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Equinox in Petra: Land- and Skyscape in the Nabataean Capital

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Abstract

In earlier works, we had shown the actual possibility that the Nabataeans had used the Equinox, or an astronomical event equivalent to this, as an important milestone to control the calendar, stablish festivals and perform pilgrimages to important sacred sites. In this paper we present evidence that this was indeed the case. In a research carried out in Petra in March 2018, equinoctial phenomena were observed and tested at the Urn Tomb, the Obelisks at Jabal Madbah and the sacred area of Al Madras, showing that the actual astronomical Equinox could be observed together with other related phenomena such as the midday between the solstices. Besides, this campaign was used to obtain data in various isolated places in Petra seldom visited by the general public such as the Obodas Chapel, Sidd al Ma’jin, Parcak’s Platform, or the sacred areas on top of Umm al Biyara. These little known monumental sites have also provided interesting results that are described and discussed in this paper.

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Fig. 1
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Photos: J. R. Belmonte

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Photo: J. R. Belmonte

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Diagram and photos: the authors

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Diagrams and photos: the authors

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Diagram: the authors. Photos: J. R. Belmonte

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Photos: J. R. Belmonte and the authors

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Diagram: the authors

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Photo: J. R. Belmonte

Fig. 10

Photos: J. R. Belmonte

Fig. 11

Diagram: the authors, based on a series of photos by J. R. Belmonte

Fig. 12

Diagram: the authors

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Acknowledgements

We are really thankful to Dr. José Ricardo Belmonte for the excellent photographic documentation of the March 2018 campaign. This work is partially financed under the framework of the projects P310793 “Arqueoastronomía” of the IAC, and AYA2015-66787-P “Orientatio ad Sidera IV” of the Spanish MINECO/MICIU.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain

    Juan Antonio Belmonte

  2. Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain

    Juan Antonio Belmonte

  3. Instituto de Ciencias del Patrimonio, Incipit CSIC, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Antonio César González-García

  4. Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain

    Andrea Rodríguez-Antón

  5. Escuela Universitaria de Turismo de Lanzarote, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Teguise, Lanzarote, Spain

    María Antonia Perera Betancor

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  1. Juan Antonio Belmonte
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  2. Antonio César González-García
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  3. Andrea Rodríguez-Antón
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  4. María Antonia Perera Betancor
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Correspondence to Juan Antonio Belmonte.

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Belmonte, J.A., González-García, A.C., Rodríguez-Antón, A. et al. Equinox in Petra: Land- and Skyscape in the Nabataean Capital. Nexus Netw J 22, 369–391 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00004-019-00464-1

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