Conference Programme
Updated 30 July 2014
Sunday 21 September |
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Optional tour to Hypogeum at Hal Saflieni (only a few places left) |
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17.00-19.00 | Registration at the Venue |
Monday 22 September |
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08.30 | Registration |
09.30 | Official Opening by Hon. Minister Dr Bonnici |
Welcome addresses by Dr Joseph Buttigieg, Chairman Heritage Malta, Professor Richard Muscat Pro-Rector, University of Malta, and Dr Michael Rappenglück, President, SEAC. |
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10.15 | Coffee break |
10.45 | Practical information |
Cosmology and Cosmovision Chairperson morning session: Frank Ventura |
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11.00 | Michael Rappenglück (invited), Adult Education Centre and Observatory Gilching, Germany: Fire from the heavens |
11.30 | Rosalyn Frank, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, the University of Iowa, USA: On the origins and diffusion of the Sky Bears: A Status Report |
11.50 | Marianna Ridderstad, Doctoral candidate: Tracing the solar goddess of the Baltic Finn |
12.10 | Gail Higginbottom and Roger Clay, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia, and the School of Chemistry and Physics, University of Adelaide, South Australia, Australia: Connections: the relationships between Neolithic and Bronze Age Megalithic Astronomy in Britain |
12.30 | Barbara Rappenglück: Cosmic containers - elements of ancient cosmovisions |
12.50 | Discussion |
13.10 | Lunch |
Chairperson afternoon session: Nicholas Campion |
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14.40 | John McKim Malville (invited), Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, University of Colorado, USA (emeritus): Rituals of Circulation and Ascent: Cosmic Mountains, Axes Mundi and Solar-Lunar Calendars |
15.10 | Francisco Burillo and Pilar Burillo: The Celestial sphere in antiquity |
15.30 | Flora Vafea, Ptolemaeus Arabus Latinus Project: Sirius’ (al-‘Abūr) proper motion as recorded in the Arabic Star Mythology |
15.50 | Coffee Break |
16.20 | Juan Belmonte, IAC, La Laguna, Spain, José Miguel Noguera Celdrán, University of Murcia (Spain), A. César González-García, Incipit (CSIC), Santiago de Compostela (Spain), Andrea Rodríguez-Antón(invited), IAC, La Laguna, Spain: The materialization of sacred space: astronomy and landscape in Cartha Nova |
16.50 | Göran Henriksson, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Sweden: The Nordic calendar and the Great Midwinter Sacrifice at Old Uppsala |
17.10 | Lucia Ayala, Independent researcher: The fluid materiality of the sky |
17.30 | George Latura, Author and independent researcher Celestial Ladders & Heavenly Intersections across Continents/Millennia |
17.50 | Michael Rappenglück (Invited), Adult Education Centre and Observatory Gilching, Germany: Cosmovisions put upon a disk: another view on the Nebra Disk |
18.00 | Arnold Lebeuf, Institute for the History of Religions, Jagielonian University, Poland: The age of Moses |
18.20 | Discussion |
18.40 | End of Day 1 |
18.45 | Cocktail reception at the conference venue Nicholas Campion Launch of Tore Lomsdalen’s book The Sky and Purpose in Prehistoric Malta: Sun, Moon Stars at the Temples of Mnajdra, (Sophia Centre Press). |
Tuesday 23 September |
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Maltese Archaeoastronomy Chairperson morning session: Nicholas Vella |
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09.00 | Frank Ventura (invited), University of Malta: Reading messages from the past: Assessing symbols in archaeoastronomy |
09.30 | Daniel Cilia, Independent researcher, Tore Lomsdalen, Independent scholar, Frank Ventura, University of Malta: Investigating the orientation of the entrance to the prehistoric Xaghra Circle in Gozo, Malta: exploration and motivation |
09.50 | Mario Vassallo, Independent researcher: Directing Sunlight Towards Appropriate Spaces in Hagar Qim temple, Malta |
10.10 | Tore Lomsdalen, Independent scholar: Were there solar-influenced oracular practices at the Prehistoric Temples of Malta? |
10.30 | Coffee Break |
