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<< Our Photo Pages >> Nakovana Cave - Cave or Rock Shelter in Croatia

Submitted by Andy B on Wednesday, 25 January 2012  Page Views: 12513

Natural PlacesSite Name: Nakovana Cave
Country: Croatia Type: Cave or Rock Shelter

Latitude: 42.999630N  Longitude: 17.087170E
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
4 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
no data Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
no data Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
3

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Nakovana Cave
Nakovana Cave submitted by Andy B : The site had to be carefully excavated over several field seasons. This image, taken in 2000, shows Peter Leach and Tim Kaiser excavating around the stalagmite Image copyright Staso Forenbaher Site in Croatia (Vote or comment on this photo)
A cave in Croatia which contains the undisturbed remains of an ancient Illyrian cult sanctuary dating from the 1st millennium B.C. This unprecedented discovery was made in a newly discovered chamber within the Nakovana Cave and revealed an astonishing phallic stalagmite surrounded by ritual artifacts.

The excavation of this unusual site, evidently sealed for the last 2,000 years, has provided new insight into the Illyrian people, contemporaries of the ancient Greeks. Until now, very little was known about the Illyrians' beliefs, cults and symbolic lives.

"This discovery is rare and provocative. The archaeological evidence we have found to date strongly points to some mysterious, previously unknown cult activity, which may have been practiced in secrecy by the Illyrians," said Dr. Tim Kaiser, Research Associate in the ROM's Department of Western Art and Culture and co-director of the Nakovana Cave project. "For archaeologists to find a sealed, undisturbed cave site is fairly unusual. Nakovana is like a window on a Mediterranean past that's much richer than we ever thought."

The Royal Ontario Museum has worked closely on this and related projects with a team of Croatian archaeologists, co-directed by Dr. Staso Forenbaher, of the Institute of Anthropology, Zagreb, Croatia.

The cave is located on a remote hillside at the western tip of the Pelješac Peninsula in southern Dalmatia

Source: The Royal Ontario Museum

Note: Oldest known astrologer's board discovered in Dalmatia
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Nakovana Cave
Nakovana Cave submitted by Andy B : When the team went through the tunnel they found themselves entering a chamber which nobody had visited in more than 2,000 years. A phallic shape stalagmite was discovered along with thousands of pieces of fine Hellenistic drinking vessels. Tiny pieces of ivory were also discovered that had to be carefully reconstructed, they turned out to be the remains of the oldest known astrologer's board. ... (Vote or comment on this photo)

Nakovana Cave
Nakovana Cave submitted by Andy B : A research team has discovered what may be the oldest astrologer's board, engraved with zodiac signs and used to determine a person's horoscope. Image copyright Staso Forenbaher Site in Croatia (Vote or comment on this photo)

Nakovana Cave
Nakovana Cave submitted by Andy B : Nakovana Cave, where the astrologer's board and other artefacts ware found. The wall in front was built recently and is part of a sheepfold. Image copyright Staso Forenbaher Site in Croatia (Vote or comment on this photo)

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
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"Nakovana Cave" | Login/Create an Account | 2 News and Comments
  
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Re: Oldest known astrologer's board discovered in Dalmatia by Runemage on Saturday, 04 February 2012
(User Info | Send a Message)
The same symbols are in use today, here's what the completed outer ring would have looked like
http://www.birthday-horoscopes.net/zodiac-signs.jpg

[ Reply to This ]

Oldest known astrologer's board discovered in Dalmatia by Andy B on Wednesday, 25 January 2012
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A research team has discovered what may be the oldest astrologer's board, engraved with zodiac signs and used to determine a person's horoscope.

Dating back more than 2,000 years, the board was discovered in Croatia, in a cave overlooking the Adriatic Sea. The surviving portion of the board consists of 30 ivory fragments engraved with signs of the zodiac. Researchers spent years digging them up and putting them back together. Inscribed in a Greco-Roman style, they include images of Cancer, Gemini and Pisces.

The board fragments were discovered next to a phallic-shaped stalagmite amid thousands of pieces of ancient Hellenistic (Greek style) drinking vessels.

An ancient astrologer, trying to determine a person's horoscope, could have used the board to show the position of the planets, sun and moon at the time the person was born.

"What he would show the client would be where each planet is, where the sun is, where the moon is and what are the points on the zodiac that were rising and setting on the horizon at the moment of birth," said Alexander Jones, a professor at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University. [See Photos of Astrologer's Board]

"This is probably older than any other known example," Jones said. "It's also older than any of the written-down horoscopes that we have from the Greco-Roman world," he said, adding, "we have a lot of horoscopes that are written down as a kind of document on papyrus or on a wall but none of them as old as this."

Jones and StašoForenbaher, a researcher with the Institute for Anthropological Research in Zagreb, reported the discovery in the most recent edition of the Journal for the History of Astronomy.

Read more at
http://www.livescience.com/17943-oldest-astrologer-board-zodiac.html

and see the photo pages here:
http://www.livescience.com/17920-oldest-astrology-board-gallery.html

with thanks to Jackdaw1 for the links
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