The illustrations on this page have been compiled from a variety of sources. If advised that copyright has been infringed I will immediately remove the particular illustration(s).
A: Palaeolithic European Constellations
1: Ice-age star maps?
A Great Bull painted image (#18 (fourth bull), main hall, right wall) in the "Hall of Bulls" in the Lascaux cave in France.
The Lascaux cave in southwest France was discovered by children in 1940. Lascaux is a natural limestone cave. Upper Palaeolithic cave art was first discovered in 1856 in the cave of Niaux in France. Palaeolithic cave art remained largely ignored, even suspected by some as a hoax because of its sophistication, until the first decade of the 20th-century. The discovery of the Altimara cave in northern Spain in 1879 initiated 15 years of controversy before the acceptance of the cave paintings as Paleolithic art.
Some of the most splendid Paleolithic cave art locations are Lascaux (discovered in 1940), Altamira (discovered in 1879 and only fully explored in the 1950s), Chauvet (near Marseilles) (discovered in 1994), and the (now) underwater cave Cosquer (also near Marseilles) (discovered in 1991). The Chauvet cave holds the earliest paintings - dated to circa 30,000 BCE. The purpose of the Palaeolithic cave paintings in Europe is not known with any certainty. According to Jean Clottes "Paleolithic Cave Art in France." (Adorant Magazine, 2002): "Wall images are perfectly compatible with the perceptions people could have during their visions, whether one considers their themes, their techniques and their details. The animals, individualised by means of precise details, seem to float on the walls ; they are disconnected from reality, without any ground line, often without respect of the laws of gravity, in the absence of any framework or surroundings. Elementary geometric signs are always present and recall those seen in the various stages of trance."
The paintings in the cave at Lascaux remain the most well-known Palaeolithic cave paintings. Many are beautiful but some are simple and primitive.
The Lascaux cave contains some 600 paintings and 1500 engravings dating from the Palaeolithic Period. The very few symbols are limited to isolated or grouped dots (mostly black) and to variously coloured dashes. The animals depicted on the cave wall are horses, bulls, and deer. The "Hall of Bulls" mural is dated circa 15,000 BCE. (The radiocarbon dating of charcoal recovered from the cave floor indicates occupancy circa 15,000 BCE to 14,000 BCE.) Lascaux's Hall of Bulls is approximately 18.5 metres long, 7 metres wide, and 6.5 metres high. The largest painted bulls are approximately 6 metres long. Several researchers have offered an astronomical interpretation of Great Bull #18. (The bulls are actually aurochs, a large species of wild cattle.)
There are 2 sets of painted dots closely associated with this bull. One set of dots is placed above the shoulder of the bull and the other set of V-shaped dots are located on the bull's face. Also, there is a row of 4 painted dots to the left of this bull. (A number of types of elementary geometric signs/shapes and patterns appear on the cave walls, scattered between the animal figures.)
Several people pursued independent inquiries, at roughly the same time, regarding the possibility of the Hyades and the Pleiades being depicted among the bulls at Lascaux. In their respective publications, however, the authors develop the argument beyond simply a single array of dots. In Lascaux, for example, the argument for Taurus is extended by the V-shaped arrangement of dots on the face of bull/auroch #18 including a large dot which helps form the eye, which is marked by the bright star Aldebaran in Taurus. The group of six "Pleiades" stars is held to be just above the shoulder of bull #18, in a position analogous to the Pleiades in Taurus. (In his 1999 book Eine Himmelskarte aus der Eiszeit? [A Skychart from the Ice Age?] Michael Rappenglück discusses the extensive world-wide literature written on the topic of the possibility of a Palaeolithic astronomy, extending from the end of the 19th century up to mid 1999.) Rappenglück's book is considered the most comprehensive and the most disciplined on the subject.
