Supernova?

Indian archaeologists have discovered a very interesting drawing etched into the wall of an ancient dwelling place in Kashmir Burzahom archaeological site. 

Rock art is difficult to date with precision, but Vahia had a solid starting point. The rock was buried in a wall (though hidden from view of residents) of a house that had already been dated to around 2100 BC. This suggests that its importance had been lost to the people by then and the stone had been reused for another structure.

The oldest known settlement in the region was founded around 4100 BC. So the rock art is likely to have been made sometime between those two millennia—then inadvertently used to construct a new dwelling.

The drawing shows what at first glance appears to be hunters and animals beneath a sky with not one but two bright sun-like objects. Because the sun and the full moon never appear that close together in the sky,  Indian astrophysicist Mayank Vahia and his team at Mumbai’s Tata Institute of Fundamental Research have introduced a theory that the picture does not represent two suns, but instead a moon and a supernova, a star exploding some hundreds or thousands of light years away.

Based on data collected by astronomers, Vahia was able pinpoint one supernova from the time period, that matched the period during which the mysterious drawing was made. This is supernova HB9 which exploded around 3,600 BC. The supernova would have been large and bright enough to have been seen from earth and would have been comparable in brightness to the moon.

Interestingly, the mysterious drawing seems to not only depict the moon and the supernova, but also the surrounding stars. The other figures aren’t part of a hunting scene, but instead represent the nearby constellations. This makes the whole painting, in effect, likely one of the earliest star charts.

“The whole hunting scene along with the Moon and the Supernova fits quite well into the pattern of stars in the sky,” wrote Vahia in a paper for the Indian Journal of History of Science. “The image of one of the hunters coincides with the Orion; the central stag is same as the Taurus. The hunter on the right may have been formed from stars of Cetus and other animal on the right may be Andromeda and Pegasus. The long, curved line in the carving, traditionally interpreted as spear, may well be an arc of bright stars.”

Well this is quite interesting. If this theory is correct, the rock art would also be the world’s oldest-known sky chat recording a particular event (a super nova explosion). It could, of course, be a coincidence.

One thing that I don't understand is it's hard to see why the ancients might have depicted the Moon in this self-evidently solar manner??? So I would say that the above drawing probably depicts two suns: our sun and another shining sun like object, like a very bright supernova, which would have turned the night into a day and was also visible during the day. We know that there are supernovae which can be so bright that they can be be seen during the day. Some of these ultra bright supernovae exploded in historical times and we have the records of them. For instance, supernova SN 1054 was was one such supernova. It was widely observed throughout the world, with Arab, Chinese, and Japanese astronomers recording the star's appearance in 1054 CE. There are also a lot of documents from Europe which are by some believed to be the records of the sighting of this supernova. It may also have been recorded by the Anasazi as a petroglyph. This explosion appeared in the constellation of Taurus, where it produced the Crab Nebula remnant. At its peak, the luminosity of SN 1054 may have been four times as bright as Venus, and it remained visible in daylight for 23 days and was visible in the night sky for 653 days.

So is it possible that what the artist in Burzahom wanted to depict is "two suns", one being our normal sun and the other being the supernova? Well I believe so. 

There is just one problem. Working with the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Vahia has studied many more pieces of rock art from the region, but couldn’t find any other sky charts. Though the rock art analyzed here fits quite well with what the sky might have looked like back then, it could also be just a big coincidence. To prove it’s not, Vahia would need a second example. If the people in the region drew a star chart once, they must have drawn it many more times for other kinds of celestial events (such as comets passing or meteor showers).

That is why, on its own, Vahia’s rock painting isn’t enough to definitively prove itself to be the oldest human-made star chart and supernova record. 

Well, there might not have be any more "two suns" drawings found in Kashmir, but there are a lot of almost identical "two suns" drawings found in Europe. And they also feature Orion and a deer!!!

The first thing that came to my mind when I saw the Burzahom drawing was Los Millares, more precisely the bowls from Los Millares with the two sun like objects which look very very much like the two sun eyes:

I wrote about the Los Millares artefacts in my post "Bowls from Los Millares". Interestingly, the bowls from Los Millares, apart from having the depictions of two suns, also have depiction of deer rut and constellation Orion...

