Dr Elizabeth Shee Twohig - NMS 2022 Archaeology Conference

NMS 5th Annual Archaeology Conference: Boyne and Beyond
Megalithic art in the Boyne Valley and beyond
Dr Elizabeth Shee Twohig, Lecturer (retired), University College Cork

[@javierpernasverdugo6679]

❤ Es impresionante la conexión con las tribus galaicas (Galicia. España) muy buen trabajo.

[@RobinEdgar]

I am happy to see and hear that Irish archaeologist, and Neolithic rock art specialist, Elizabeth Shee Twohig officially and publicly asserts that both crescents and circles are carved into the outer perimeter of Knowth's stone basin in this CZcams video. I presume Ms. Twohig means the large upturned crescent that is "embracing" three concentric circles.
I look forward to Ms. Twohig officially and publicly acknowledging that the large crescent encircling three concentric circles *could* represent the moon, and the three concentric circles the probable lunar crescent is encircling aka "embracing" *could* represent the sun.
As far as I am concerned, this Neolithic Irish rock art is an obvious sun-moon conjunction symbol that, in other ancient cultures, including that of ancient Mesopotamia where the builders of Knowth and other Boyne Valley passage mounds are believed to have emigrated from, has been used to symbolically represent the "union" of the sun and moon during a solar eclipse.
I should perhaps add that this possible, indeed in my informed opinion very probable if not all but certain, Neolithic sun-moon conjunction symbol can also be perceived as the three concentric circles representing the moon, in which case the large crescent would represent the partially eclipsed sun as seen during an annular eclipse when the apparent diameter of the moon is somewhat smaller than that of the sun. Indeed it is possible that this double-meaning or double-interpretation is intentional and that this apparent sun-moon conjunction symbol is meant to represent both total solar eclipses and annular eclipses.
Assuming the eclipse path maps generated by Xavier Jubier's 'Neolithic (-5500 to -2000) Solar Eclipses Database' are reasonably accurate, a seven minute long annular eclipse occurred above Knowth on October 5, 3560 BCE. During this annular eclipse the sun would have appeared very much like the large crescent depicted on Knowth's stone basin before and after annularity. There was another annular eclipse above Knowth on March 4, 3315 BCE, that lasted just over 3 minutes. There was another annular eclipse on August 11, 3156 BCE, that lasted just over a minute in terms of "annularity". This annular eclipse was followed by a 5 minute long total solar eclipse that occurred on June 21, 3089 BCE.
It should be mentioned that, earlier in the 4th millennium BCE, two total solar eclipses occurred above Knowth (to say nothing of most of Ireland) as is the case with all of these Neolithic solar eclipses. A four minute long total solar eclipse took place on August 7, 3910 BCE, followed by a 2.5 minute long total solar eclipse six decades later on April 26 3849 BCE.
It may also be worth mentioning that Xavier Jubier's 'Neolithic (-5500 to -2000) Solar Eclipses Database' provides maps for a total solar eclipse and five annular eclipses that took place above the Boyne Valley in the 5th millennium BCE. It also provides maps for two annular eclipses that occurred within 3 decades of each other in the 26th century BCE, specifically December 5, 2567 BCE, and May 22, 2538 BCE.
The horizontal lines extending around the perimeter of the basin *could* represent the "wings" of the sun's corona, indicating that the Neolithic people who carved this fairly obvious sun-moon conjunction symbol into Knowth's stone basin, either observed the bird-like pattern that is perceivable in the sun's corona during some total solar eclipses, or their prehistoric culture was already aware of this coronal "sun bird", even if they did not actually observe it during one of the total solar eclipses that took place above 4th millennium BCE Ireland.
Anyone wanting to know more about the fairly obvious sun-moon conjunction symbol carved into the outer perimeter of Knowth's stone basin, and other probable solar eclipse symbolism carved into its bowl, should watch my "low production values" but informative CZcams video titled:
Identifying Solar Eclipse Symbolism On A Stone Basin Found In The Irish Passage Tomb Knowth EMR 8596
I invite Elizabeth Shee Twohig to watch this video herself, and to get back to me with her thoughts about what I have to say about the geometric "non-representational" art that *can* be understood to represent one or more solar eclipses that occurred above the Boyne Valley in the 4th millennium BCE in this video.
#Eclipsology #BoyneValley #BrúNaBóinne #BruNaBoinne #Knowth #Neolithic #RockArt #SolarEclipse #SolarEclipseSymbolism #WingedSun #WingedSunSymbol #KeepDiscovering