The Spanish researcher Luz Antequera Congregado in her doctoral thesis "Arte y astronomia: evolución de los dibujos de las constelaciones" (1992) first set out the astronomical interpretation that the dots above the shoulder of the bull depict the Pleiades open star cluster and the dots on the bull's face depict the Hyades open star cluster. In her later paper "Altamira: Astronomía y religión en el Paleolitico" (1994) she interpreted the row of (what are) 4 dots to the left of Great Bull #18 as the stars of the belt of the constellation Orion. (Luz Antequera Congregado has also investigated Palaeolithic art in other European caves from an astronomical perspective. See her essay: "Practicas Astronomicas en la Prehistoria de la Peninsula Iberica y los Archichipielagos Balear y Canario" (1994).) This paper appeared in Arqueoastronomia Hispanica: Practicas Astronomicas en la Prehistoria de la Peninsula Iberica y los Archichipielagos Balear y Canario edited by Juan Antonio Belmonte Aviles. In this essay, which appeared prior to Frank Edge's article, Luz Antequera Congregado speculates on possible asterisms represented in the paintings in Altamira and Lascaux, including recognition of the Pleiades.
The American dentist and pseudo-nutritionist Weston Price (1870-1948) (at a date that I have not yet been able to identify) also made the identification of 10 painted dots on a Neanderthal cave painting with the Pleiades. (However, there is no indication of any firm methodology being used. His identification seems to be based on pattern recognition. The identification was linked to his assertions of the benefits of early human diets - keen eyesight being one of them.) Price did not mention where the cave painting is located. It has not been identified by any other investigator.
Some people believe that the #18 Lascaux auroch with the two associated sets of dots represents the constellation Taurus. This idea was firmly set out by the American college teacher Frank Edge in his 35-page booklet "Aurochs in the Sky" (1995) and later article "Taurus in Lascaux" (Griffith Observer, September, 1997). Ed Krupp, the editor of the Griffith Observer, restricted Edge's commentary to what were believed to be the most plausible assertions. (He began his studies in this area in 1991. His ideas were first published in Atlantis Rising; a magazine that has been described as making the magazine Fate look respectable.) Frank Edge holds that at least one of the Great Bull images (#18) in the "Hall of Bulls" in the Lascaux cave can be identified as celestial by the simple comparison of the associated dot markings with two particular star groupings as they were viewed on the horizon circa 15,000 BCE. Specifically that a group of 6 dots painted above the shoulder of auroch #18 represents the Pleiades open star cluster, and that another group of V-shaped dots painted on the auroch's face represents the Hyades open star cluster. (Edge states that he was particularly persuaded by the six dots above the shoulder of the bull, which he identified with the Pleiades.) It is Edge's position that the aurochs depicted in Figure 18 in the Great Lascaux Cave accurately depicts the constellation Taurus. It is Edge's belief that the image of the Taurus constellation has remained unchanged for 17,000 years. The ideas/identifications of Edge, who is not a professional astronomer as some persons mistakenly claim, arose from the casual application of pattern recognition.
The German scholar Michael Rappenglück, University of Munich, believes the art of the Lascaux cave not only involves the depiction of constellations but is also a cosmographic depiction by Palaeolithic shamans. His idea that the Pleiades were depicted in the Lascaux cave were first presented at an astronomy conference in 1996 and later published in his essay "The Pleiades in the "Salle des Taureaux" Grotte des Lascaux" (1997). (He has worked on the subject of "Paleoscience" since 1984.) His ideas that the Lascaux cave paintings depict shamanistic cosmography were first set out in his doctoral thesis "Eine Himmelskarte aus der Eiszeit?" (1998). (Michael Rappenglück has also investigated Palaeolithic art in other European caves from an astronomical perspective i.e., the Cueva di El Castillo in Spain. The art in this cave is dated circa 12,000 BCE.)
Another earnest proponent of constellations being depicted in Palaeolithic cave art (especially at Lascaux) is Jesper Christensen. See: his article: "Heaven and Earth in Ice Age Art: Topography and Iconography at Lascaux." (Mankind Quarterly, Spring/Summer, 1996, Volume 36, Numbers 3-4, Pages 247-259).
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. 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, 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. 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).
