Analemmatic and Horizontal Sundials of the Bronze Age (Northern Black Sea Coast)

TL;DR

This study identifies and analyzes ancient plates from Srubna burials as functional sundials, revealing sophisticated astronomical knowledge and potential Egyptian influence in the Northern Black Sea region during the Bronze Age.

Contribution

It provides the first evidence of ancient analemmatic and horizontal sundials in Srubna culture, demonstrating their advanced understanding of astronomy and timekeeping.

Findings

Identification of analemmatic and horizontal sundials on burial plates

Reconstruction of gnomon parameters and scale values

Implication of Egyptian astronomical influence on Srubna culture

Abstract

The paper presents the results of a study of unique plate with images of Srubna burial of tumuli group Popov Yar-2 (Ukraine) and plate of Srubna burial of tumulus field Tavriya-1 (Russia). A distinctive feature of the images is the orderliness and symmetry of the composition, as well as the location of elliptical cupped depressions. With the help of mathematical and astronomical methods we prove in this paper that the plates with the images are the ancient sundials. At the Popov Yar-2 plate located two sundials, which worked at the same time: the analemmatic sundial and the horizontal sundial with two gnomons and the linear scale. At the Tavriya-1 plate located analemmatic sundial. On the basis of the reconstruction of the linear parameters of the gnomon of both Popov Yar-2 plate sundials and given the scale value of horizontal sundial, in the article that the potential indirect impact protoscientific knowledge of ancient Egypt to the Srubna population in the Northern Black Sea coast. Srubna burial, plate, wells, cupped depressions, analemmatic, horizontal sundial, gnomon, archaeoastronomy, archeology