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[EN] America's first urban centers may have been located in the Supe Valley, Peru. After investigating the location and the orientation of the main built structures, we show that it is not only the presence of the Supe River that determines their orientation but also that astronomical relationships within the orientation of the buildings dictate their setting within the valley. The southernmost position of moonrise on the horizon seems to be the most important astronomical target. There is the possibility of a trend toward attributing greater importance to the June solstice sunrise and the rising of certain stars or asterisms. These orientations could relate to specific moments throughout the year, in particular to seasonal rains, subsequent river flooding, and agricultural cycles. This is one of the earliest examples of the interaction of land- and skyscapes in human cultures and indeed the first in the Americas., [ES] El valle del río Supe en Perú posiblemente alberga una de las primeras manifestaciones de urbanismo en América. Los resultados de la investigación sobre la localización y orientación de los edificios principales muestran que no es sólo la presencia del río Supe la que determina la orientación de estos edificios, pero la localización dentro del valle también viene dictada por posibles relaciones astronómicas. Se muestra que la orientación más importante de estas estructuras concuerdan con la salida más meridional de la luna. Existe la posibilidad de una tendencia de atribuir una importancia creciente del solsticio de junio y la salida de ciertas estrellas y asterismos. Estas orientaciones se pueden relacionar con momentos concretos a lo largo del ciclo anual, en particular con las estaciones de lluvia las crecidas subsequentes del río y los ciclos terrenal agrícolas. De esta manera, los monumentos del valle del Supe aparecen como una de las primeras muestras de interacción del paisaje y el celaje en culturas humanas de América., This work was partially supported by the projects P/310793 “Arqueoastronomía” of the IAC, AYA2015-66787P “Orientatio ad Sidera IV” of the Spanish MINECO, and the AECID grant “Astronomía en la Cultura del Valle del Supe, Perú” from the Spanish MAEC. This research was carried out within the framework of the Archaeological Research Program, “Caral Civilization in the Valleys of Supe and Huaura during the Initial Formative and Early Formative” of the Caral Archaeological Zone, Executing Unit No. 003 of the Ministry of Culture of Peru, which since 2014 has been studying mainly the orientation of the buildings of the Caral archaeological site. We acknowledge support of the open access publication fee by the CSIC Open Access Publication Support Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI).

Archaeoastronomy and cultural astronomy are often considered synonyms, but they actually express different concepts, the former being a sub-discipline of the latter. Cultural astronomy is a fascinating but controversial discipline, which serves as an auxiliary subject to social sciences such as history, archaeology, anthropology, and ethnography, among others. The tools and methodology of astronomy play a relevant role in the discipline, but it should be inserted within social sciences epistemology.

In earlier works, we had shown the actual possibility that the Nabataeans had used the Equinox, or an astronomical event equivalent to this, as an important milestone to control the calendar, stablish festivals and perform pilgrimages to important sacred sites. In this paper we present evidence that this was indeed the case. In a research carried out in Petra in March 2018, equinoctial phenomena were observed and tested at the Urn Tomb, the Obelisks at Jabal Madbah and the sacred area of Al Madras, showing that the actual astronomical Equinox could be observed together with other related phenomena such as the midday between the solstices. Besides, this campaign was used to obtain data in various isolated places in Petra seldom visited by the general public such as the Obodas Chapel, Sidd al Ma’jin, Parcak’s Platform, or the sacred areas on top of Umm al Biyara. These little known monumental sites have also provided interesting results that are described and discussed in this paper., This work is partially financed under the framework of the projects P310793 “Arqueoastronomía” of the IAC, and AYA2015-66787-P “Orientatio ad Sidera IV” of the Spanish MINECO/MICIU.