Michael Rappenglück presented his first paper about the Pleiades in the Lascaux grotto "The Pleiades in the "Salle des Taureaux," Grotte de Lascaux. Does a Rock picture in the cave of Lascaux show the open Star Cluster of the Pleiades at the Magdalénien era (ca 15.300 BC)" at the SEAC conference in Salamanca. It was published in 1997 in Actas del IV Congreso de la Sociedad Europea por la Astronomia en la Cultura, "Astronomía en la cultura." edited by C. Jaschek and F. Atrio Barandela. Rappenglück is investigating Lascaux from the viewpoint of a possible cosmovision of Paleolithic man. He believes the best evidence for this cosmovision at Lacaux is to be found in the so-called "shaft of the dead man." Rappenglück believes the rock panels there show a complete scene of the sky - somewhat like a panorama - as seen at the epoch 16,500 BCE. The second part of his book Eine Himmelskarte aus der Eiszeit? contains a long chapter about shamanistic cosmovisions combined with a totemistic worldview referring to the rock panel in the shaft of the Lascaux grotto. According to Rappenglück his analysis agrees with the recent published studies from Jean Clottes and Lewis Williamson about the topic, but he extends these in a broader field, including mythology and sciences of religions.
The German prehistorian (archaeologist) Marie Köenig (1899-1988) interpreted the horse in Paleolithic art as the symbol of the sun, and the bull as the symbol of the moon. According to Köenig the ascending young mares in the rotunda (hall of bulls) of the Lascaux cave show the morning sun, and the descending horses in the small cave area at the rear end of the axial gallery symbolize winter. (See: Köenig, Marie. (1970). "Etude des incisions repestres comme manifestation d'un stade d'evolution de esprit humaine." In: Anati, Emmanuel. (Editor). Symposium international d'art préhistorique: Valcamonica, 23-28 Septembre 1968, (Pages 515-530). (Further, Am Anfang der Kultur Die Zeichensprache der frühen Menschen by Marie Köenig (1973).) Also, New Perspectives of Prehistoric Art by Günter Berghaus (2004).)
The pre-historian and independent researcher Mary Settegast, who focuses on the Neolithic period, also adheres to the idea that constellations are depicted in the Lascaux cave. See her book, Plato prehistorian (1990). Settegast has a graduate degree in anthropology from Columbia University and a graduate degree in educational psychology from the University of California at Berkeley.
To date none of the arguments attempting to show the existence of some sort of Palaeolithic astronomy can be considered convincing. No research into prehistoric European cave art has led to the definitive identification of astronomical information of any kind. All of the various hypotheses put forward identifying astronomy in prehistoric European cave art ultimately lack objective scientific evidence to support them. The positions of the cave drawings plus the numerous signs that exist do not appear to readily correspond to any particular stars or constellations. It is possible to 'prove' almost anything by selectively choosing sets of dots or a particular drawing. There are simply many sets of dots existing within European caves containing prehistoric art. It is more meaningful to look at the totality of drawings and signs within prehistoric caves and identify whether there are patterns which are repeated throughout different caves. There are numerous prehistoric European caves containing, overall, a large number of, and variety of, animal drawings and signs. In his recent book The Cave and the Cathedral (2009) Amir Aczel has emphasised: "It is important to adopt some form of statistical reasoning here; otherwise, anyone can claim almost anything. A systematic order must be evident in a majority of locations in order to have statistical and logical significance."
The problem of the enormous chronological gap and passage of knowledge quite accurately through some 600 generations and across cultures remains. Claims for unchanged constellation continuity from their origins in the Palaeolithic period to the Hellenistic period are nothing less than remarkable. More than likely they are untrue - especially the claims for the existence of a Palaeolithic zodiac. Simply, there is a lack of convincing evidence.
Problems also exist with non-astronomical explanations. Many researchers have believed that the animals painted by the Ice-age hunter-gatherers at Lascaux (the Magdalenian culture) were simply those that they hunted. Certainly the animals they depicted comprise the most dangerous in the world of the Ice-age hunters and were both prey and food. The painted dots are thought by some persons to be perhaps no more than a tally of hunting kills. However, the concepts of hunting magic and hunting tallies would seem to be wrong. The 'hunting magic' theory of the paintings, by the French archaeologist Salomon Reinach that was particularly promoted by the French pioneering prehistorian Henri Breuil, has been subject to increasing criticism since the early 1960s. This is primarily due to the discrepancy between the animals that were eaten and the animals that were depicted. The hunted animal remains on the cave floor were largely reindeer but reindeer are entirely unrepresented in the cave art. A single possible depiction of a reindeer is engraved in the mesh of lines in the Apse (vaulted recess).) However, there are scores of red deer images.
