GRiSSH::Mediterranean archaeology & archaeometry : international journal | Vol.16, No.4, 2016 | Looking through a telescope with an obsidian mirror. Could specialists of ancient cultures have been able to view the night sky using such an instrument?

Information

Looking through a telescope with an obsidian mirror. Could specialists of ancient cultures have been able to view the night sky using such an instrument?

Part of : Mediterranean archaeology & archaeometry : international journal ; Vol.16, No.4, 2016, pages 7-15

Issue:

Vol.16, No.4, 2016

Pages:

7-15

Author:

Abstract:

Convex cut mirrors manufactured from the volcanic glass obsidian had been known since Neolithic time (7400/7100 to about 6200 BCE) in Çatalhöyük, Turkey. A Herschelian type telescope made with an obsidian mirror ( 12 cm) allowed to see the Moon‟s craters sharp and distinct, the phases of Venus as well as the of the used obsidian mirror. A specimen with a much better reflection or a bigger one would result in improved views of celestial objects. The paper reports on the making of the telescope and its potential application. Moreover, as a general basis, the study addresses the prehistory and symbolism of mirrors, with special focus on a possible assignment for skywatching.

Subject:

History and Archaeology

Subject (LC):

Αρχαιολογία

Keywords:

Obsidian mirrors, prehistory of reflecting telescopes, symbolism of mirrors, Çatalhöyük, Neolithic optics

Notes:

Περιέχει 2 εικόνες

References (1):

