PALEOLITHIC STAR CHARTS - THE NORTHERN CROWN IN EL CASTILLO?

Red paintings in El Castillo

Cave, Spain - Public Domain.

I continue my exploration of (supposed) Paleolithic Star Charts with what has been called a diagram of the Northern Crown constellation in El Castillo Cave, in Spain. El Castillo is the current holder of the title for the oldest art in Europe with recent dates for red painted elements; Red circle: 40,800 BP, Red Hand: 37,300 BP (David 2017:146) I wrote about these dates, the oldest currently known for Europe, on September 20, 2014, in a column titled Uranium Isotope Dating Reveals Perhaps The Oldest Cave Art In Europe, on RockArtBlog. (Faris 2014)

Diagram of the "frieze of hands"

with the arc of dots on the right

side. Public domain.

A semicircle of dots on the right side of the Panel de las Manos has been identified by Dr. Michael Rappenglueck as another Paleolithic Star Chart, this one the Corona Borealis, or Northern Crown. One of those who had taken him seriously; Kathleen Flanagan Rollins, wrote in her blog Misfits and Heroes; "After visiting El Castillo and looking at the panel in question, I have to admit I was wrong. It's not a clear semi-circle of start but more like a full circle. I suppose that's the danger of working from a diagram rather than the real thing." (Rollins 2015) This does not seem to me to be an effective argument against the idea of this painting as Corona Borealis as there are plenty of other stars around the constellation that one can decide could be included in the constellation to make it a rough, but full, circle. I will give this one to Rappenglueck; arc, or circle - I don't see that it matters.

Close-up drawing of the arc of
dots identified as Corona borealis.
Public domain.

My objections to this theory are the same as my objections to Rappenglueck's other identified Paleolithic Star Charts. We cannot know whether Paleolithic peoples of Europe even recognized constellations or had the concept of arrangements of stars representing shapes in the sky. Even if they did they certainly would not have identified this grouping as a crown, the concept of a crown was doubtless millennia in mankind's future. Also, I still am not convinced that the people would have gone deep underground to paint star charts when all they had to do to see them was look up at night. I get the "secret knowledge" argument, I just don't agree with it. I am not saying that this theory is not possible, I am just saying that I do not see anywhere near enough evidence to make such leaps to conclusions. I see too many possible arguments against, and too few arguments in favor.

Modern star diagram of Corona borealis.

Wikimedia. Public domain.

NOTE: Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the originals at the sites listed below.

REFERENCES:

David, Bruno

2017 Cave Art, Thames & Hudson, London.

Faris, Peter,

2014 Uranium Isotope Dating Reveals Perhaps The Oldest Cave Art In Europe, http://rockartblog.blogspot.com/2014/09/uranium-isotope-dating-reveals-perhaps.html

Rollins, Kathleen Flanagan,

2015 El Castillo: Wonders and Questions, 12 September 2015, https://misfitsandheroes.wordpress.com/tag/northern-crown-in-rock-art/