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The significance of the Sun, Moon and celestial bodies to societies in the Carpathian basin during the Bronze Age

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2011

Emília Pásztor
Emília Pásztor*
Affiliation:
Dunaföldvar, Sohaz. u. 4., 7020Hungary email: [email protected]
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Abstract

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Celestial events often exerted a great or even decisive influence on the life of ancient communities. They may provide some of the foundations on which an understanding of the deeper meaning of mythologies, religious systems and even folk tales can be based. These influences are reflected and may be detected in the archaeological material as well. There is good evidence that celestial (especially solar and perhaps lunar) phenomena played a particularly important rôle in the worldview of prehistoric Europe. To reveal the social and ideational significance of concepts relating to the celestial bodies in the prehistory of the Carpathian Basin, complex investigations on orientations of houses and graves, prestige archaeological finds and iconography have been accomplished. The results indicate ideological and/or social changes, which developed into a likely organized ideological system in large part of Central Europe including the Carpathian Basin by the Late Bronze Age. It might also be the first period in prehistory when people became really interested in celestial phenomena.

Keywords

PrehistoryCarpathian Basinsky loreorientationcelestial symbolsdivinization of elite
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 5 , Symposium S260: The Role of Astronomy in Society and Culture , January 2009 , pp. 127 - 134
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2011

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