Papoura Mountain Crete And The Palaikastro Moulds "Eclipse Calculator" - What's The Connection?

A recent Bluesky post by Archaeology Magazine about an archaeological discovery-excavation on Crete says:

"Long before they raised Bronze Age palaces at Knossos and Malia, Minoans on Crete built this highly unusual stone structure in the shape of eight concentric circles. Archaeologists recently discovered it, and they’re exploring ideas about its function."

Read the complete Archaeology Magazine article.

 

 

An aerial photograph of the archaeological excavation of a "Circular structure" on "Papoura Mountain", Crete, shows a structure that looks very much like a large "radial line motif" aka a #RayedSunSymbol with a cross in its innermost circle. Needless to say, I immediately thought that this "circular structure", which is dated to have been constructed "by members of the Bronze Age Minoan culture" between 3000 BCE –1700 BCE, and "is thought to be the earliest monumental complex discovered on the island (of Crete)", could be an "as above so below" response to one or more total solar eclipses that occurred above Crete between 3000 and 1700 BCE. So I searched for ancient total solar eclipses that took above Crete within that 1.3 millennia time span using Xavier Jubier's 'Neolithic (-5500 to -2000) Solar Eclipses Database' as well as his 'Five Millennium (-1999 to +3000) Canon of Solar Eclipses Database'.

The 'Neolithic Solar Eclipses Data Base' found several total solar eclipses, including a #TotalSolarEclipse above Crete on May 24, 2929 BCE.

 

And another total solar eclipse on July 8, 2708 BCE.

 

It's worth noting that an annular eclipse predating the 2929 BCE total solar eclipse took place on September 23 3084 BCE, and that two annular eclipses took place between these two total solar eclipses. The first annular eclipse occurred on August 27 2878 BCE, while the second took place on October 31st 2770 BCE.

There was also a total solar eclipse on June 21 2568 BCE.

 

Things get even more interesting when we look at total solar eclipses that took place above Crete after 2000 BCE. . .

Xavier Jubier's Solar Eclipse Database maps a total solar eclipse above Crete on January 9, 1861 BCE.

 

Swiftly followed-up by another total eclipse of the Sun just over two years later on May 15, 1859 BCE.

 

This "double whammy" of two #TotalSolarEclipses occurring above Crete within less than 2.5 years would have provoked or renewed interest in #SolarEclipses, but even this gets better. . .

An #AnnularEclipse occurred above eastern Crete on October 27, 1858 BCE.

 

That is three major solar eclipses occurring above 19th century BCE Crete within less than four years.

According to a Greek Reporter article by Tasos Kokkinidis headlined: 

Excavation Results Shed Light on Mysterious Minoan Labyrinth on Crete

"Based on current data, the structure is tentatively dated between 3000–1700 BC, with successive construction phases. The continuous maintenance, including wall repairs, buttressing, and additions around the central dome over centuries, indicates that the monument served as a central reference point for the inhabitants of the area."

Another Greek Reporter article by Dimitrios Aristopoulos headlined:

First Portable Eclipse Calculator Invented by Minoans Nearly 4,000 Years Ago

is worth mentioning in this context too. . .

According to the article, one of the Palaikastro Moulds, which archaeologist Jan G. Velsink dated to "between 1850 to 1700 BC (give or take 25 years or so)", was hypothesized to possibly be "a template for constructing a mechanical device for celestial calculations" and even "A Minoan eclipse calculator" by a group of researchers in 2013. The earliest archaeologically calculated date for this possible "Minoan eclipse calculator" is 1850 BCE, just 8 years after the 1858 BCE annular eclipse.

"Do the math" on that temporal "coincidence". . . 

 

Based upon this information, I believe I can quite reasonably hypothesize that, assuming the Palaikastro mould in question was-is in fact "a Minoan eclipse calculator", it was this unusual series of three major solar eclipses, two total and one annular, that took place above Crete between 1861 BCE and 1858 BCE, which inspired-prompted the Minoans living in Palaikastro, Crete, to attempt to construct "a mechanical device for celestial calculations" that could potentially calculate the dates of future solar eclipses. 

Even if this Palaikastro mould was not actually capable of calculating solar eclipses, I would say that the iconography it displays is a classic solar cross symbol integrated into a rayed sun symbol, just as the "circular structure" discovered on Papoura Mountain appears to be a large rayed sun symbol with a possible solar cross in its innermost circle.

It is worth noting that Palaikastro is located at the easternmost extremity of the island of Crete, so Palaikastro would have been within the "path of totality" of all three of the solar eclipses that took place above Crete between 1861 BCE and 1858 BCE, as is shown on the Google Earth map that overlays the paths of all three of these ancient solar eclipses.

 

#Eclipsology #CulturalEclipsology #Crete #Minoan #Minoans #MinoanCivilization