If astronomy can be understood as the contemplation of the sky for any given purpose, we must realize that possibly all societies throughout time and in all regions have watched the sky. The why, who, how and when of such investigation is the pursuit of cultural astronomy. When the research is done with the archaeological remains of a given society, the part of cultural astronomy that deals with them is archaeoastronomy. This interdisciplinary field employs non-invasive techniques that mix methodologies of the natural sciences with the epistemology of humanities. Those techniques are reviewed here, providing an excellent example of sustainable research. In particular, we include novel research on the Bohí Valley Romanesque churches. The results provided go beyond the data. This is because they add new value to existing heritage or discovers new heritage due to the possible relationship to the spatial and temporal organization of past societies. For the case of the Bohí churches the results point to a number of peculiarities of these churches in a valley in the Pyrenees. This links these aspects to the ritual, practical and power sphere of past societies. A wonderful example of such links is the high mountain sanctuaries in Gran Canaria, where archaeoastronomy helps promoting a World Heritage candidacy., This work was partially supported by the projects P/310793 ‘Arqueoastronomía’ of the IAC, and AYA2015-66787 ‘Orientatio ad Sidera IV’ of the Spanish MICIU, We acknowledge support by the CSIC Open Access Publication Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI)

Petra, the ancient Nabataean capital, has been one of our main research objectives since the first field campaign on site in 1996. 1 In December 2015 a new visit to the city was made to coincide with the winter solstice. Historical, ethnographic, epigraphic and archaeological records are compared in order to gain an insight on the Nabataean calendar. From this multi-source analysis two main points arise: the importance of both equinoxes and winter solstice within the lunisolar calendar and the relevance of some processions and pilgrimages. These combined with illumination effects observed and broadcasted at the principal monuments of Petra, and new important hierophanies, predicted in previous campaigns,2 indicate the relevance of these dates at the time of the Nabataeans. Winter solstice was an important event in the Nabataean cultic calendar when a festival of the main deities of the city, the God Dushara and his partner the goddess Al-Uzza, was commemorated. This probably took the form of a pilgrimage, and related cultic activities, such as ascending from the temples at the centre of the city (presumably from Qsar el Bint and the Temple of the Winged Lions), to the Monastery (Ad-Deir) through an elaborated stone-carved processional way. The relevance of the spring and autumn equinox within the cultic calendar will also be emphasized in relationship to other sacred sites in Petra, such as the Zibb Atuff obelisks, and additional Nabataean sites.

Several works have tried either to demonstrate or reject the notion that the orientation of the main axis of a Roman city was deliberate since its choice might add an extra sacred dimension to the entire urban space [González-García et al. (Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry 14(3):107–119, 2014; Magli (Oxford Journal of Archaeology 21(6):63–71, 2008)]. There exist ancient texts that support the hypothesis of the existence of astronomical orientations, such as those of Frontinus (De Agrimmensura, 27) or Hyginus Gromaticus (Constitutio, I). In the case that these precepts were fulfilled: how to achieve it? Besides the astronomical hypothesis, some scholars have pointed to the use of a geometrical technique: the uaratio (Orfila et al. La orientación de las estructuras ortogonales de nueva planta en época romana. De la varatio y sus variaciones. 2014). By this, the short sides of a regular triangle that are in ratios of integer numbers (for example 1:2, 2:3) are laid along the cardinal axes. In this work we present a comparison of the orientation of 81 Roman towns in the Iberian Peninsula, measured in situ, with uaratio angles with aspect ratios up to 12:12. By this exercise we want to discern whether the orientations were astronomical, purely geometrical, or if geometry could have fostered astronomical aims by using selected and well-known angles to trace lines that fitted the desired astronomical purposes. It is then, an attempt to shed more light to the issue of the orientation of Roman towns by combining two hypotheses that, in contrast to what it might seem, could be complementary but not contrary., This work has been financed under the framework of the projects P/310793 ‘Arqueoastronomía’ of the IAC, and AYA2015-66787 ‘Orientatio ad Sidera IV’ and HAR2013-41635-P, of the Spanish MINECO.

