189-196

• Vaquero, José M.
• McKim Malville, John

Piedra del Sol is a free-standing rock in Chaco Canyon that marks June solstice sunrise. The petroglyph on the south face of Piedra del Sol in Chaco Canyon may depict the solar corona observed during the total solar eclipse of July 11, 1097 CE The southwest area of the rock contains features consisted with a sun watching station and faces December solstics sunset. During the 19th century, coronal mass ejection appears to have been observed during two total solar eclipses. The petroglyph on the south face appears to show a configuration of the solar corona that is consistent with a coronal mass ejection (CME). The hypothesis that a CME is depicted at Piedra del Sol is testable and can be disproven if the maximum of solar activity did not occur near 1097 CE. Recent studies indicate that 1097 CE was indeed close to solar maximum. Miyahara et al. (2010) locate the maximum in 1098 CE based upon cosmogenic-isotopes. Vaquero and Trigo (2012) also found that 1098 CE was a maximum of solar cycle using a combination of documentary sources. The eclipse of 1097 CE occurred during a period of high solar activity, consistent with the interpretation of the petroglyph as a representation of solar corona during the solar eclipse of that year.

• History and Archaeology

• Αρχαιολογία

Chaco Canyon, petroglyph, solar eclipse, coronal mass ejection

Περιέχει 13 εικόνες.

1. Cliver, E. W. (1989) Was the eclipse comet of 1893 a disconnected coronal mass ejection? Solar Physics, 122, 319-333.Eather, R. H. (1980) Majestic Lights: The Aurora in Science, History, and the Arts. Washington DC American Geophysical Union.Eddy, J. A. (1974) A Nineteenth-century Coronal Transient. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 34, 235-240.Fisher, V. B. (2010), Classic Object Lessons in Southwestern Archaeoastronomy, Archaeoastronomy, The Journal of Astronomy in Culture xxiii, 27-34.Krupp, E.C., E. Billo, and R. Mark, (2010) Star Trek: Recovery and Review of the First Alleged Supernova Rock Art, Archaeoastronomy, The Journal of Astronomy in Culture xxiii , 35-43.Křivský, L. and K. Pejml, (1983) Solar activity, aurorae and climate in central Europe in the last 1000 years, Publication of the Astronomical Institute of Czechoslovakia No. 75, Prague.Jirikowic, J. L. and P. E. Damon (1994), "The medieval solar activity maximum" Climatic Change xxvi, 309–316.Malville, J. McKim (2008) A Guide to Prehistoric Astronomy in the Southwest. Boulder, Johnson Books.Malville, J. McKim and Gregory Munson (1998) Pecked Basins of the Mesa Verse. Southwestern Lore, 64, 1-35.Miyahara, H (2010). Variations of Solar Activity and Climate during the Past 1200 Years, Journal of Geography cxix, 510–518.Schove, D. J. (1980) (ed) Sunspot Cycles. Stroudsburg, PA, Hutchinson Press.Solanki, S. K., I.G. Usoskin, B. Kromer, M. Schuessler, and J. Beer, "An unusually active Sun during recent decades compared to the previous 11,000 years", Nature, cdxxxi, 1084–1087.Van Dyke, R. (2008) The Chaco Experience: Landscape and Ideology at the Center Place. School of American Research, Santa Fe.Vaquero, J. M., M. C. Gallego and J. A. García (2002) A 250-year cycle in naked-eye observations of sunspots, Geophysical Research Letters xxix.Vaquero, J. M. and R. M. Trigo (2012) A Note on Solar Cycle Length During the Medieval Climate Anomaly, Solar Physics cclxxix 289–294.Voth, Henry R. (1903) Oraibi Summer Snake Ceremony. Field Columbian Museum Publication No 83. Anthropological Series Vol 3 No 4.Voth, Henry R. (1912) Tawa Baholawu of the Oraibi Flute Societies" Publications of the Field Museum of Natural History. Anthropological Series Vol. 11, No. 2, Brief Miscellaneous Hopi Papers.Watson, Richard P., J. McKim Malville, and GB Cornucopia (1996) The Petroglyphs of Piedra del Sol in Chaco Canyon. Poster presented at the Oxford V Conference, St. John's College, Santa Fe, August.Wittmann, A.D. and Z. T. Xu, (1987) A catalogue of sunspot observations from 165 BC to AD 1684, Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement Series lxx , 83–94.Yau, K. K. C. and F. R. Stephenson, (1988) A revised catalogue of far eastern observations of sunspots (165 BC to AD 1918), Quarterly Journal Royal Astronomical Society xxix, 175–197.