The oldest map of the Moon is buried

2001/03/07 Galarraga Aiestaran, Ana - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Astronomia
• Giza zientziak

Until recently, the drawing of the oldest known moon was made by Leonardo da Vinci around 1505. However, I thought there was more than one previous figure, including Philip Sooke of the University of Ontario.

Thus, in the rocks of the caves he began to look for the figure of the moon in the ancient engravings and discovered something interesting in the funeral chamber of Knowth: if the remains were placed on a photo of the full moon, he verified that they corresponded to the moon. It is certainly the oldest representation of the Moon ever seen.

Knowth is a Neolithic funerary tumulus located in an area built 5,000 years ago in Ireland. The tumulus consists of two narrow steps that seem to be the longest in Europe, one to the east and one to the west. A step ends in a large camera, in which some believe that is the largest artistic collection of the European era.

Most are recorded in circles and spirals, imagining the moon, and others are star figures. Some archaeologists claim that the passage that leads to the chamber, at certain times, was to receive the sun and the rays of the moon and, precisely, with that intention, built the tumulus in that specific place. However, archaeologists will have to keep looking for answers to the questions why and for what they did.