One of the most fascinating and enigmatic pieces of evidence of Nabataean ingenuity is the so-called Zodiac of Khirbet et-Tannur (Jordan), found in a temple built at the mountain summit close to Djebel Tannur in the first half of the second century CE, possibly when the ancient Nabataean Kingdom was already under Roman rule. However, Nabataean traditions and cults persisted during the Roman period and even survived well into Byzantine times. But one important change was the imposition of a Julian-like calendar, of Egyptian inspiration, instead of the original lunisolar calendar of the Nabataeans—earlier inherited and adapted from the Babylonian one—whose month names were however preserved under a solar perspective and a new time framework entitled Era Provincia Arabia. An analysis of the dates reported in the foundation inscriptions of the first century CE rock-carved tombs at the southern Nabataean city of Hegra, and other dated inscriptions of the Nabataean Kingdom period, has given some clues for us to look at the Tannur Zodiac with a different perspective. This new way of thinking has allowed a completely different approach to this masterpiece of art which is substantially different to most previous interpretations (see e.g. McKenzie et al., ARAM Periodical 24:379–420, 2012). According to our hypothesis, we consider that it should be formally named the ‘almanac’ or ‘parapegma’ of Khirbet et-Tannur hereafter., This work has been financed under the framework of the projects P/310793 ‘Arqueoastronomía’ of the IAC, and AYA2015-66787 ‘Orientatio ad Sidera IV’ of the Spanish MINECO.

Urbanism in most areas of Western Europe occurred at the time of the Roman Empire when several hundred new towns were founded, notably under Augustus. Those towns were planned to incorporate astronomical phenomena as images of propaganda of their rulers, or to connect the city to the gods. The visual effect of the Sun rising in line with the orientation of the city at a given moment in its yearly movement was thus sought and incorporated for its ritual meaning. Special moments allegedly related to Augustus were considered, in particular Winter Solstice and Autumn Equinox.

The two pyramids built during the Old Kingdom by the Fourth Dynasty King Sneferu at Dahshur are usually considered as two consecutive projects, the second – that of the Red Pyramid – being generated by a presumably failure of the first, the Bent Pyramid. In the present paper, we show that the archaeological proofs of such a scenario are far from obvious and that, on the contrary, a series of architectural, topographical, epigraphic, and astronomical hints point to a unitary project probably conceived from the very beginning in terms of the two pyramids and their annexes. Altogether the two pyramids are thus shown to form a conceptual, sacred landscape associated with the power of the Pharaoh and his afterlife.

The orientation of Christian churches is a distinctive feature of its architecture, repeating patterns from early Christian times that show a general tendency to orientate their apses in the solar range, with a predilection for orientations near the astronomical equinox. We measured the orientation of a total of 167 churches built prior to A.D. 1086. A comprehensive statistical analysis of the sample indicates a decisive orientation pattern, with a clear tendency to orientate according to the standard tradition, albeit with certain particularities. Three sub-samples are examined to find the tendencies at each different historical time. This exercise indicates that the main group of orientations seem to relate to the Canonical equinox on 25 March, while popular ‘expected’ orientations, such as that of the rising sun on the day of the patron saint of the church, are completely absent. Other groups of orientations are specific to each period, such as that towards sunrise on Saint James’s day, important only after the discovery of the saint’s tomb in the ninth century., This work is partially financed under the framework of the projects AYA2011-26759 “Orientatio ad Sidera III” of the Spanish MINECO, and P310793 “Arqueoastronomía” of the IAC. ACGG is a Ramon y Cajal Fellow of the Spanish MINECO.

13 pages, 8 figures., A statistical analysis of the orientation of Nabatean sacred monuments demonstrates that astronomical orientations were often part of an elaborated plan and possibly a trace of the astral nature of the Nabataean religion. Petra and other monuments in the ancient Nabataean kingdom have proven to be marvellous laboratories for the interaction between landscape features and astronomical events, showing impressive hierophanies on particular monuments related to cultic times and worships. Among other findings, the famous Ad Deir has shown a fascinating ensemble of light and shadow effects, perhaps connected with the bulk of Nabataean mythology, while from the impressive Urn Tomb, a series of suggestive solstitial and equinoctial alignments emanate which might have lately helped its selection as the cathedral of the city. This paper demonstrates that the sky was a substantial element in Nabataean religion and reveals new evidence for cultic worship centred on the celestial sphere.

