
proposed that the [Lascaux] cave paintings
record
the constellations of a prehistoric version of the zodiac
which
also included solstice points and major stars”.
At: https://grahamhancock.com/glynjonesw1/
we read:
….
The possibility that constellations, specifically Taurus and the
Pleiades, were represented in the artwork of the Lascaux caves has been
suggested before. Luz Antequera Congregado first suggested in her doctoral
thesis in 1992 that the dots above the shoulder of this bull depict the
Pleiades (and that the dots on the bull's face are the neighbouring Hyades).
Keeping this in mind we may then go to another theory about
Lascaux art, and the leaning bird-man image to be specific, which suggests that
he and his bull represent the old myth of Yima and the Primordial Bull. Mary
Settegast in Plato
Prehistorianmakes this brilliant suggestion. This Yima figure is
found in Hindu India as Yama, Persia as Yima, Norse lands as Ymir, and always
there are the associations of the primordial bovine, the identity of Yima as a
first ancestor, and as the lord of the dead, and usually there is the creation
of the world from his body. The Indo-European root of this name means
"Twin", and Gemini ("twins") is from this same root. This
is where I fuse the two aforementioned theories into one, and an increasingly
solid hypothesis begins to reveal itself.
The Twins
constellation, Gemini, is located next to Taurus, the Bull. Gemini consists of
two long straight lines leaning at a 45-degree angle with respect to the
ecliptic, while the majority of Zodiac figures stand upright at culmination. The
Bird Man also leans at this angle, and is drawn from two long straight lines.
He is certainly in the right position relative to the Bull.
The Rhino in the painting (believed my Mary Settegast to represent
the Death Principle in the myth) is in the location of Leo, and with some
delight we observe that the back parts of the Rhino map perfectly onto the
formation of this constellation. ….
there is this intriguing article:
Episodic Survey of the
History of the Constellations
….
A somewhat recent proponent of an
astronomical interpretation of the Lascaux cave paintings is the independent
French researcher Chantal Jègues-Wolkiewiez who has a PhD in Humanities. (Like
all persons who make any type of study of this nature she is termed an
archeoastronomer/ethnoastronomer.) Her investigations first began in 1992 with
the Chalcolithic period cave engravings in the Vallée des Merveilles. In 1998,
in partnership with Jean-Michel Geneste (Curator of Lascaux cave), she began
studying the caves and Paleolithic ornamented shelters in France. The
particular research study was conducted in 1999-2000.
From this she believes she has
uncovered evidence to demonstrate that the Paleolithic painters were
astronomers. (Over a wider period of 7 years, Jègues-Wolkiewiez visited 130 cave sites
featuring Paleolithic drawings, identifying believed solar alignments
throughout the seasons, and leading to her claim that 122 of the 130 sites had
optimal orientations to the solstitial horizons.) At the 2000 international conference on cave art
in Val Camonica, Italy she made the claim that the people who painted the
Lascaux cave were astronomers and that they also painted a zodiac on the walls
of the cave. She has proposed that the [Lascaux] cave paintings record the
constellations of a prehistoric [sic] version of the zodiac which also included
solstice points and major stars. I think that Frank Edge also claimed that Lascaux's Hall of Bulls
pictured the stars of the ecliptic. ("Lascaux, View of the Magdalenian
Sky." by Chantal Jègues-Wolkiewiez (Symposium of Cave Art, Val Camonica,
Italy, 2000.) The study was based on a series of astronomical measurements.
They used astronomical software to recreate the night sky at Lascaux 17,000
years ago [sic], and models of the modern Western constellations. They made
measurements of the astronomical alignments of the cave paintings and also
compared the outlines of the paintings in the Hall of the Bulls with the night
sky in Magdelenian times. (For a (French-language) summary of her work and
conclusions see: "Lascaux planetarium prehistorique?" by Pedro Lima
(Science & Vie, Number 999, December, 2000.) Her central claim is the Great
Hall figures comprise a prehistoric zodiac. ….
