Ancient Star Map: 3,000-Year-Old Stone Disk From Italy Could Be Representation of Night Sky Used As Guide in Agriculture

The discovery of a stone disk from Italy has sparked excitement and skepticism among astronomers and archeologists. The mysterious artifact is believed to be an ancient star map, but some scientific community members are not convinced, considering its carvings and their implications.

Rupinpiccolo's Mysterious Stone Disk

Castelliere di Rupinpiccolo is a massive defensive structure enclosed by a wall that measures 10 to 23 feet (3 to 7 meters) thick in the province of Trieste, Italy. This vast complex of ancient ruins was used as a fortification from 1800 B.C. until 400 B.C. and is one of the best preserved among the many castles in the Karst area.

Near the entrance of this ancient hilltop, archeologists discovered two large circular stones measuring 20 inches (50 centimeters) wide and 12 inches (30 centimeters) thick. These tire-size artifacts were later sent to the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Aquileia.

After investigating the old stone, researchers discovered 29 mysterious chisel marks - five carvings on one side of the disk and 24 carvings on the other. According to archeologist Federico Bernardini and astronomer Paolo Molaro of Italy's National Institute for Astrophysics, the 29 marks on the stone disks were likely made by the same person with a chisel.

The discovery was announced in 2022 and was described in the paper "Prehistoric Stone Disks from Entrances and Cemeteries of North-Eastern Adriatic Hillforts."

The researchers suggested that 28 of the marks carved on the surface of the stone disk correspond to prominent bright stars, especially those in the constellations Orion and Scorpius. These stellar objects would have been rising in the eastern sky just before the Sun during the "protohistoric period" in an event known as the "heliacal rising." Meanwhile, one of the Rupinpiccolo stones is blank; experts suggest it may have represented the Sun.

Molaro reported that the scale, statistical precision, and orientation of the markings were evidence that they represented real stars in the sky. He also noted that as early as the 8th century B.C., the Greek poet Hesiod described heliacal risings of star patterns like Orion and the Pleiades as guides in planting crops. This practice likely spread among the protohistoric communities before that period.

Skeptic's View on Star Map

Not all experts, however, are convinced by this claim. Astronomer Ed Krupp of the Griffith Observatory suggests that any relationship between the carved markings on the stone and the brightest stars may just be accidental.

The study conducted by Bernardini and his colleaguesfailedl to explain the mysterious 29th mark etched on the surface of the stone disk. This mark, found near the supposed representation of the constellation Orion, does not correspond to any known star. There are some other possibilities as to what it could represent.

The most intriguing angle in this claim is that the 29th mark could depict a supernova, which was visible when the disk was made but later faded from view. According to Molaro, the black hole or supernova remnant could still be at that location today.

Little information is known about the culture of the Castellieri, the Bronze Age people who built over 100 hillforts in the ancient Istria region. The precision demonstrated by the star map is surprising and still baffles scientists in our modern times.