It is of note that no special direction of the compass seems to have been preferred either for the orientation of the temples or for that of the cult chamber themselves.Jurgen SeeherAs a natural sequel to studies of temple orientation in the Mediterranean basin, and especially of the temples of ancient Egypt,1 the Hittite monuments of the Bronze Age offer an excellent laboratory to extend further the analysis of possible astronomical or topographical orientations, or both. This would be relevant not only for comparison with other neighbouring and contemporary cultures, but also to provide insights into such an important region of the Middle East as the Anatolian Peninsula.Contemporaneous with the Egyptian New Kingdom, the inhabitants of the Hittite Empire and their masters, the Kings of the Land of Hatti, produced a most sophisticated society, heir to a long Anatolian cultural tradition lasting several millennia.2 However, to our knowledge, cultural astronomy studies in this area and particular period have been practically nil.3 Preliminary analysis of some Hittite monuments and of the written sources had shown certain clues to a possible interest in the sky, but the judgement of Jurgen Seeher,4 the director of the team currently excavating at Hattusha, the Hittite capital, was so categorically negative regarding the question that apparently there was no hope of obtaining a positive result.However, it is the intention of this article to show that the analysis of a statistically significant sample of Hittite temples - and a handful of monumental gates - demonstrates that ancient Hittite monuments were not randomly orientated. On the contrary, there were well-defined patterns of orientation that could be interpreted within the context of Hittite culture and religion. The Hittite sample will be complemented with a preliminary set of data for Phrygian religious monuments. This will serve to analyse the transition of orientation customs from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age. This sample from ancient Phrygia will be compared with data in the excellent work of Susanne Bernt-Ersoz.5The paper deals with different topics. In Section 1, we analyse the geographical, historical and anthropological context. Special care is devoted to analysing ancient Hittite religion within its Anatolian context, notably the solar cults and the festival calendar. Section 2 presents our data on the Hittite monuments and tries to offer clues to their interpretation. The Phrygian data are presented and analysed in Section 3, offering a basis for future research. Finally, Section 4 presents the conclusions, both definitive and preliminary, of our work.1. STATE OF THE QUESTION: INTRODUCTIONThe Hittite Empire was a multi-lingual, multi-cultural political entity that controlled the life of Anatolia and the Levant for more than three centuries. From their homeland in the Land of Hatti (see Figure 1), the Hittite kings dominated a vast territory of varying frontiers which at its maximum extent in the late thirteenth century b.c. included, thanks to a network of vassal states, most of Anatolia and the north of Syria. The nucleus of the kingdom was formed by the Land of Hatti proper, the Upper and Lower Lands, and the neighbouring territories of Kizuwatna and Tarhuntassa. This area was populated not only by Hittites, speaking "Nesili", the language of Nesha, but also by Luwians and Palaians, speaking parentage languages of Indo-European lineage, Hurrians (notably in Kizuwatna) and, to an extent difficult to discern, ancient Hattians, the original inhabitants of the region. It has been argued that the latter group language, Hattic, was a dead language used only in religious rituals during most of Hittite history and that, at the end of the kingdom (c. 1200 b.c.), even Nesili was used only for state politics and religious purposes, while Luwian was the language spoken by the vast majority of the population.6As a consequence of this population mix, Hittite religion and social customs were a complicated blend of different traditions. …