Interestingly, during the first
decades of the 20th-century the French prehistorians Marcel Baudouin and Henri
Breuil speculated about the possibility of constellations being represented in
prehistoric art. (To a considerable extent Alexander Marshack and his ideas of
Palaeolithic lunar calendars (developed during the 1970s) fostered renewed
interest in the possibility of Palaeolithic constellations.) During the last
decades of the 20th-century they were followed by the Swiss engineer Amandus
Weiss, the astronomer Heino Eelsalu, and the German art historian Marie König
who considered the possibility of constellation representation in the Lascaux
cave art. Also, the eccentric German ethnologist Leo Frobenius in his book Kulturgeschichte
Africas (1934) conjectured that the animals painted in the Magdalenian
caves of Southern France and Northern Spain represented stars. Largely
forgotten are the proponents of astral theories, Morris Spivack (Morris J.
(Redman) Spivack) (1903-?) (Cosmic Dance at Lascaux: New Theory of
Paleolithic Art and Religion, 13-page hand-typed manuscript filed in the
Library of Congress, 1961, but also published in French and English), and
Elaine Mills (The Prehistoric Puzzle and the Key to Paleolithic Art,
unpublished Junior Honors Project in Anthropology, May 1972 - August 1973,
Sweet Briar College). However, the main proponents remain Luz Antequera Congregado,
Frank Edge, and Michael Rappenglück (and more recently Chantal
Jègues-Wolkiewiez). All were involved in independent and lengthy research prior
to their first publications.
Luz Antequera Congregado, Frank
Edge, Michael Rappenglück, and Chantal Jègues-Wolkiewiez converge on some
similar ideas. However, each of them utilises a different level of speculation.
Luz Antequera Congregado largely bases her ideas on the application of the
art-historical approach and does not employ archaeological or astronomical
analysis. Frank Edge also utilises art-historical and psychological approaches
as well as simple constellation projections onto particular paintings. Michael
Rappenglück applies a wider interdisciplinary methodology. Chantal
Jègues-Wolkiewiez uses multiple methods of astronomical analysis (including
astronomical measurements and constellation projection). ….
At: https://www.buckinghamcovers.com/celebrities/view/371-.php where we learn about the research of Dr. Rappenglück, we might be surprised to read - in light of our Part One:
https://www.academia.edu/39307461/No_Bull_-_Taurus_in_Lascaux_Caves - the article’s claiming that: “It wasn’t until 2000 that the world realised there might be more to these paintings than first met the eye”.
This might remind one of the claim in the flyleaf one of David Rohl’s books that he was the first to have conceived of a revised ancient chronology.
It was well before 2000, and before Dr. Rappenglück, that such conclusions were being drawn.
Anyway, the article tell this of Dr. Rappenglück’s conclusions:
….
16,000 years ago [sic], our ancestors painted spectacular drawings of Ice Age animals on the walls of their cave dwellings in Lascaux, central France.
When archaeologists first found the paintings back in 1940, it was a hugely exciting discovery. But they didn’t know then the full extent of what they had unearthed.
It wasn’t until 2000 that the world realised there might be more to these paintings than first met the eye. German researcher, Dr Michael Rappenglück believes that the paintings were more than just decorations. The caves could also be a prehistoric planetarium, where mankind first charted the stars.
He stumbled on this while exploring one region of the Lascaux caves known as the Shaft of the Dead Man. Painted on the wall was a bull, a strange bird-man and an enigmatic bird on a stick. Dr Rappenglück realised to his amazement that these outlines form a map of the sky! The eyes of the bull, bird and bird-man represent three prominent stars: Vega, Deneb and Altair.
Put together, these three stars are known as the Summer Triangle because they are so incredibly bright during the summer months. During the Ice Age, the Summer Triangle would never have set below the horizon and would have shone even brighter than today. It’s no wonder our ancestors were captivated. "It was their sky, full of animals and spirits", says Dr Rappenglück. So on the walls of their cave, it seems, they drew a map of the prehistoric cosmos.
That wasn’t all. Dr Rappenglück went on to find another Ice Age animal in the stars. Nearer the entrance of the Lascaux cave complex is a splendid painting of a bull. Dr Rappenglück says this too holds secrets to the sky. Hanging over the bull's shoulders, is what genuinely looks like a map of the cluster of stars called the Seven Sisters (Pleiades). And then, inside the bull itself, there are spots that seem to represent other stars. Incredibly, this part of the sky today is the constellation of Taurus, the Bull. It seems our Ice Age ancestors were the first to recognise the bull within the stars.
Dr Rappenglück found another star map in Spain, on the walls of the Cueva di El Castillo cave in the mountains of Pico del Castillo. A long-ignored curved pattern of dots on one wall appears to be a map of the Northern Crown constellation.
