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The Sassi cave houses of Matera are among the first human settlements in Italy. Credit: Isiwal.{{free media}}

The Sassi cave houses of Matera shown on the right image are among the first human settlements in Italy dating back to the Paleolithic.[1]

Thousands of Lower Paleolithic artifacts have been recovered from Monte Poggiolo, dating as far back as 850,000 years.[2] Excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Middle Palaeolithic period some 200,000 years ago,[3] while modern humans appeared about 40,000 years ago at Riparo Mochi.[4] Archaeological sites from this period include Addaura cave, Altamura, Ceprano, and Gravina in Puglia.[5]

The Ancient peoples of pre-Roman Italy – such as the Umbrians, the Latins (from which the Romans emerged), Volsci, Oscans, Samnites, Sabines, the Celts, the Ligures, the Veneti, the Iapygians, and many others – were Indo-European peoples, most of them specifically of the Italic group. The main historic peoples of possible non-Indo-European or pre-Indo-European heritage include the Etruscans of central and northern Italy, the Elymians and the Sicani in Sicily, and the prehistoric Sardinians, who gave birth to the Nuragic civilisation. Other ancient populations being of undetermined language families and of possible non-Indo-European origin include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni, known for their rock carvings in Valcamonica, the largest collections of prehistoric petroglyphs in the world.[6] A well-preserved natural mummy known as Ötzi the Iceman, determined to be 5,000 years old (between 3400 and 3100 BCE, Copper Age), was discovered in the Similaun glacier of South Tyrol in 1991.[7]

Matera is located at 40°40'N 16°36'E.

Etruria

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This map shows Etruria during Roman times. Credit: Unknown author.{{free media}}

Central Italy is located at 42.3°N 13.2°E.

Etruscan (Etruria) religion: divinities of an indigenous origin: Voltumna or Vertumnus, a primordial, chthonic god; Usil, god(-dess) of the Sun; Tivr, god of the Moon; Turan, goddess of love; Laran, god of war; Maris, goddess of (child-)birth; Leinth, goddess of death; Selvans, god of the woods; Nethuns, god of the waters; Thalna, god of trade; Turms, messenger of the gods; Fufluns, god of wine; the heroic figure Hercle; and Catha, whose religious sphere is uncertain.[8]

"men thought that different prodigies appeared by means of which the gods notified mortals at the end of each age. The Etruscans were versed in the science of the stars, and after having observed the prodigies with attention, they recorded theses observation in their books."[9]

Pawnee

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Pawnee County, Kansas, is located at 38° 9'N 99° 12'W. The Platte River location of Pawnee tribal lands may have been closer to 41°3'N 95°52'W in Nebraska. Grand Island, Nebraska is located at 40°55'N 98°21'W near one of the Pawnee original tribal lands.

The county is named after the Pawnee Tribe.[10]

The Pawnee are a Central Plains Indian tribe that historically were based in Nebraska and Kansas and currently are based in Oklahoma.[11] Their Pawnee language belongs to the Caddoan language family, and their names for themselves is Chatiks si chatiks or "Men of Men".[12]

"It was just before dawn on April 22, 1838. After a long ritual preparation, Haxti, a captive Oglala Sioux girl about fifteen year old, walked proudly but hesitantly toward the approaching sunrise at the head of a stately procession of Pawnee.1 Her entire right side, which faced the south, was painted red to symbolize the dawn."[13]

"Every few years when the need to propitiate Morning Star was great and the celestial appearances were appropriate, the Pawnee captured a maiden from a neighboring tribe, and after months of ceremony, sacrificed her to Morning Star."[13]

The "man who had captured her from her village and dedicated her to Morning Star ran forth, and using a sacred bow and arrow, he shot Haiti through the heart. Her soul rose immediately to Tirawahat, the supreme god of the Pawnee. Tirawahat [or Tirawa, the One Above, changeless and supreme. From Tirawa comes all things: Tirawa made the heavens and the stars.] then gave her soul to Morning Star, who arrayed it in flint then from his dawn fireplace. Haxti therefore became another of the stars in the heavens, to shine down in favor on the Pawnee."[13]