11.00 | John Cox, Independent scholar: The Sun and the Moon included and excluded from Temple Buildings of the Ggantija and Tarxien phases in Malta and Gozo. |
11.20 | Jane Burton, Independent researcher: The Divine Feminine: The Mother, Sister & Daughter Symbolism of the Maltese Temples and Contemporary Goddess Worship. |
11.40 | Irene Friesen, Athabasca University, Canada: Mnajdra: Cosmology of the Sky |
12.00 | Reuben Grima, University of Malta: Between Scylla and Charybdis: challenges and prospects for an archaeology of Maltese Neolithic cosmology |
12.20 | Discussion |
12.40 | Information on Excursion |
12.50 | Lunch at Venue |
Excursion |
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14:15 | Departure of excursion |
15:00 | Arrival Hagar Qim and Mnajdra |
17:30 | Depart for Clapham Junction: caves, cart ruts and ancient tombs |
18:00 | Arrival at Clapham Junction |
19:00 | Depart for Mdina: the ancient capital city of Malta |
19:30 | Arrival at Mdina. |
21:30 | Depart for Valletta/Sliema |
Wednesday 24 September |
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Equinox Sunrise Tour |
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05.15 | Depart Sliema for Mnajdra |
05.30 | Depart Valletta for Mnajdra |
06.00 | Arrival Hagar Qim |
06.30 | Mnajdra Equinox sunrise |
08.30 | Depart for Valletta |
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Astronomical orientations Chairperson morning session: Juan Antonio Belmonte |
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09.30 | Lionel Sims (invited), Department of Anthropology, University of East London, England (Emeritus): What is a minor standstill of the moon? |
10.00 | Cesar Esteban, IAC in La Laguna (Spain) and J.A. Ocharan, Director of excavations at La Nariz site: The winter sun, water and ancient cults at the sanctuary of La Nariz |
10.20 | Thomas Gough, Independent Scholar: Celestial alignments in western Scotland in the Early Bronze Age: the nature of backsights, foresights and alignments. |
10.40 | Coffee Break |
11.10 | Fabio Silva (invited), University College London, England and the University of Trinity St David, Wales: Megalithic Archaeoastronomy at mesoscopic scales |
11.40 | L. Lozito, Gruppo Archeologico Lucano, Matera, Italy, F. Maurici, Centre of Cataloguing of Cultural Heritage, Archaeological Superintendence, Palermo, Italy, Astronomy and Cultural Heritage Centre, Ferrara University, Italy, V. F. Polcaro, Italian National Institute of Astrophysics-Institute for Space Astronomy and Planetology, Rome, Italy, A. Scuderi, Gruppo Archeologico della Valle dello Jato, San Cipirello, Italy: New findings at the Petre de la Mola megaliths |
12.00 | David Fisher: The stelae of Crystal River |
12.20 | Florin Stanescu, Doctoral School of History, “1 Decembrie 1918” University of Alba Iulia, Romania (emeritus): The fundamental astronomical direction in the Dacians’ sanctuaries of Sarmizegetusa Regia, Romania |
12.40 | Discussion |
13.00 | Lunch |
Chairperson afternoon session: Fabio Silva |
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14.30 | Alejandro Gangui, Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio (CONICET-UBA), Buenos Aires, Argentina, A. César González-García, Instituto de Ciencias del Patrimonio, Incipit, CSIC, Santiago de Compostela, Spain, Mª Antonia Perera Betancort, Servicio de Patrimonio Histórico. Excmo. Cabildo Insular de Lanzarote, Canarias, Spain. and Juan Antonio Belmonte, Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain: On the orientation of the historic churches of Lanzarote: when human necessity dominates over canonical prescriptions |
14.50 | Alberto Scuderi, National Deputy Director of the Italian Archaeological Groups, Francesco Vitale, Civil Protection Service, Department of Geology, Province of Turin (Italy), S. Tusa, Sicily Maritime Archaeology Superintendent, Vito Francesco Polcaro, INAF-IAPS, Rome, Italy and ACHE, Rossana Scuderi, Italian Archaeological Groups, F. Maurici, Centre of Cataloguing of Cultural Heritage, Sicily Archaeological Superintendence, Palermo, Italy: The “Pulpit of the King” |
15.10 | Nyssanbay Bekbassar: Astronomy and Astrology in the Golden Horde: Numismatic Evidence |
15.30 | Claus Clausen, Independent scholar: Twin Sun |
15.50 | Coffee Break |