He may even have found a link between Far Eastern festivals of stars and the caves of the Ice Age. Rappenglück noticed a series of pits on the floor of a cave at La Marche, France which seems to be in the shape the Seven Sisters star cluster. He wonders if the small holes were filled with animal fat and set alight to mimick the flickering stars in the sky. That set him thinking. "Perhaps this is the origin of the candlelit festivals of the Far East where lighted candles are held in the shape of the Pleiades. Perhaps it is a tradition that stretches back tens of thousands of years into our Stone Age past".
The world is amazed and excited with Dr Rappenglück's research. Archaeologists who looked at his conclusions agreed that they are reasonable. It seems Dr Michael Rappenglück is the man to have uncovered the earliest evidence of human interest in the stars.
Part Two:
Dr. Michael Rappenglück’s views
“Painted on the wall was a bull, a strange bird-man and an enigmatic bird on a stick.
Dr Rappenglück realised to his amazement that these outlines form a map of the sky!
The eyes of the bull, bird and bird-man represent … Vega, Deneb and Altair”.
At: https://www.buckinghamcovers.com/celebrities/view/371-.php where we learn about the research of Dr. Rappenglück, we might be surprised to read - in light of our Part One:
https://www.academia.edu/39307461/No_Bull_-_Taurus_in_Lascaux_Caves - the article’s claiming that: “It wasn’t until 2000 that the world realised there might be more to these paintings than first met the eye”.
This might remind one of the claim in the flyleaf one of David Rohl’s books that he was the first to have conceived of a revised ancient chronology.
It was well before 2000, and before Dr. Rappenglück, that such conclusions were being drawn.
Anyway, the article tell this of Dr. Rappenglück’s conclusions:
….
16,000 years ago [sic], our ancestors painted spectacular drawings of Ice Age animals on the walls of their cave dwellings in Lascaux, central France.
When archaeologists first found the paintings back in 1940, it was a hugely exciting discovery. But they didn’t know then the full extent of what they had unearthed.
It wasn’t until 2000 that the world realised there might be more to these paintings than first met the eye. German researcher, Dr Michael Rappenglück believes that the paintings were more than just decorations. The caves could also be a prehistoric planetarium, where mankind first charted the stars.
He stumbled on this while exploring one region of the Lascaux caves known as the Shaft of the Dead Man. Painted on the wall was a bull, a strange bird-man and an enigmatic bird on a stick. Dr Rappenglück realised to his amazement that these outlines form a map of the sky! The eyes of the bull, bird and bird-man represent three prominent stars: Vega, Deneb and Altair.
Put together, these three stars are known as the Summer Triangle because they are so incredibly bright during the summer months. During the Ice Age, the Summer Triangle would never have set below the horizon and would have shone even brighter than today. It’s no wonder our ancestors were captivated. "It was their sky, full of animals and spirits", says Dr Rappenglück. So on the walls of their cave, it seems, they drew a map of the prehistoric cosmos.
That wasn’t all. Dr Rappenglück went on to find another Ice Age animal in the stars. Nearer the entrance of the Lascaux cave complex is a splendid painting of a bull. Dr Rappenglück says this too holds secrets to the sky. Hanging over the bull's shoulders, is what genuinely looks like a map of the cluster of stars called the Seven Sisters (Pleiades). And then, inside the bull itself, there are spots that seem to represent other stars. Incredibly, this part of the sky today is the constellation of Taurus, the Bull. It seems our Ice Age ancestors were the first to recognise the bull within the stars.
Dr Rappenglück found another star map in Spain, on the walls of the Cueva di El Castillo cave in the mountains of Pico del Castillo. A long-ignored curved pattern of dots on one wall appears to be a map of the Northern Crown constellation.
He may even have found a link between Far Eastern festivals of stars and the caves of the Ice Age. Rappenglück noticed a series of pits on the floor of a cave at La Marche, France which seems to be in the shape the Seven Sisters star cluster. He wonders if the small holes were filled with animal fat and set alight to mimick the flickering stars in the sky. That set him thinking. "Perhaps this is the origin of the candlelit festivals of the Far East where lighted candles are held in the shape of the Pleiades. Perhaps it is a tradition that stretches back tens of thousands of years into our Stone Age past".
The world is amazed and excited with Dr Rappenglück's research. Archaeologists who looked at his conclusions agreed that they are reasonable. It seems Dr Michael Rappenglück is the man to have uncovered the earliest evidence of human interest in the stars.
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