"To understand the possible sequence of events that would represent the travels and trials of Morning Star, it is first essential to identify Morning Star. [In] the opinion of [Von Del] Chamberlain, the only planet that will fit the known cases of sacrifice most appropriately is Mars. It is the westward migration of Mars that is likely to be "the key observational element in Skidi [a band of the Pawnee] mythology and practice,"9 he says."[13]

Atius Tirawa, which means "Father Above" in the Pawnee language (often translated, inaccurately, as "Great Spirit"),[14] was the creator god. Other terms used, and perhaps most used, are Tirawahat or Tirawahut.[15]:38 and 179 [16]:66 He was believed to have taught the Pawnee people tattooing, fire-building, hunting, agriculture, speech and clothing, religious rituals (including the use of tobacco and sacred bundles), and sacrifices. He was associated with most natural phenomena, including stars and planets, wind, lightning, rain, and thunder. The wife of Tirawa was Atira, goddess of the Earth. Atira (literally, Mother Corn) was associated with corn.[17]

"But there was yet another mystic drama at Eleusis, that which seems to have been reserved for the cpoptae, or initiates of the second degree. This second degree was identical in meaning with the central mystery of the Hako: the Holy Marriage of Heaven and Earth and the Birth of a Sacred Child. At Eleusis it was Zeus and Demeter; among the Pawnees it was Tirawa-atius and H'Uraru but the two pairs of terms carry an identical meaning, Father Sky and Mother Earth. The Child was in each case a symbolic child, typifying at once the fruitfulness of the Earth and the promise of continuing life."[18]

Chaldeans

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The countries around Chaldea are shown. Credit: Zénaïde A. Ragozin. No Map Credit. Publisher T. FISHER UNWIN, PATERNOSTER SQUARE, NEW YORK: G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS. MDCCCXCIII.{{free media}}

"A four-planet system was known to Chaldean astronomy, in which Venus was absent but Mars was present."[19]

Chaldea is located at 32.5°N 63°W.

In Chaldean mythology, Nebo [Mercury] was a god whose worship was introduced into Assyria by Pul [Tiglath-pileser III] (Isa. 46:1; Jer. 48:1). The great temple at Birs Nimrud was dedicated to Nebo.

"Diodorus picks out Saturn (the "star of Kronos") for special attention, saying that it is most "conspicuous" and "signifying the most and greatest things," and that the Chaldeans called it "of the Sun.""[20]

"The passage [is] on the Chaldeans (Χαλδαῖοι) in Book 2 of the mid first century bce historian Diodorus’s Historical Library (Bibliotheca Historica) [...]."[20]

"Diodorus lists the planets by their Greek theophoric name in the following order: Saturn, Mars, Venus, Mercury and Jupiter. This planetary order is not the standard Babylonian order of the planets which is commonly found in cuneiform texts of the late first millennium bce (Jupiter, Venus, Mercury, Saturn, Mars), nor does it have an obvious Greek origin."[20]

Aztecs

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Mictlantecuhtli (left), god of death, the lord of the Underworld and Quetzalcoatl (right), god of wisdom, life, knowledge, morning star (Venus), patron of the winds and light, the lord of the West. Credit: Unknown author.{{free media}}
The Aztec empire is shown in 1519 during the reign of Moctezuma Xocoyotzin or Moctezuma II. Credit: Aldan-2.{{free media}}
This is a pre-Columbian image of Huitzilopochtli the patron god of the Mexica tribe. Credit: Giggette.{{free media}}

Aztec mythology is the body or collection of myths of Aztec civilization of Central Mexico.[21] The Aztecs were Nahuatl-speaking groups living in central Mexico and much of their mythology is similar to that of other Mesoamerican cultures. According to legend, the various groups who were to become the Aztecs arrived from the north into the Anahuac valley around Lake Texcoco. The location of this valley and lake of destination is clear – it is the heart of modern Mexico City – but little can be known with certainty about the origin of the Aztec. In the myth the ancestors of the Mexica/Aztec came from a place in the north called Aztlan, the last of seven nahuatlacas (Nahuatl-speaking tribes, from tlaca, "man") to make the journey southward, hence their name "Azteca." Other accounts cite their origin in Chicomoztoc, "the place of the seven caves," or at Tamoanchan (the legendary origin of all civilizations).