THE ARCHAEOTOPOGRAPHY OF EGYPT Architecture, Astronomy and Sacred Landscape in Ancient Egypt. Giulio Magli (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2013). Pp. xii + 272. £60. ISBN 9781-10703-208-8.This is not another book on fantastic Egyptian archaeology and astronomy. The reader will not find the typical lunatic fringe theories claiming that monuments of ancient Egypt hold secrets of arcane long-forgotten civilizations. The title is explicit: this book deals with architecture, reflected in the impressive pyramids and the not less suggestive temples; astronomy, expressed in alignments to relevant celestial vault configurations; and sacred landscape, where different elements combine to create what, in the words of the author, would be a dynastic landscape. Here 'dynastic' must be read in the strict sense of the word: how familiar ties were reflected in the architecture and connected with local topography and the sky, creating a symbolic world that, in the mind of the author, must have been obvious to its constructors.The volume analyses the relationship between astronomy and dynastic power in the course of Egyptian history from the proto-dynastic to the New Kingdom. It focuses on the crucial role of astronomy in the creation of the monumental temple and burial complexes, including the pyramids. Magli, an astronomer himself but working in a Faculty of Architecture where he lectures on Egyptian heritage, interprets the term Archaeoastronomy in a very wide sense which might perhaps be more properly termed Archaeotopography, following Michael Hoskin's suggestion.In consecutive chapters, the author travels through the history of ancient Egypt and describes a long series of extremely suggestive interactions. This short review cannot easily go into the details. However several of Magli's key ideas should be stressed. He proposes Akhet Khufu, the burial complex of Cheops, as a single master project integrating most of the monuments of the Giza Plateau, including his and Khefren's pyramids. Cheops would have been following his father Snefru who, according to Magli's theory, also followed a master plan (nothing to do with a trial and error process) in the design and construction of the several pyramids he built. A third highlight of the volume is the idea of several elaborated dynastic landscapes, including the most suggestive topographic and astronomical alignments, and what he has termed 'symbolic invisibility'. One advantage of these hypotheses is that they include a prediction. The author forecasts where some 'lost' pyramids of the Old Kingdom, notably Userkare's, should be located. If he were right, such a find would be a tremendous confirmation of his ideas, which I have found well grounded, if hypothetical.On the other hand, I believe that Magli fails in his interpretation of inter-cardinal directions in Upper Egypt, notably in proto-Dynastic Abydos and New Kingdom Thebes. He claims that the idea that the Egyptian temples were mainly orientated towards the Nile tends to be overplayed in Egyptological literature, an hypothesis (as defended by our research group) which is a workaround to reconcile Nile orientation (notably inter-cardinal) with the astronomical one, an explanation which, according to Magli, would be too far from what we know about the Egyptian architect's way of thinking. …

The world heritage site of the hierothesion of Antiochos I, King of Commagene, at Mount Nemrud (Turkey) certainly constitutes one of the most fascinating historical enigmas in human culture. The monument includes the famous lion “horoscope” which has often been used in various attempts to interpret and date the ruins, with controversial results. After performing on-site observations, during the summer solstice of 2009, we propose that Antiochos’s monument reflects the situation of the skies at special moments of the year 49 b.c., when possibly construction of the monument would have been begun. This alternative, more substantiated than the traditional explanation, is formulated in the present paper by considering not only the lion slab but also the orientation of the eastern and western terraces of the hierothesion, and the inscriptions on the monument. The small Kingdom of Commagene nestled between the upper course of the river Euphrates and the mountains of Anti-Taurus in the south-east of Anatolia. Despite its tiny size, Commagene played a significant role in the history of the Middle East during the late Hellenistic and early Roman periods, as a buffer state between the powerful Seleucid (later Roman) and Parthian Empires. The dynasty of Commagene was founded by King Ptolemaios (c. 163 b.c.), a member of the Orontid family of Armenian satraps and kings with Persian roots, and ended when Antiochos IV Epiphanes was deposed by Emperor Vespasian in 72 a.d. Antiochos I Theos (c. 69–36 b.c.) was arguably the most important of its kings, ruling for more than 30 years in one of the most challenging periods in the history of the region. He was contemporaneous with Triganes the Great of Armenia, Mithradates II and Orodes II of Parthia, the last petty Seleucid kings, Herod the Great, and Lucullus, Pompey, Crassus, Caesar and Antonius from the Roman side. Antiochos was the son of Mithradates I Kallinikos, an Orontid, and of Laodice Thea Philadelphos, daughter of the last Seleucid king of any importance, Antiochos VIII Grypus. Consequently, Antiochos was able to claim both an Iranian and a Hellenistic ancestry, which was reflected in his political behaviour, always balanced between East and West, and, most importantly, in the new cult he was going to establish in his kingdom. The most outstanding example of this new cult was Antiochos’s burial monument on the summit of the highest peak of Commagene, Nemrud Dag (see Figure 1) at a height of 2150 m. Earlier local inscriptions in Luwian speak about Kings Suppiluliuma and Hattusili (c. 800 b.c.), lords of Kummaha (Assyrian Kummuh, undoubtedly the original name of Commagene), who rendered worship to a sacred mountain named Hurtula, possibly Nemrud Dag. Mountain cult was very frequent JHA, xli (2010)