16.20 | Liz Henty, University of Wales Trinity Saint David: Tomnaverie Recumbent Stone Circle: Material Window to the Sacred Sky |
16.40 | Andrea Rodríguez-Antón, IAC in La Laguna (Spain), Juan Antonio Belmonte, IAC in La Laguna (Spain) and A. César González-García, Incipit (CSIC) in Santiago de Compostela (Spain): Orientation of Roman Camps and Forts in Britannia |
17.00 | Fatima Braña and Ana Ulla, Universidade de Vigo, Galicia, Spain: An ethnographic and archaeoastronomical study on the astronomical orientation of the Hórreos in Galicia |
17.20 | Georg Zotti and Günther Wuchterl, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology, Vienna; Verein Kuffner Sternwarte, Vienna: Raising Awareness on Nocturnal Light Pollution around Astronomical Cultural Heritage Sites |
17.40 | Tibisay Sankatsing Nava and Pedro Russo, Leiden University, Netherlands: Education through Cultural Astronomy |
18.00 | Discussion |
18.20 | End of Day 3 |
19.00 | Public lecture at Venue, Nick Campion: Magic, Myth and the Space Race |
Thursday 25 September |
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Equinox Sunrise Tour |
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05.15 | Depart Sliema for Mnajdra |
05.30 | Depart Valletta for Mnajdra |
06.00 | Arrival Hagar Qim |
06.30 | Mnajdra Equinox sunrise |
08.30 | Depart for Valletta |
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Astronomy in Culture in Historical Times Chairperson morning session: Bernadette Brady |
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09.30 | Nick Campion (invited), Sophia Centre for the Study of Cosmology in Culture, University of Wales Trinity St David: Morality, Materiality and Astronomy in the Medieval World |
1000 | Alexei Pace, President, Malta Astronomical Society: Light pollution – problems and solutions in a small island state |
10.20 | Stefanakis Dimitrios and Helen Vassiliou, University of the Aegean, Greece: Mapping of the Christian Churches in Medieval City of Rhodes Island. A new perspective of the orientation with the use of a Remote Sensing Unmanned Aerial System |
10.40 | Kornelia Boczkowska, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland: “Materialization" in 20th century American and Russian Space and Astronomical Art |
11.00 | Coffee Break |
11.30 | Elio Antonello (invited), INAF-Brera Astronomical Observatory, Milan, and Silvana Fontana (invited), Hospital of Subiaco, Local Health Unit RM/G-Italy: Cultural astronomy and human psyche |
12.00 | Samuel Gessner, Centre for History of Science and Technology, CIUHCT, University of Lisbon, Portugal: A wool comber's sky: a reappraisal of E. Eisinga's planetarium (1781) |
12.20 | Benito Vilas Estevez, University of Wales Trinity Saint David: The Stones of Penas de Rodas: Can the Spell of Archaeoastronomy Create a Contemporary Sacred Site? |
12.40 | Discussion |
13.00 | Lunch |
Egypt and Mediterranean Chairperson afternoon session: Lionel Sims | |
14.30 | Bernadette Brady (invited), University of Wales Trinity Saint David: Star phases and the New Kingdom Egyptian astronomical ceilings |
15.00 | Andrea Orlando, IAS (Institute of Sicilian Archaeoastronomy): Archaeoastronomy in Sicily: megaliths and rock sites |
15.20 | A. César González-García, Incipit (CSIC), Santiago de Compostela, Spain, Mauro P. Zedda, Scienza dei Beni Culturali, Università di Sassari, Italy, and Juan Antonio Belmonte, IAC in La Laguna (Spain) : A comparative study of megalithic monuments in Sardinia and beyond. |
15.40 | Peter Blomberg, Uppsala University, Sweden (emeritus): On the relative chronology and the use of astronomy during the Bronze Age in the eastern Mediterranean |
16.00 | Coffee Break
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North and South America | |
16.30 | Stanislaw Iwaniszewski (invited), The National School of Anthropology and History, Mexico (ENAH-INAH): The Temple of the Inscriptions in the Spiritual Landscape at Palenque. |
17.00 | Jaroslav Klokocnik, Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Sciences, Ondrejov Observatory, J. Sonnek, Electrokoroze Hlucin; CTU in Prague, K. Hanzalova, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Department of Geomatics, Czech Republic, and K. Pavelka, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Department of Geomatics, Czech Republic: Hypotheses about geoglyphs at Nasca, Peru, review and new discoveries. |
