[meteorite-list] 8000BC Big Dipper Petroglyph: Evolution of star positions 2

[dorifry]

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Hi Robert,

I'm assuming the 150,000 yrs BP is a typo, since the oldest known 
petroglyphs are about 12,000 years old and the first cave paintings date 
back 35,000 yrs.

Phil Whitmer
Joshua Tree Earth & Space Museum

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Hello Mexico Doug, List,

Thanks for the video. This concept of the evolution of the configuration
of the stars of the Big Dipper is evidently widespread in China because
it's even used in high-school teaching materials. This is why Wu Jiacai
did not bother to list a source for his diagram of the evolution of the
configuration from 100,000 BP to 12,000 AD.

By the way, a stone originally owned by an antiquarian is claimed to be an
even more ancient (150,000 yrs BP) map of the Big Dipper
(http://61.128.162.70/stone/686/686.htm). Click once on the arrow below
details (A), (b), and (C), and you see the current configuration of the
Big Dipper; click a 2nd time, and you see the configuration 100,000 yrs in
the future; click a 3rd time, and you see the configuration 100,000 yrs
BP.

One other figure in Wu Jiacai's scholarly article may interest
astronomers; I've extracted and entitled it "Full19-StarConfig.jpg" at
https://www.dropbox.com/gallery/18663629/1/Hongshan%20Cu15, 16, and 17
lture?h=bdfa66 It shows all 19 of the pockmarks on the rock that he
regards as stars. The seven stars of the Big Dipper are linked by dotted
lines. He says stars number 9, 10, 11, and 12 belong to Bootes, while 15,
16, and 17 are known as the "Three Stars." To hazard a guess, the "Three
Stars" may be epsilon, sigma and rho Bootis, known in China for a few
thousand years as "Genghe 1, 2, and 3," but of course he's talking about
star positions 10,000 years ago. Lastly, he says that 13, 14, 16, 18, 19,
and 20 are unknown as yet.

Regards

Robert A. Juhl, Tokyo