Some recent investigations suggest that beliefs involving connection to the spirit-world, through trance and hallucination, are perhaps the key to understanding the cave paintings (including the dot patterns). See especially the remarkable book The Mind in the Cave by David Lewis-Williams (2002). (David Lewis-Williams, born 1934, is Professor Emeritus of Cognitive Archaeology at the University of the Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg.) Perhaps the most currently prominent theory of Palaeolithic cave art presently belongs to Jean Clottes (a French paleontologist and cave art specialist) and David Lewis-Williams with their shamanic ritual/trance theory of Palaeolithic art. An important article is "Paleolithic Cave Art in France." by Jean Clottes (Adorant Magazine, 2002). (See also: The Shamans of Prehistory: Trance and Magic in the Painted Caves by Jean Clottes and David Lewis-Williams (1998).) Their Palaeo-shaman/trance theory is presently the prominent model. However, is is not without problems and critics. Their ideas have their effective critics in Derek Hodgson (2000) and Paul Bahn (most recently 2010). (Derek Hodgson is with the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto; Paul Bahn is a British archaeologist.) Clottes builds on Mircea Eliade's concept of shamanism. Eliade's claim that shamanism was an early universal religion remains an unsubstantiated claim. Harvey Graham (1995) criticized Eliade's concept of shamanism (and Eliade´s inventiveness that went with it) as poorly defined and historically incoherent. (Harvey Graham is with the Arts Faculty, Open University, Walton Hall, UK.) The existence of 'Palaeo-shamanism' has not been demonstrated. It has even been described as a "pseudo-scientific myth." An informed, solid critique of Clotte/Lewis-Williams and their theory is set out in Prehistoric Rock Art: Polemics and Progress by Paul Bahn (2010). Clottes is identified as being too conjectural-deductive in his approach. His ideas have been described as a "blind alley/dead end."
The apparent avoidance of painting the human image is contradicted by 155 engraved human portraits found in on the floor of a cave at La Marche in France. Professor R[ussell]. Dale Guthrie (Emeritus Professor in the Institute of Arctic Biology at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks; and author of The Nature of Paleolithic Art) proposed in 2006 that the art was largely produced by adolescent males and is somewhat akin to modern teen graffiti. (Guthrie points out that considerable female sexual imagery appears.) Guthrie analysed the dimensions of the hands in European cave art, and compared them to 1000 photocopies of modern hands of men and women of different ages. His conclusion was men and women and boys and girls of all ages left their marks but, statistically, teenage males dominated. Guthrie determined that female artists accounted for less than 20 percent of the cave art. Guthrie has also suggested that Palaeolithic people quite likely painted the majority of their paintings in accessible public (open) places. Only the paintings placed in inaccessible (protected) locations are the ones to have survived.
The notion of the recognition/use in the Palaeolithic period of conspicuous asterisms to track the season is not particularly remarkable. It is well established that nomadic hunters and gatherers such as the Australian Aborigines observed the sky and kept track of the seasons in terms of the appearances of key stars/asterisms. The Pleiades, however, have little importance in the constellations depicted by the ancient Egyptians - and these depictions on the ceilings of tombs are the most ancient we have with certainty. However, as Rolf Sinclair advised in exploring possibilities of Palaeolithic astronomy: "We must be careful lest we act out a Matthew Principle: "... seek and ye shall find .... he that seeketh findeth ....""
Appendix 1: Big Dipper Constellation Possibly Represented on Prehistoric Amulet
From Maud Makemson's 1954 article.
From Marcel Baudouin's 1921 article.