17.20 | Silvia Motta and Adriano Gaspani, I.N.A.F. Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica , Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Milano, Italy: An archaeoastronomical investigation of Pre-Inca sites along the Rio Grande, in the Casma region, Perù |
17.30 | Steven R. Gullberg, University of Oklahoma: Astronomy of the Ceque System of Cusco. |
18.00 | Andrew Munro, Swinburne University, Australia, and Kim Malville, University of Colorado, USA (emeritus): Houses of the Sun and the collapse of the Chacoan Culture
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18.20 | Discussion |
18.40 | End of Day 4 |
19.00 | Public Lecture at Venue, Juan Antonio Belmonte:
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Friday 26 September |
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Eastern Europe and Asia Chairperson morning session: Kim Malville |
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09.00 | Audrius Beinorius, Centre of Oriental Studies at Vilnius University, Lithuania: The lunar constellations (nakṣatras) and name giving tradition in ancient India. |
09.20 | Marius Zammit and Michael Zammit, Department of Philosophy, University of Malta: Sanskrit: The Wealth/Meaning (artha) of Jyotisha (Indian Astrology) |
09.40 | Badri Jijelava and Irakli Simonia,Ilia State University, Georgia: The Megalithic Monument of Abuli |
10.00 | Vance Tiede, Astro-Archaeology Surveys, Guilford, CT, USA: Astro-analysis the Template Scale of the Tall Gnomon, Gaocheng, China |
10.20 | Leonid Marsadolov, Department of Archaeology, State Hermitage Museum, Russia: Archaeoastronomical aspects of megalithic monuments in Siberia |
10.40 | Coffee Break |
Myths, Symbols and their Meaning |
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11.10 | Euan MacKie (invited), Hunterian Museum, University of Glasgow, Scotland (Emeritus): The nature of British Neolithic Society: is a revolution approaching? |
11.40 | Lionel Sims, Department of Anthropology, University of East London, England (Emeritus), and Jarita Holbrook, University of the Western Cape: Myth analysis for archaeoastronomers: contextualising structuralism |
12.00 | Darrelyn Gunzburg, University of Bristol, England and University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Wales: An investigation into the celestial images of the Salone in Padua. |
12.20 | Frank Prendergast, Department of Spatial Information Sciences, Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland (Emeritus): Irish passage tomb art—interdisciplinary perspectives on a most complex motif. |
12.40 | Discussion |
13.00 | Lunch |
Chairperson afternoon session: Michael Rappenglück | |
14.30 | Panel discussion: Reviewing and evaluating the themes, topics, and issues raised during the conference |
15.30 | General assembly SEAC |
18.30 | Closing of the Conference
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19.30 | Conference dinner, Hotel Excelsior, Valletta. |
Poster presentations |
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Ahmed Ibrahim: Ramesseum (Mortuary Temple of Ramses II) from QuickBird Images Andrea Orlando:The Argimusco’s plateau and the horizon’s calendar Reza Assasi: A bull-slayer and a leonthocephalic man Dr Iharka Szücs-Csillik et al.: Archaeoastronomical methodology to study skeletons' orientations John Cox: Starfields looking South from Malta c.3000 B.C., Winter, Spring, Summer, Winter Göran Henriksson1 and Mary Blomberg2: Minoan Astronomy Andrey Kuzmin: Pegasus and Andromeda: Theme Horse Sacrifice in the Heaven Raul Perez-Enriquez: Archaeoastronomy-based Metrology: Case of the Royal Cubit in Egypt Raul Perez-Enriquez: Are Newgrange’s Engravings Evidence of Solar Observation? Nyssanbay Bekbassar: Astronomical orientations of Aksu moustached kurgans, Central Kazakhstan Rothwangl Sepp: High Noon at Wintersolstice on Georgiberg Morgan Saletta: Implications of the Arcaheoastronomy of the Arles/Fontvielle Hypogées:cosmology, architecture, illumination in the Lte prehistoric Europe. |
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Saturday 27 September |
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Full day excursion to Gozo. Optional. |
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