For various reasons, Archaeoastronomy has not been one of the favourite disciplines of the Egyptologists in the past. Probably because of that, important questions such as the orientation of Egyptian temples and the relevance of astronomy in this respect had never been afforded with the necessary seriousness and deepness. The Egyptian–Spanish Mission for the Archaeoastronomy of ancient Egypt has, among its various priorities, the solution of this problem. In order to achieve that, we have measured the orientation of some 330 temples in the Valley, the Delta, the Oases and the Sinai so far. The aim is to find a correct and almost definitive answer to the question of whether the ancient Egyptian sacred constructions were astronomically aligned or not. Our data seem to answer this question in the affirmative sense. Besides, they offer a very interesting new perspective in the field of landscape archaeology, a new discipline hardly worked in Egypt so far, in which terrestrial landscape, dominated by the Nile, and celestial landscape, dominated by the sun and the stars, would combine in order to permit the establishment of Ma’at, the Cosmic Order, on Earth.

30 pages., [EN]The article examines the orientation with respect to the sky of ancient temples in Middle Egypt and Sudan. A previous paper compiled facts concerning the location of temples, and from these facts postulated a theory that connected temple siting to celestial phenomena. The current paper describes two separate efforts based on temples in Middle Egypt and Sudan to either refute or confirm this theory. The authors' presentation presents strong evidence of the impact sky-watching had on ancient culture, religion, and architecture., This work is partially financed in the framework of the projects P310793 "Arqueoastronomía" of the Instituto -de Astrofísica de Canarias, and AYA200 "Orientaio ad Sidera II" of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation

[ES] Las investigaciones arqueológicas en Cartagena –la antigua Qart Hadašt púnica, posterior Carthago Nova romana– evidencian la existencia de elementos topográficos, urbanísticos y rituales, susceptibles de ser analizados desde la perspectiva de la Astronomía Cultural. Por ello, en octubre de 2013 un equipo interdisciplinar de astrofísicos y arqueólogos realizó una campaña de mediciones de los principales hitos topográficos y arqueológicos de la ciudad púnica y romana. Metodológicamente, para cada ítem se estableció el criterio básico de orientación y se tomó su azimut utilizando tres tándems de brújula de precisión más clinómetro. Los datos obtenidos demuestran la relevancia en la ciudad antigua de una serie de orientaciones hacia la salida y la puesta del sol en el solsticio de verano, cuya significación se integra plenamente en el contexto del ritual fenicio-púnico. Dicho sentido pudo incorporarse y reinterpretarse en el contexto de las posteriores refundaciones romanas y de sus sucesivos programas urbanísticos y arquitectónicos, en particular el del período augústeo, cuando determinadas orientaciones astronómicas pudieron servir para afianzar la imagen de Roma y el princeps como restauradores de la paz y garantes de un nuevo orden fundado en elementos cosmológicos., [EN] Archaeological investigations in Cartagena -the ancient Punic Qart Hadašt, Roman Carthago Nova- have manifested the existence of ritual, urban and topographical elements that could be analyzed from the perspective of Cultural Astronomy. Therefore, in October 2013, an interdisciplinary team of astronomers and archaeologists conducted a field campaign of the main topographic and archaeological landmarks of the Punic and Roman periods of the city. Methodologically, a basic guide criterion was established for each particular element, measuring its corresponding azimuth(s). Three tandems, including precision compasses and clinometers, were used to take the measurements. The data obtained have demonstrated the relevance, within the ancient city, of a series of orientations towards sunrise and sunset at the summer solstice, whose significance could be fully integrated within the context of the Punic ritual. This skyscaping was merged and reinterpreted in the framework of the subsequent Roman appropriation of the city landscape, including their successive urban and architectural programs, in particular that of the period of Emperor Augustus, when certain astronomical orientations could serve to strengthen the image of Rome and the 'Princeps' as restorers of peace and guarantees of a new order based in cosmological elements.

