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Was Lepenski Vir an ancient Sun or Pleiades observatory?

In this work we consider some old hypotheses according to which remarkable mesolithic village Lepenski Vir (9500 -- 5500 BC) at the right (nearly west) Danube riverside in the Iron gate in Serbia was an ancient (one of the oldest) Sun observatory. We use method recently suggested by A. C. Sparavigna, concretely we use "freely available software" or local Sun radiation direction simulation computer programs. In this way we obtain and discuss pictures of the sunrise in the Lepenski Vir during winter and summer solstice and spring and autumn equinox in relation to position of the mountains, especially Treskavac (Trescovat) and Kukuvija at left (nearly east) Danube riverside (in Romania). While mountain Kukuvija represents really the marker for the Sun in date of the winter solstice, mountain Treskavac, in despite to usual opinions, does not represent a real marker for the Sun in date of the summer solstice. Sun rises behind Treskavac, roughly speaking, between 22.April and 1. May. It corresponds to year period when heliacal rising of the Pleiades constellation occurs, which by many ancient cultures, e.g. Celts of northern Europe, denotes very beginning of the year. All this, in common with some archeological facts (house-shrine No.47 in the Lepenski Vir holds seven signs beside hearth which would correspond to the seven Pleiades stars), opens a possibility that Lepenski Vir was an ancient Pleiades constellation observatory.

preprint2015arXivOpen access

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