There is perhaps archaeological evidence that the big dipper stars were anciently recognised as a constellation. In her 1954 article on "Astronomy in Primitive Religion." (The Journal of Bible and Religion, Volume 22, Number 3, July, Pages 163-171) the noted astronomer Maud Makemson reproduced a drawing of what she also believed was a representation of stars in Ursa Major and Boötes incised on a fossilised and silicified sea-urchin (Echinus), on an amulet from stone-age northern Europe. The drawing used by Makemson was likely taken from a detailed article ("Luminosities, Colors, Diameters, Densities, Masses of Stars.") relating to the history of stellar astronomy by the Swedish astronomer Knut Lundmark (who had migrated to the USA but after a few years returned to Sweden). Lundmark's article appeared in Handbuch der Astrophysik, Volume 5, Part 1, Chapter 4, 1932, Pages 209-697 (Appendices to Chapter 4 in Volume 5, Part 2, Pages 1077-11501). On page 221 there are 2 figures of the amulet (figure 5 and figure 6). Makemson has reproduced figure 5 as figure a and also adopted Lundmark's discussion of the amulet. Marcel Baudouin also thought he had identified the constellation Ursa Major on a number of palaeolithic bones and rocks (as well as the amulet). Makemson is apparently relying ultimately on the work of the pioneer French archaeoastronomer Marcel Baudouin (1860-1941, Secretary of the Societe Prehistorique Francaises). Baudouin's work with the fossilised and silicified sea-urchin (Echinus) was published in 1921 (Baudouin, Marcel. (1921). "La Grande Ourse et le Phallus du Ciel. [Spongiaire phalliforme à gravures]." Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française, Tome 18, Number 11, Pages 301-308). Baudouin has made the original constellation identifications. It is likely that Makemson never sighted Baudouin's original article. Through at least Lundmark's article she endorsed the interpretation of the amulet that included: (1) that the engraver had taken care to indicate the differences in brightness of the stars by varying the sizes of the cavities, and (2) the depicted configuration of the big dipper stars indicated a high age for the origin of the amulet. Discussions of the amulet and its possible astronomical interpretation are rare. The obvious question is: If the amulet is correctly described by Marcel Baudouin then is the astronomical interpretation reasonable on the evidence? The mention of the amulet by Elizabeth Baity in 1973 likely relies on knowledge of the relevant publication by Maud Makemson and nothing further. Arjan Smit (January, 2011) kindly informed me where Makemson's article can be accessed on the internet. I finally sighted Baudouin's article in April, 2011. (Baudouin also believed that 1 group of 7 cup marks (out of a total of 18) on a stone excavated from Aurignacian cultural deposits at La Ferrassie, France, was a representation of the Big Dipper (= Big Bear) constellation.)
Appendix 2: Cup marks on Stones as Possible Prehistoric Representations of Constellations
Throughout parts of Europe and Asia (also Africa, the Americas, and Australia) many rocks and stones – mostly exposed – are decorated with prehistoric hollowed cup markings. A cup-mark is a roughly circular depression produced by human hand into a stone or rock. They appear singly, in lines, or as the basis for further patterns, called cup-and-rings, so as to cover a whole or portion of rock. Almost all cup marks are between 1.5 and 10 centimetres in diameter and their average depth is between 10 and 12 millimetres. They occur on horizontal, sloping, or vertical stone/rock surfaces. The occurrence of single cup marks is unusual. They typically occur in groups, often numbering up to 200 (or even 1000) in a single location. They would likely have been made using a hammer and chisel type instrument. Archeologists have studied the cup markings for over 100 years. New ones are also constantly being discovered during the course of survey work, etc. The reason, or reasons, behind these carvings is unknown. Various suggestions have been put forward since early antiquarians identified them as prehistoric; including maps of the world, maps of the stars, sites where fat was set alight for religion (or to replicate the night sky), records of ownership or boundaries, etc. Despite the multiplicity of the suggested ideas there are common features in the setting of the 'art' forms - they are usually on highland overlooking open land. The cup marks are very difficult to date. They bear no direct relation to known prehistoric settlement sites. It is believed that cup markings were made during all three eras of the Stone Age - Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic. However, dating remains debatable - both Neolithic and Bronze age dates being suggested. Cup marks seem to have lost favour in the middle Bronze Age. Similar cup markings appear on stones and rocks hundreds of kilometres apart and with no obvious connection. Archaeologists view cup marks as an abstract form of art, because there are never any representations recognisable as animals or people. Despite many vigorous arguments their meaning, dating and placing is likely to remain a puzzle. Cup marks are now interpreted as a pattern of behavior throughout the prehistoric world. Most current theories associate cup marks with fertility rites. For instance, the archaeologist Robert Bednarik cites a report by the eminent amateur Australian archaeologist/ethnologist Charles Mountford who witnessed the making of cup marks in Central Australia in 1948 as an 'increase ritual' for the pink cockatoo. The term "cupule" was invented recently (2003) by the archeologist Robert Bednarik, in an attempt to provide a consistent name for a phenomenon.