Even more interestingly, Los Millares site was occupied between around 3200 BC and 1800 BC, which overlaps with the period when the Burzahom site in Kashmir was occupied. 

Now here is something interesting. 

In Sanskrit mṛgaśiraṣa, the 5th nakṣatra or lunar mansion as used in Hindu astronomy and astrology is the constellation Orion. Symbol is Antelope or Deer.  The term Mṛgaśira (मृगशिर) a composite of two Sanskrit words, mṛga (मृग) meaning deer/animal/beast and śira (शिर) meaning head or precisely, the top of the head.The Rigveda, the earliest known text written in Sanskrit refers to the Orion Constellation as Mriga (The Deer). 

Sanskrit is a member of the Indo-Iranian subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. Its closest ancient relatives are the Iranian languages Avestan and Old Persian.

In order to explain the common features shared by Sanskrit and other Indo-European languages, the Indo-Aryan migration theory states that the original speakers of what became Sanskrit arrived in the Indian subcontinent from the north-west some time during the early second millennium BCE. Evidence for such a theory includes the close relationship between the Indo-Iranian tongues and the Baltic and Slavic languages

And right there, in the "north-west" we find the Burzahom archaeological site and the stone with two suns and Orion hunting deer...

I ended my post about the Los Millares bowls with the question: Did the same people make Los Millares bowls and write Rigveda? Or did two different people, one in Europe and one in North India, who both lived at the time when Orion marked the period of the deer rut, independently marked this in their own way: the Los Millares people by drawing Orion constellation as part of the deer rutting scene, and the creators of Rigveda by naming Orion Mriga - Deer? 

In my post about Los Millares bowls I proposed that the two suns were used to depict the link between the sun's light and the sight. But what if the reason why both Los Millares and Burzahom people drew two suns was less poetic and more prosaic: They depicted two suns in the sky because they saw two suns in the sky, our normal sun and something else that looked like a sun, like supernova. 

Well there is a problem with this prosaic explanation. HB9 supernova exploded around 3,600 BC. This is way too early for Los Millares.

Los Millares site was occupied between around 3200 BC and 1800 BC. So the second sun depicted on their ware can't be HB9. So what is it? Is the poetic explanation the only possible explanation for Los Millares two suns? And if so, it is entirely possible that the same symbolism was used in Burzahom and the two suns depicted on the deer hunting scene represent the sun god who sees all and who also allows us to see...

Well...

This is the Victory Stele of Naram-Sin currently kept in Louvre museum.

The stele dates to approximately 2254-2218 BC, in the time of the Akkadian Empire. The relief measures six feet in height and was carved in pink limestone. The official explanation for the scene says that it depicts the King Naram-Sin of Akkad leading the Akkadian army to victory over the mountain people, the Lullubi. 

The Wikipedia page about this artefact says that the stele is unique in two regards: 

1. Most conquest depictions are shown horizontally, with the King being at the top-center. This stele depicts the victory in a diagonal fashion with the King still being at the top-center but where everyone else can look up to him. 
2. King Naram-Sin is shown wearing a bull-horned helmet or shown as the face of lion. Helmets of this type at the time when this stele was commissioned were only worn by the Gods. This stele is in essence telling the viewer that Naram-Sin is a victorious conqueror as a result of his divine status. 

What the Wikipedia page about this artefact does not find unique or strange is the fact that at the top of the stele there is a depiction of two suns!!! The Wikipedia page interprets these two suns as "two stars" and says:

But it (the stele) also shows Naram-Sin gazing up toward two stars. Showing that although Naram-Sin is a god, a feat that was up to this point only achieved by deceased kings, he is still not the most powerful of gods.

However the page dedicated to the Victory Stele from Louvre - Department of Near Eastern Antiquities: Mesopotamia, says this about the two suns:

...the conqueror's gaze is directed toward the top of the mountain.  Above Naram-Sin, solar disks seem to radiate their divine protection toward him, while he rises to meet them.  

So solar discs??? Two solar discs??? Two suns???

And no one finds this funny or strange? 

Well this is very very interesting. Were Akkadians poetic or prosaic? Did they use the same symbolic depiction of two "sun eyes" to depict the the link between the sun light and sight or did they depict what they saw in the sky: two suns?

