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Dear All, I thought some here might find this interesting. It's a topic that has been brewing since 2007. This is a presentation of new evidence and insights I think anyone with an interest in Mediterranean prehistory should be aware of. Hopefully it will help to save lives in the future and bring g...

Dear All, The final version of my article on how the ancients could easily and accurately navigate across the Mediterranean Sea and beyond using the stars as indicators of latitude is now available. Homer and Navigating by the Stars in Prehistory It contains imagery that I think will be helpful to m...

Thanks for the correction, George.

Just for confirmation I have the following for the year 1350 BC in the mid-Mediterranean:

Winter Solstice - 1st January
Spring Equinox - 3rd April
Summer Solstice - 5th July
Autumn Equinox - 6th October

Really appreciate this!
Sheppard

Completely brilliant, George!
Thank you.

Sheppard

Hi E.P. - Aside from Homer's descriptions I would just be guessing, but the night sky in prehistory was generally pristine and crystal clear so I'm sure many cultures around the world saw numerous other patterns in the stars they found useful to remember for a variety of purposes. George - I was hop...

Thanks George. It's a busy time but I'll look into it as soon as I can.

Sheppard

Yes I agree with your statement on obliquity but my understanding of the YourSky program is that the dates are corrected to align with the seasonal solstices and equinoxes. Perhaps I'm wrong. What dates do you think would align with the solstices and equinoxes in 1325 BC? I would really appreciate a...

Hi George, We were referred to Your Sky by John Walker, the AutoCad co-author, which allows you to use universal time as far back as Julian day 0, January 1, 4712 BC. Give it a try. If there's something better you could recommend I would happy to hear of it. The only declination I'm referring to is ...

I hope everyone enjoyed this. The passage from Homer is the oldest known written account (at least to me or any of my colleagues), whether fictional or not, of the use of the stars to navigate a direct course over open water in the Mediterranean or anywhere else for that matter. I was fortunate enou...

Dear All, I'll have much more to say about this in an upcoming publication but as someone with the relatively rare experience of having rowed, sailed, and navigated large open wooden boats I feel obligated to, at least briefly, bring some clarity and practical insight to those with little or no expo...

Hi Hardaker, My only purpose for announcing the Atlantic Challenge rowing event to the academics and public was to demonstrate the great strength of the evidence in support of the capacity of the ancients for Trans-Mediterranean maritime travel but I realized there were more far-reaching implication...

Yes, you're right Min. I've yet to see any real confirmable evidence for Trans-Atlantic maritime travel in the Bronze Age. The only thing that can be said so far is that it is an undeniable technological possibility but I'm not comfortable working in these murky areas and leave this to others. My mi...

I just addressed this issue with a colleague of mine who has been researching the possibility of a Bronze Age crossing of the Atlantic for some time. Here's what I wrote: I'm happy to have provided some undeniable and confirmable evidence for your theories. Here's some other information that I hope ...

Dear All, After a two day delay due to bad weather this year's 3,000 mile rowing race across the Atlantic Ocean from the Isla de la Gomera in the Canary Islands to Antigua in the West Indies is now underway. It's estimated it will take the small crews of one to five men and women about 40 to 90 days...

For some time now, every couple of years, a rowing race across the Atlantic Ocean from the Canary Islands to the West Indies is held after the end of the hurricane season. This year's race starts in December. Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge As a young teenager of about 14 I spent a summer on the ...