Since the early 20th-century attempts have been made to interpret the distribution of these cup marks as the patterns of constellations. Perceived patterns of these cup marks have frequently been compared to constellations. Some researchers, both academic and amateur, believe that prehistoric cup marks on stones are grouped together in the shape of well-known constellations. During the late 19th-century and early 20th-century several academics attempted to identify patterns among the cup marks on stones in Europe (especially Sweden) that they believed corresponded (or could correspond) to constellations. (The Big Dipper was a common constellation identified.) However, there is still no consensus about their meaning. The debate whether prehistoric cup marks on stone in Europe can be interpreted as representations of ancient constellations is not yet settled. However, recent interpretations are not supportive of this view. Three early academics who attempted to demonstrate that prehistoric 'astronomers' used cup marks to represent individual constellations on rock and stone were Gudmund Schütte (1920), George Browne (1921), and Marcel Baudouin (1926). Gudmund Schütte (1872-1958) was Danish philologist and historian, George Browne (1833-1930) was a British clergyman and archaeologist, and Marcel Baudouin (1860-1941) was a French historian and pioneering archaeoastronomer. Basically, Browne and Baudouin only 'identified' instances of single constellations. Schütte believed he could identify examples (stones at Venslan, Denmark, and Dalby, Denmark) of 'star maps' (= multiple constellations/groups of constellations) portrayed on stones and rocks. One of the earliest proponents of prehistoric astronomical theories (focused on Scotland) was the Scottish medical doctor and amateur archaeologist George Moore (1803-1880(?)) (Ancient Pillar Stones (1865)). One of the most enthusiastically persistent early proponents of prehistoric astronomical theories (focused on Scotland) was the Scottish amateur archaeologist Ludovic Mann (1869-1955) (Archaic Sculpturings (1915)). In 1930 Mann reported in the science journal Nature he had interpreted markings on two stones at Langside and Cleuch (near Glasgow), as having astronomical significance. The markings he interpreted consisted of a series of rings, arcs and cup mark depressions. According to Mann some of the groups of cup marks resemble the Sickle in Leo and (more doubtfully) a star-group in Scorpio. Mann also claimed he calculated that there had been an eclipse on March 28, 2983 BCE from markings on the stone itself. He stated that afterwards he found from German astronomers that there had been an eclipse on that date. According to Mann he obtained the year by his interpretation of the system of wheel-like markings on the stone, which he interpreted to be cycles of years. In spite of the difficulties of interpretation - such as the difficulties due to the effects of weathering and aging being able to create cup marks, and also the frequent looseness of the matches made - the belief still exists that prehistoric 'astronomers' used cup marks engraved on rocks and stones to represent individual constellations.
Some References:
Moore, George. (1865). Ancient Pillar Stones of Scotland: Their Significance and Bearing on Ethnology.
Mann, Ludovic. (1915). Archaic Sculpturings: Notes on Art, Philosophy, and Religion in Britain 2000 BC to 900 AD.
Schütte, Gudmund. (1920). Primæval Astronomy in Scandinavia. (Off-print of his article "Primæval Astronomy in Scandinavia." from The Scottish Geographical Magazine, Volume XXXVI, October, 1920, Page 244-254.)
Browne, George. (1921). On Some Antiquities in the Neighbourhood of Dunecht House, Aberdeenshire.
Baudouin, Marcel. (1926). La préhistoire par les étoiles: un chronomètre préhistorique.
Bednarik, Robert., Consens, Mario., Muzzolini, Alfred., Seglie, Dario., and Sher, Yakov. (2003). Rock Art Glossary: A Multilingual Dictionary.
Lewis, Roy. and Bednarik, Robert. (Editors). (2010). Mysterious Cup Marks: Proceedings of the First International Cupule Conference.
Appendix 3: Neolithic Whorl Markings
The abundance of whorls as a decorative motif on stones and pottery during the Neolithic period may simply derive from the importance of hand-spindles (spindle whorls) for weaving. Spindle whorls were usually made of stone or clay. In China, however, Deborah Porter (From Deluge to Discourse (1996, Pages 96-97)) suggests the decorative whorl may indicate an early association between weaving and its metaphorical application to cosmology.
[I am indebted to the German researcher Michael Rappenglück for some early corrections and for generously sharing his biographical knowledge of the earliest persons to speculate on the possibility of Palaeolithic constellations and also constellations being represented in the Lascaux cave art.]
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