What is amazing about the Victory stele is that it can be dated, more or less precisely to the period 2254-2218 BC. 

This dating actually fits rather well with the dating for the Burzahom dwelling whose wall contained the drawing of the two suns (2100 BC). It is possible that the Burzahom carving was also done during the period 2254-2218 BC. If the bow-carrying hunter from the Burzahom drawing is interpreted as Orion, then the bow carrying Naram-Sin can also be interpreted as Orion. Both figures are orientated in relation to the two suns in a very similar way. Is this a coincidence? 

And on top of this, the period 2254-2218 BC falls right in the middle of the period during which the Los Millares site was occupied (3100-1800 BC). 

But here is the problem. There are no recorded super bright supernova explosions during the period 2254-2218 BC. So if these two suns are not a poetic representation of the link between the sun's light and sight, but instead a prosaic depiction of the actual two suns shining in the sky during the period 2254-2218 BC, what is this second sun? And is this mysterious second sun in any way linked to the sudden collapse of Bronze Age civilizations from around the world which happened around 2200 BC and which has lately been linked to a sudden catastrophic climate change? 

Bowls from Los Millares

Los Millares is a Chalcolithic occupation site 17 km north of Almería, in the municipality of Santa Fe de Mondújar, Andalucía, Spain. The complex was in use from the end of the fourth millennium to the end of the second millennium BC and probably supported somewhere around 1000 people.

The site covers 2 hectares (4.9 acres) and comprises three concentric lines of stone walls, the outer ring the largest, running more than 650 feet with nineteen 'bastions' and a gate guarded by foreworks. A cluster of simple dwellings lay inside the wall. The road to the site is guarded by four smaller outlying stone forts. There is an extensive cemetery of eighty passage grave tombs. The site was occupied between around 3200 BC and 1800 BC, when the Los Millares culture was replaced by El Argar civilisation.

Although primarily farmers, the inhabitants of Los Millares had crucially also learned metal working, especially the smelting and forming of copper. A large building containing evidence of copper smelting. Because of this, the site is considered highly important in understanding the transition from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age. The Los Millares culture eventually came to dominate the Iberian peninsula.

Pottery excavated from the site included plain and decorated wares including engraved bowls bearing oculus (a round or eye-like opening or design) motifs. Similar designs appear on various carved stone idols found at the site.

This is these ceramic bowls decorated with the "ocular" motif. It was dated to the period 3200–2300 BC. The bowl is currently displayed in Ashmolean museum.

Here is another example from the Museum of Almeria.

So what about the meaning of this "occular" decoration. The Ashmolean has this to say about it: "The meaning of the eye motif is unknown, but it must have had significance for Los Millares people. Some researchers believe that it may be related to the sun. Another interpretation is that it may represent an owl..."

That this motif indeed represents eyes can be seen from the fact that it is framed with what looks very much like eyebrows. Also the same motif is found on idols exactly where eyes are supposed to be.

But the motif also represents the sun, which can be seen from the fact that it is found on plates where it is not framed by eyebrows and where it is found in different numbers (1,2,3..)

So how can the same symbol represent the eyes and the sun? Well eyes are the organs of sight. But the sight is only possible if there is light. And the light is given by the sun. So without the sun there would be no light and no sight...

This link between the light and the sight is beautifuly depicted on Los Millares artefacts where the eyes are depicted using sun symbols.

The same symbolic link between the light and the sight is also preserved in Slavic language and tradition.

Svetovid is the Slavic sun god whose name comes from Svet + Vid = Light + Sight. Interestingly the word "svet" also means world, which does't exist until it is lit up by the light (svet) of the sun. At the same time the sun sees (vid) all the world (svet) from the sky. So Svetovid can mean both "the one who sees the world" and "the one who allows us to see the world".

You can read more about Svetovid symbolism in my post "Svetovid".

This makes the "occular motifs" from the Los Millares bowls really cool, right? 

But they are not half as cool as the motifs found on the other sides of the same bowls. Here is the back of the bowl from the Ashmolean museum:

And here is the back of another bowl, for which I am not sure where it is kept.

