Hesiod's calendar and the star Spica

TL;DR

This paper investigates ancient star-based agricultural calendars, proposing that Spica was used as a key indicator for harvest and thresh times in early Neolithic times, predating the constellation Virgo.

Contribution

It suggests that Spica served as an early celestial marker for farming activities, predating the formal recognition of Virgo as a constellation.

Findings

Spica could have been used for harvest and thresh indicators in the 9th millennium BCE.

The identification of Spica with an ear of cereals predates the constellation Virgo.

Ancient farmers likely relied on heliacal risings and settings of bright stars for agricultural timing.

Abstract

In Hesiod's calendar, circa 8th century BCE, the harvest times of cereals were indicated by the heliacal rising of Pleiades (harvest) and by that of Orion (thresh). We tried to verify which risings and settings of the brightest stars could have been used as indicators in the previous millennia, taking into account the precession and the dependence of the heliacal dates on the latitude. In the second half of the 9th millennium BCE there was essentially one bright star that could have been used both for the harvest (heliacal setting of the star) and for the thresh (heliacal rising of the star): Spica, i.e. ear (in Latin) of cereals. According to archaeologists, the domestication of barley and wheat occurred in Near East at the end of the 9th millennium BCE. Given the importance of the bright stars and asterisms for ancient farming activities, we have therefore proposed that the identification of the star alpha Virginis with an ear should date back to the beginning of Neolithic, possibly well before the identification of the constellation (Virgo) with a maiden.