Were the temples of the ancient Egyptian civilization astronomically orientated? This is a very important question and one that, as the above quotation stresses, is far from being solved. Recently, Richard Wilkinson, in his useful The complete temples of Ancient Egypt, clearly stated that “most commonly temples built along the Nile were oriented on an east–west axis, according to local cardinal directions as determined by the river”, and if so local topography would be the commanding reason for temple orientation. However, he also pointed out that “on occasions, orientation towards the Sun or important stars was defi nitely the priority, and this principle may be more important than is often recognized”. As we have explained elsewhere, the ground plan of a temple (or at least its four corners), including the orientation of its main axes, was normally established in a ceremony known as the “stretching of the cord”, records of which exist as early as the 1st Dynasty. The fi rst depiction of the ritual dates from the reign of Khasekhemuy, last king of the 2nd Dynasty (c. 2750 B.C.). The ceremony is represented on several occasions throughout Egyptian history but only in the Graeco-Roman period do the associated inscriptions refer to the way in which the axis was placed. As shown in Figure 1, the earliest inscriptions are written on the walls of Horus’s temple in Edfu, whose foundations were settled in 237 B.C. The texts are unanimous: the King was looking at Meskhet(yu), the Bull’s Thigh or Foreleg, the asterism of the Plough. So, for the Egyptians, at least of later epochs, the orientation was astronomical, in apparent contradiction with the opinion of most specialists. This fact has been well known since the nineteenth century when the inscriptions at Edfu were fi rst translated, and one would have expected that a close collaboration between (archaeo)astronomers and Egyptologists would have been resulted. However, this potentially productive synergy never occurred. We could raise the question of why and the answer, or the blame, could probably be attributed to a book, The dawn of astronomy, published at the end of that century by an otherwise reputable astronomer. This volume was written by Sir Norman Lockyer, the fi rst editor of the JHA, xxxvi (2005)

The possible astronomical or topographical orientations of the Hittite monuments of the Bronze Age has remained unexplored until recently. This would provide an important insight into how temporality was imprinted by this culture in sacred spaces and in the landscape. The authors’ analysis of a statistically significant sample of Hittite temples − and a few monumental gates − has demonstrated that ancient Hittite monuments were not randomly orientated as previously thought. On the contrary, there were well-defined patterns of orientation that can be interpreted within the context of Hittite culture and religion.

Presentamos un grafito realizado en una jarra fechada en torno a la segunda mitad del s. I a. C., que fue hallada durante la excavación realizada en uno de los barrios de artesanos y comerciantes de Carthago Noua, y que actualmente se localiza en el denominado Pasaje Conesa. La inscripción se ha realizado post cocturam y con ella, presumiblemente, se refleja la posesión de dicha pieza. Se trata de un ciudadano romano, con tria nomina y filiación, con un cognomen de clara ascendencia púnica: C. Cornelius C. F. Sedbal, In this paper we analyze a graffito written on a jar dated around the second half of the first century AD, which was found during the excavation in a quarter of craftsmen and merchants in Carthago Noua, currently known as Pasaje Conesa. The inscription was incised after firing (post cocturam) and it, probably, bears the name of its possesor: he is a Roman citizen with his tria nomina and filiation. The cognomen indicates his Punic origin: /C. Cornelius C. F. Sedbal