Huitzilopochtli (on the left) is seen as the sun in mythology, while his many male siblings are perceived as the stars and his sister as the moon, in the Aztec worldview, this is the reason why the Sun is constantly chasing the Moon and stars, it is also why it was so important to provide tribute for Huitzilopochtli as sustenance for the Sun.[22]

Lake Texcoco is located at 19°25'N 99°8'W.

Maya

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Map shows the Maya region, with major rivers, mountain ranges and regions. Credit: Simon Burchell.{{free media}}

"These suns mark the epochs to which are attributed the various catastrophes the world has suffered."[23]

The Maya civilization was located about at 14°38'N 90°30'W.

British North Borneo

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The map shows British North Borneo. Credit: Edward Stanford Ltd. for the British North Borneo Chartered Company.{{free media}}

British North Borneo is located at 5°15'N 117°E (Sabah).

The aborigines of British North Borneo, even today, declare that the sky was originally low, and that six suns perished, and at present the world is illuminated by the seventh sun.[24]

Guarani

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"Abaangui was a god who cut off his nose, which became the moon."[25]

"The primary figure in most Guarani creation legends is Tupa, the supreme god of all creation. With the help of the moon goddess Arasy, Tupa decended upon the Earth in a location specified as a hill in the region of Aregúa, Paraguay, and from that location created all that is found upon the face of the earth, including the ocean, forests, and the animals. It is also said that the stars were placed in the sky at this point."[26]

The Guarani are located mostly in Paraguay at 23°S 58°W.

The Tapirape live in Central Brazil north of the Tapirape River, a western affluent of the Araguaya River. They are a Tupi-speaking people isolated from other peoples speaking the same language."[27]

"In point of time, the Tapirape consider the present as the third world. Twice people were destroyed, once by flood and once by universal fire. Before these catastrophes, there were pre-Tapirape called Karanjuntuwera."[27]

"Petura went far to the northeast "where the earth ends and water begins" to live in Maratawa,8 [an island] the home of all Tapirape culture heroes, of shamans after death, and of the sun and the moon. There he lives today. He never dies, but lives and re-lives his life cycle as the cycle of the seasons."[27]

"As the sun is male, so the moon is female. Both are thought of as people, and in myth the sun is called Ancerika and the moon Tamparawa, both names of people."[27]

"Two large planets were formerly Tapirape culture bearers. Apuwenonu12 (Venus) came down from the sky one night after having watched Anuntero, a Tapirape woman, for a long time, and lived with the Tapirape. [...] Finally Apuwenonu returned to the sky, taking with him his earthly son by Anuntero who is called Imauawango (Jupiter). Today, the Tapirape point to these two planets, recounting their story and saying, "Apuwenonu is young at night when he is in the sky, but by day he is old again as he was when he left us.""[27]