Here is the enlarged scene from the first bowl:

The scene on both bowls depicts a single male deer with large antlers and several animals which look like female deers, does (hinds). And this strange thing:

So what is the meaning of this scene? Well the Ashmolean says that the meaning of this scene is unknown. So let me see if I can offer a plausible interpretation.

This is Orion, a prominent constellation located on the celestial equator and visible throughout the world. It is one of the most conspicuous and recognizable constellations in the night sky.

The distinctive pattern of Orion, which looks like an X or like an hourglass, has been recognized in numerous cultures around the world, and many myths have been associated with it.

Now have a look again at the strange object that you can see on the above scene with deer. 

It looks exactly like the shape of the Orion constellation. And what is interesting, while the deer are engraved using straight lines, this strange object is gouged using poke marks. Why? Is it because the artists wanted to indicate that these are stars and the the object is a collection of stars forming a constellation, the Orion constellation?

But why would anyone put Orion constellation in the same scene with a single male deer and several female deers?

Autumn is the time when one of nature's great spectacles, deer rutting (mating), takes place. The deer will mate from September to November, with the main breeding time occurring in October. 

The timing of the rut is controlled by the length of the day and it never changes. So it is an event which is fixed on the solar circle. By mid September, aggression is more marked. Mature stags are increasingly intolerant of each other, and there are short chases as they attain peak condition. These animals are first to rut. Traditionally, the first roars (loud deep low-pitched call) are heard in the last week of September, signalling the commencement of the rut. Each stag is seeking to gather hinds to herd together for his harem (on average 5 hinds), he will then endeavour to possess exclusively, by marking and defending the territory over which the hinds roam. 

He will mate with the fittest hinds, which normally come on heat by the second and third week in October. During the rut, while the stag waits for each hind in his harem to come in season, he will wallow in peat, thresh the vegetation with his antlers, as well as roar and clash in contest with competing males. As October draws to a close, the, majority of stags have finished the rut. 

In Slavic calendar the month of September, when the rut starts, is known as "Rujan", which means "the month of deer mating" (from archaic verb for deer roar "rjuti").

Now here is something amazing:

Around 3000 BC, Orion was visible from August to October.
Around 1000 BC, Orion was visible from September to November.

So the beginning of the rut, the deer mating season falls right in the middle of the period when Orion was visible during the period when Los Millares people made their misterious bowls...

It gets even better. The Persian fallow deer, which is the predominant deer type in North Western Indian subcontinent, starts its matins season in August. At the EXACT same time when Orion became visible around 3000 BC... 

Now compare the above picture of a single male deer with his harem of does (hinds) with the scene from the Los Millares bowls:

Deer rut, single male deer surrounded with a harem of does (hinds) ,taking place during the period when Orion is visible in the sky...

What did I tell you, super cool. And it gets cooler :)

The Rigveda refers to the Orion Constellation as Mriga (The Deer). 

In Sanskrit mṛgaśiraṣa, the 5th nakṣatra or lunar mansion as used in Hindu astronomy and astrology is the constellation Orion. Symbol is Antelope or Deer.

The term Mṛgaśira (मृगशिर) a composite of two Sanskrit words, mṛga (मृग) meaning deer/animal/beast and śira (शिर) meaning head or precisely, the top of the head.


What is also interesting is that in Serbian the word "orijaš" means giant and the word "mrga" also means giant. Both of these are very close to Orion and Mrga (Mriga) probably coming from the same ancient root.

Is the reason why Rigveda use deer as symbol for Orion the same as the reason why we find Orion depicted on the deer rut scene on Los Millares bowls? If this is so, and I believe that it is, then this has significant implications on the origin of Rigveda.

Accepted opinion, based on philological and linguistic evidence, is the Rigveda was composed in the north-western region of the Indian subcontinent, most likely between c. 1500 and 1200 BC. 


But is it possible that the association between deer and Orion is older? Like 1500 years older?

So to conclude:

Is this what the meaning of this "mysterious" scene is? And if so, what implications does it have on the origin of Rigveda? Did the same people make Los Millares bowls and write Rigveda? Or did two different people, one in Europe and one in North India, who both lived at the time when Orion marked the period of the deer rut, independently marked this in their own way: the Los Millares people by drawing Orion constellation as part of the deer rutting scene, and the creators of Rigveda by naming Orion Mriga - Deer? 

What do you think?