An Ancient Stone Disk Recovered In Italy Featuring Engravings Of The Night Sky Is Now Believed To Be One Of The Oldest Celestial Maps Ever Found
At first glance, an ancient relic recovered in Italy appears to be nothing more than a simple stone disk. However, the mysterious artifact may actually be able to point to where a major celestial event occurred thousands of years ago.
The stone disk is comparable to the size of a car tire and features engravings that are thought to resemble a celestial map of the night sky.
It is believed to be one of the oldest celestial maps ever discovered in human history. The stone was found at an ancient hill fort located in northeastern Italy at a site called Rupinpiccolo.
Hill forts were types of settlements that were guarded by huge stone walls called castellieri. At Rupinpiccolo, the castellieri dated between 1800 B.C. and 400 B.C. Researchers are uncertain how old the stone disk is, but it likely belongs to some point during that span of time, which means it is at least 2,400 years old.
They identified 29 chisel marks on the stone that were etched by a human hand. One face of the stone contains 24 marks, while the other has five.
Special software was used to categorize the marks into specific groups of stars, including the constellations Scorpius, Orion, Cassiopeia, and Pleiades, based on how they were positioned in the sky during the period when civilization at Rupinpiccolo existed.
The scientists confirmed that the engravings were deliberately made because they aligned too well with the distribution of the stars to be random. But among the 29 marks, one of them defied identification, which has caused speculations to arise.
The unidentified mark sat slightly to the north of Orion, and it may represent a star that had undergone a failed supernova.
A failed supernova is an astronomical event in which a star brightens as in the early stages of a supernova but does not continue the process of transforming into one. Failed supernovas are thought to create black holes when they collapse in on themselves and seemingly disappear from the sky.
catalinlazar – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only
If the mysterious mark does signify a failed supernova, the black hole would be invisible but can be revealed through modern astronomical tools.
One of the techniques for searching for failed supernovas is to compare past pictures of the sky with current ones to see if any stars are missing.
The stone disk has also been compared to similar artifacts, such as the Nebra disk from Germany. The bronze disk dates back to around 1600 B.C. and has features that represent astronomical objects.
However, some experts argue that the Nebra disk veered toward being a symbolic item rather than an actual map of the cosmos.
Additionally, researchers have suggested that the stone disk may have served as a tool to track seasonal changes, aiding in agricultural practices.
They are urging for further studies to be conducted in order to verify their interpretations.
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