Albenda, P. (1985) Mirrors in the ancient Near East. Notes in the History of Art 4 (2/3), 2-9.Asouti, E. (2013) Woodland vegetation, firewood management and woodcrafts at Neolithic Çatalhöyük. In: Hodder, I. (ed.), Humans and landscapes of Çatalhöyük: reports from the 2000-2008 seasons. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, UCLA, Los Angeles, 129-162.Astruc, L. et al. (2011) Multi-scale tribological analysis of the technique of manufacture of an obsidian bracelet from Aşi-kli Höyük (Aceramic Neolithic, Central Anatolia). Journal of Archaeological Science 38, 3415-3424.Atalay, B. (2006) Math and the Mona Lisa. New York, Harper Collins Books.Atalay, B. and Wamsley, K. (2009) Leonardo’s Universe. The Renaissance World of Leonardo da Vinci. Washington, D.C., National Geographic Books.Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe (2007) Vor 12000 Jahren in Anatolien. Die ältesten Monumente der Menschheit. Stuttgart, Konrad Theiss.Bath, K.-L. (1973) A Simple Interferometer for Testing Astronomical Optics. Sterne und Weltraum 6 (1), 177-180.Bath, K.-L. (2007) Mitteilungsblatt der Sternfreunde Breisgau e.V. http://www.sternfreunde-breisgau.de/steinzeitspiegel.htmlBen-Tor, A. (1992) The Archaeology of Ancient Israel. New Haven, Yale University Press and Tel Aviv, Open University of Israel.Bulling, A. (1960) The Decoration of Mirrors of the Han Period. Artibus Asiae. Supplementum 20.Buys, A. (2007). Astronomical Technology and the Exploration of the Universe. http://www.up.ac.za/media/shared/Legacy/UserFiles/astro-technology-lecture.pdf [accessed 20/02/2016].Calvo, M. L. and Enoch, J. M. (2005) Introduction to the History of lenses and Visual Corrections: A Reference to Spain and the Spanish Colonies in the New World (XV-XVI C.). Revista Cubana de Física 22 (1), 3-12.Calvo, M. L. and Enoch, J. M. (2007) Ancient Peruvian Optics with emphasis on Chavín and Moche culture. Atti della Fondazione Giorgio Ronchi, Year LXII.Carlson, J. B. (1981) Olmec Concave Iron-Ore Mirrors: The Aesthetics of a Lithic Technology and the Lord of the Mirror. The Olmec and their Neighbours (E. P. Benson, ed.). 117–148. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.Cauvin, J. (1998) La Signification Symbolique de L'obsidienne. L'obsidienne au Proche et Moyen-Orient: Du Volcan à l'Outil (M.-C. Cauvin et al.), 379-382. BAR International Series 728.Chevalier, J. and Gheerbrant, A. (1996) Dictionary of Symbols, 2dn edition. London, Penguin Books.Coqueugniot, É. (1998) L‟obsidienne en Méditerranée Orientale aux Époques Post-Néolithiques. L’Obsidienne au Proche et Moyen Orient: Du Volcan l’Outil (Cauvin, M.-C. et al.), 351-361. BAR International Series 728.Craig, J. R. and Vaughan, D. J. (1994) Ore Microscopy and Ore Petrography, 2nd edition. New York, John Wiley & Sons, INC.Eisler, R. (1910) Himmelsmantel und Weltenzelt. Religionsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen zur Urgeschichte des Antiken Weltbildes. 2 Bde. München, C. H. Beck‟sche Verlagsbuchhandlung Oskar Beck.Enoch, J. M. (2007) Archaeological optics: the very first known mirrors and lenses. Journal of Modern Optics 54 (9), 1221–1239, 2007.Enoch, J. M. (2006) History of Mirrors Dating Back 8000 Years. Optometry and Vision Science 83 (10), 775–781.Enoch, J. M. and Calvo, M. L. (2007) Chavín de Huántar and Moche Cultures: Capability for lens optics. Atti della Fondazione Giorgio Ronchi, Year LXII.Ericson, J.E., Makishima, A., Mackenzie, J.D., and Berger, R. (1975) Chemical and physical properties of obsidian: a naturally occurring glass. Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids 17 (1), 129-142.Von Falkenhausen, L. (1989) KOSHI SHUNJŪ 古史春秋.Early China 14, 213-226.Frazer, J. G. (1919) The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion. Vol. X. of XII. Part VII: Balder the Beautiful. The Fire-Festivals of Europe and the Doctrine of the External Soul. 3rd edition. New York and London, MacMillan and Co.Goeje, C. H. de (1930) The inner structure of the Warau language of Guiana. Journal de la Société des Américanistes 22 (1), 33-72.Gopher, A., Marder, O., Barkai, R. (2011) An Obsidian Industry from Neolithic Hagoshrim, Upper Galilee. In: Healey, E., Campbell, S., Maeda, O. (eds.). The State of the Stone: Terminologies, Continuities and Contexts in Near Eastern Lithics. SENEPSE 13, 395-402. Berlin, ex oriente.Gullberg, J.E. (1959) Technical Notes on Concave Mirrors. Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 170, 280-283, and pl. 62.Haddow, S. D. (2014) Çatalhöyük 2014 Archive Report by members of the Çatalhöyük Research Project. http://www.catalhoyuk.com/sites/default/files/media/pdf/Archive_Report_2014.pdf [accessed 16(01/2016].Healey, E. (2013) Exotic, aesthetic and powerful? The non-tool use of obsidian in the later Neolithic of the Near East. In: Interpreting the Late Neolithic of Upper Mesopotamia (Nieuwenhuyse, O. P., Bernbeck, R., Akkermans, P. M. M. G. and Rogash, J., Eds.), 251-266. Brepols, Turnhout.Heizer, R.F. and Gullberg, J.E. (1981) Concave Mirrors from the Site of La Venta, Tabasco: Their Occurrence, Mineralogy, Optical Description, and Function. The Olmec and Their Neighbours (E.P. Benson ed.), 109-116. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington.Hodder, I. (2012) Çatalhöyük is added to UNESCO World Heritage List. Stanford Archaeology Center Newsletter 2012, 9.Hoskin, M. (2011) William Herschel and Herschelian Reflectors. History of Science 49, 115-120.Holmberg (-Harva), U. (1964), Finno-Ugric, Siberian (= The Mythology of All Races IV). New York, Cooper Square Publish-ers (Reprint of Boston, Archaeological Institute of America, 1927).Juliano, A. (1985) Possible Origins of the Chinese Mirror. Notes in the History of Art 4 (2/3), 36-45.Kano, Ch. (1979) The Origins of the Chavín Culture. Studies in Pre-Columbian Art and Archaeology 22, 1-3, 5-87Kelley, D. H. and Milone, E. F. (2005) Exploring Ancient Skies. An Encyclopedic Survey of Archaeoastronomy. New York, Springer.King, H. C. and Spencer Jones, H. (2003) The History of the Telescope. Dover, Dover Publication.Laufer, B. (1928) The Prehistory of Television. The Scientific Monthly 27 (5), 455-459.Lehmann-Nitsche, R. (1938) Tezcatlipoca und Quetzalcouatl. Ihre ursprüngliche Sternnatur. Zeitschrift für Ethnologie 70 (1/2), 67-82.Lerner, Judith (1996) Horizontal-Handled Mirrors: East and West. Metropolitan Museum Journal 31, 11-40.Lunazzi, J. J. (1995) On the quality of the Olmec mirrors and its utilization II. Reunión Iberoamericana de Óptica, Guanajuato - GTO - Mexico, 18-22 Sept. SPIE V 2730, 2-7.Lunazzi, J. J. (1996) Olmec Mirrors: an Example of archaeological American mirrors. Trends in Optics (Anna Consortini, ed.), Vol. 3, 411-421. International Commission for Optics (ICO), Ac. Press.Lunazzi, J. J. (2011) An Olmec Concave Mirror from El Salvador. Mexicon 33 (2), 36-37.Maillet, A. (2004) The Claude Glass: Use and Meaning of the Black Mirror in Western Art. New York, Zone Books.Matossian, M. K. (1980) Symbols of Seasons and the Passage of Time: Barley and Bees in the New Stone Age. Griffith Observer 44 (11), 9-17.Mexicon (2011). An Olmec Concave Mirror from El Salvador. Mexicon 33 (2), 36-37.Russell, J. M. (1988) The Program of the Palace of Assurnasirpal II at Nimrud: Issues in the Research and Presentation of Assyrian Art. American Journal of Archaeology 102 (4), 655-715.McCrickard, Janet (1990) Eclipse of the Sun. An investigation into Sun and Moon myths. Glastonbury: Gothic Image Publica-tions.Matsumotu, M. (2013). Reflection as Transformation: Mirror-Image Structure on Maya Monumental Texts as Visual Metaphor for Ritual Participation. Estudios de Cultura Maya (41), 93–128.Mellaart, J. (1967) Çatal Hüyük. A Neolithic Town in Anatolia. New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company.Moyer, A. (2012). Deep Reflection: An Archaeological Analysis of Mirrors in Iron Age Eurasia. University of Minnesota. Ph.D. Thesis.Needham, J. (1996) Science and Civilisation in China, Vol. IV, 1. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.Seidel, A. and Kalinowski, M. (1982) „Tokens of Immortality in Han Graves‟. Numen 29/1, 97-98.Nordenskiöld, E. (1926) Miroirs convexes et concaves en Amérique. Journal de la Société des Américanistes de Paris 18 (1), 103-110.Ollivier, F. J. et al. (2004) Comparative morphology of the tapetum lucidum (among selected species). Veterinary Oph-thalmology 7 (1), 11–22.Pokorny, J. (1959) Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 3 Vol. Bern/München, Francke.Pendergras, M. (2003) Mirror, Mirror: A History of The Human Love Affair With Reflection. New York, Basic Books.Rappenglück, M. (2016) Astral high-fashion clothing: relations between costumes and astronomy. In: Michael A. Rappenglück, Barbara Rappenglück, Nicholas Campion, Fabio Silva (eds.). Astronomy and Power: How Worlds Are Structured. Proceedings of the SEAC 2010 Conference, 19-28. BAR International Series 2794.Reichel-Dolmatoff, G. 1982. Astronomical models of social behaviour among some Indians of Columbia. Ethnoastronomy and Archaeoastronomy in the American Tropics (A.F. Aveni and G. Urton, eds.), Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 385, 165-181.Roe, P. G. (1982) The Cosmic Zygote Cosmology in the Amazon Basin. New Brunswick, NJ, Rutgers University Press.Saunders, N. J. (1988) Chatoyer: Anthropological reflections on Archaeological Mirrors. Recent Studies in Pre-Columbian Archaeology 1 (N. J. Saunders and O. de Montmollin, eds.), 1–40. BAR International Series 421, Oxford.Saunders, N. J. (2001) A Dark Light: Reflections on Obsidian in Mesoamerica. World Archaeology 33 (2), 220–236.Saunders, N. J. (2003) 'Catching the light': Technologies of power and enchantment in Pre-Columbian goldworking. In J. Quilter and J. W. Hoopes (eds.), Gold and Power in Ancient Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia, 15–47. Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks.Schafer, E. H. (1978–79) A T’ang Taoist Mirror. Early China, 4, 56-59.Schagunn, J. O. (1975) La Venta Mirrors‟ Possible Use as Astronomical Instruments. Balance y perspectiva de la antropología de Mesoamérica y del centro de México, Arqueologia I, XIIl mesa redonda, 293-298. Sociedad Mexicana de Antropología, México.Schechner, S. J. (2005) Between Knowing and Doing: Mirrors and Their Imperfections in the Renaissance. Early Science and Medicine 10 (2), 137-162.Schele, L. and Miller, J. H. (1983) The Mirror, the Rabbit and the Bundle: Accession Expressions from the Classic Maya Inscriptions. Studies in Pre-Columbian Arts and Archaeology 25. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D .C.Schele, L. and Blainey, M. G. (2007) Surfaces and Beyond the Political, Ideological, and Economic Significance of Ancient Maya Ancient Maya Iron-Ore Mirrors. Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, Trent University. MA Thesis.Strätz, V. (1996) Materialien zu Tierkreisen in China. Monumenta Serica 44, 213-265.Taube, K. A. (1992a) The Iconography of Mirrors at Teotihuacan. Art, Ideology, and the City of Teotihuacan (J. C. Berlo, ed.), 169–204. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.Taube, K. A. (1992b) The Major Gods of Ancient Yucatan. Studies in Pre-Columbian Art and Archaeology 32, i-v, vii-viii, 1-160.Taube, K. A. (2011) An Olmec Concave Mirror from El Salvador. Mexicon 33 (2), 36-37.Vedder, J. F. (2001) Grinding it Out. Archaeological Institute of America, archive.archaeology.org/ online/news/mirrors.html [accessed 05-01-2016].Vedder, J. F. and Swogger, J. G. H. (2005) The Obsidian Mirrors of Çatalhöyük 597. Changing materialities at Çatalhöyük: reports from the 1995–99 seasons (Hodder, Ian, ed.). British Institute at Ankara, BIAA Monograph 39, 597-619.Waterbury, F. (1952) Bird-Deities in China Artibus Asiae. Supplementum 10, 1-139, 141-165, 167-181, 183, 185-191.Wilson, R. N. (2007) Reflecting Telescope Optics 1 Basic Design Theory and its Historical Development. 2nd edition. Berlin, Hei-delberg, Springer.Witzel, M. (2005) Vala and Iwato, The Myth of the Hidden Sun, in India, Japan, and beyond in the case of Amaterasu - in China are intermediaries between the round mirror (Heaven) and the square mirror (Earth). Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies (EJVS) 12-1, 1-69.