See also

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References

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  1. ↑ "Sassi di Matera". AmusingPlanet.
  2. ↑ Society, National Geographic. "Erano padani i primi abitanti d'Italia". National Geographic. Retrieved 11 March 2019. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= requires |archive-url= (help)
  3. ↑ Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers 2001, ch. 2. isbn: 0-306-46463-2 }}
  4. ↑ 42.7–41.5 ka (68–95–99.7 rule 1σ CI). Douka, Katerina (2012). "A new chronostratigraphic framework for the Upper Palaeolithic of Riparo Mochi (Italy)". Journal of Human Evolution 62 (2): 286–299. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.11.009. PMID 22189428. 
  5. ↑ "Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria". IIPP. 29 January 2010. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= requires |archive-url= (help)
  6. ↑ "Rock Drawings in Valcamonica". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Retrieved 29 June 2010.
  7. ↑ Bonani, Georges; Ivy, Susan D. (1994). "AMS 14
    C
     Age Determination of Tissue, Bone and Grass Samples from the Ötzal Ice Man"    . Radiocarbon 36 (2): 247–250. doi:10.1017/s0033822200040534. http://digitalcommons.library.arizona.edu/objectviewer?o=http%3A%2F%2Fradiocarbon.library.arizona.edu%2FVolume36%2FNumber2%2Fazu_radiocarbon_v36_n2_247_250_v.pdf. Retrieved 4 February 2016.     
  8. ↑ Le Glay, Marcel (2009). A history of Rome. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-8327-7. http://worldcat.org/oclc/760889060. 
  9. ↑ Censorinus Liber de die natali xviii.
  10. ↑ Swanton, John Reed (1952). The Indian Tribes of North America. US Government Printing Office. p. 290. ISBN 978-0-8063-1730-4. https://books.google.com/books?id=Xpx6WoPz7xIC&pg=PA290. 
  11. ↑ Parks, Douglas R.. "Pawnee".. Oklahoma Historical Society. Retrieved on 14 September 2011.
  12. ↑ Viola, Herman J. (2008). Warriors in Uniform: The legacy of American Indian heroism. National Geographic Books. p. 101. ISBN 9781426203619. https://books.google.com/books?id=JYXMqa1MYNsC&q=Pawnee+tribe+Chaticks+Men+of+Men&pg=PA101. Retrieved 1 January 2017. 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 Ray A. Williamson (1987). The Pawnee: Great Morning Star, In: Living the Sky: The Cosmos of the American Indian. University of Oklahoma Press. pp. 366. ISBN 0806120347. https://books.google.com/books?id=MryjN_Z8z0QC&lr=&source=gbs_navlinks_s. Retrieved 5 October 2021. 
  14. ↑ "Legendary Native American Figures: Tirawa (Atius Tirawa)". www.native-languages.org. Retrieved November 16, 2014.
  15. ↑ Murie, James R. (1981a): "Ceremonies of the Pawnee. Part I. The Skiri." Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology. No. 27. Washington.
  16. ↑ Blaine, Martha R. (1990): Pawnee Passage, 1870-1875. Norman and London.
  17. ↑ "Atira". The Dinner Party. Brooklyn Museum. Retrieved 11 October 2011.
  18. ↑ Hartley B. Alexander (July 1912). "A Pawnee Mystery [Concluded"]. The Open Court (Carbondale, Illinois USA: Southern Illinois University): 494-503. http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2683&context=ocj. Retrieved 5 October 2021. 
  19. ↑ Immanuel Velikovsky (January 1965). Worlds in Collision. New York: Dell Publishing Co., Inc.. pp. 401. http://books.google.com/books?id=FJst27kSVBgC&pg=PA13&dq=%22Worlds+in+Collision%22+1965&hl=en. Retrieved 2012-01-13. 
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 Alexander Jones and John Steele. C. Jay Crisostomo, Eduardo A. Escobar, Terri Tanaka and Niek Veldhuis. ed. Diodorus on the Chaldeans, In: The Scaffolding of Our Thoughts. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. pp. 333-352. ISBN 978-90-04-36337-3. https://hcommons.org/deposits/download/hc:21244/CONTENT/crisostomo_escobar_tanaka_veldhuis-2018-the-scaffolding-of-our-thoughts.-essays-on-assyriology-and-the-history-of-science-in-honor-of-francesca-rochberg_amd-13.pdf. Retrieved 5 October 2021. 
  21. ↑ Kirk, p. 8; "myth", Encyclopædia Britannica
  22. ↑ Coe, Michael D. (2008). Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs. London: Thames & Hudson. pp. 217. 
  23. ↑ Brasseur, Sources de l'histoire primitive du Mexique, p. 25
  24. ↑ R. B. Dixon, Oceanic Mythology, 1916, p. 178.
  25. ↑ TUF-KAT (27 September 2002). "Guarani mythology". San Francisco, California: Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Retrieved 5 October 2021. {{cite web}}: Check |author= value (help)
  26. ↑ Shereth (24 March 2005). "Guarani mythology". San Francisco, California: Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Retrieved 5 October 2021. {{cite web}}: Check |author= value (help)
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 27.3 27.4 Charles Wagley (October - December 1940). "World View of the Tapirape Indians". The Journal of American Folklore 53 (210): 252-260. https://www.jstor.org/stable/535785. Retrieved 5 October 2021. 

Further reading

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{{Archaeology resources}}{{Humanities resources}}{{Radiation astronomy resources}}

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