Archaeoastronomy and Ancient Technologies 2014, 2(2), 1-18
DOI: 10.24411/2310-2144-2014-00001
Reconstruction of ancient Egyptian sundials
Larisa N. Vodolazhskaya
Southern Federal University (SFU), str. Zorge, 5, Rostov-on-Don, 344090, Russian Federation; E-mails: larisavodol@aaatec.org, larisavodol@gmail.com
Abstract
The article presents the results of a study of the design features of vertical and L-shaped ancient Egyptian sundials, developed their models, on the basis of which the reconstruction of the sundial was carried out. An original scheme of a simple method for a fairly accurate time measurement with their help is also proposed. The model proposed by us, which describes a vertical sundial, is a vertical sundial with an inclined gnomon that takes into account the latitude of the area. The model proposed by us is characterized by marking the hour lines from 6 to 12 o'clock every hour. From 12:00 a shift is made in the marking of the hour lines for half an hour, and then the marking is repeated every hour. As a consequence of the reconstruction of the vertical sundial, we have developed and proposed a model that describes the design features and operation of two types of L-shaped sundial. They had to work in conjunction with an inclined gnomon, like a vertical sundial, or directly with a vertical sundial. In this case, the L-shaped sundial could complement the vertical sundial by providing the ability to read hour markers and interpret the readings of the vertical sundial, as there were no inscriptions on the vertical sundial. The article also provides a decoding of the inscription from the tomb of Seti I, which has long intrigued researchers. It is proved that the inscription contains the lengths of the intervals between adjacent marks of the L-shaped sundial of the second type, where the first interval corresponds not to one hour, but to half an hour.
Keywords: sundial, model, astronomical methods, archaeoastronomy, ancient Egypt.
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