2,500 years ago, in an abandoned ancient fortress in Italy, someone left behind a priceless and mysterious treasure for modern archaeologists.
According to Ancient Origins, the treasure with an “absurd” appearance was found in the village of Rupinpiccolo in the province of Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy.
Archaeologist Federico Bernardini and astronomer Paolo Molaro at Rupinpiccolo fortress and the treasure they discovered – Photo: INAF
This village once housed a fortress built between 1800 and 1650 BC, in the middle of the Bronze Age here.
Since the 5th century BC, 2,600 years ago, Rupinpiccolo fortress was abandoned.
The treasures that the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) has just announced are two mysterious circular rocks found in the ancient fortress area.
One rock is a symbol of the Sun, while the other is a celestial map.
The dating results are confusing: They were carved around the 4th century BC, or 2,500 years ago.
That was when the fortress had been abandoned for 100 years. Therefore, it is impossible to know who or why carved and left this pair of round stones in that era.
The image of the Sun being taken seriously alongside the celestial map as a vague suggestion of Heliocentrism is also worth puzzling, even though they do not represent an exact understanding that the Sun is the center of the planets. its center, not the center of other celestial bodies.
The person who proposed the first modern form of heliocentrism was astronomer Nicolas Copernicus, who lived in the 15th century AD.
The 29 individual engravings on the cosmic map-shaped stone are selectively engraved celestial bodies, including the constellations Scorpio, Orion, Tien Hau, and the Pleiades star cluster.
Another star not present today but suspected to be Theta Scorpil, could be observed from the hill where the fortress was located around 400 BC or before.
This mismatch with today’s map of the universe allowed scientists to identify a new supernova, which may have turned into a black hole in the sky. If a black hole is found from Theta Scorpil, the hypothesis that the rock is a celestial map will be even more confirmed.
Although still controversial because of the lack of some bright stars in the sky, scientists argue that the engraved stars were chosen according to a certain intention, rather than engraving the entire sky.
Analysis results also show that the carvings were made with hammers and chisels. However, the biggest puzzle of who created them and for what purpose is still left open.
These 2,500-year-old treasures are still being studied further. If all of the above arguments are confirmed, their value will be further enhanced because it will become the oldest celestial map ever discovered in the world, representing “timeless” knowledge.
