AstroEgypto
AstroEgypto
By attributing to their edifices a particular astronomical orientation,
by decorating the ceiling of their monuments with celestial representations,
by covering their inner walls with texts refering to the surrounding Nature,
the ancient Egyptians have delivered their vision of the world and the beyond.
Assisted by suitable softwares, let's try to decipher their legacy to humanity ...
+ AstroGraphy | Softwares | Publications | PhD thesis | Lectures | Press Review
[Numerical Simulation] « The astronomical orientation of the Old Kingdom pyramids » (Culture Diff', 2023)
While waiting for the publication of a full-length film, the problematic of the astronomical orientation of the pyramids of Egypt is summarized by means of three short video sequences made up from digital simulations. This question has already been the subject of a book published in 1998 and of an article published in the Cahiers Caribéens d'Egyptologie n°15 (2011). See the videos ...
[Scientific Paper] « From Egyptian ArchaeoAstronomy to Digital PhotoGraphism. Decoding and encoding information using appropriate algorithms » (Cahiers Caribéens d'Egyptologie n°24-25, 2019)
Tribute to Alain Anselin: Our friend Alain liked to decode hieroglyphic writing, to grasp all the subtleties of a text and to fully restore its context. On the strength of his many experiences, his countless encounters, his fruitful collaborations, he filled each of his publications, each of his interventions, with references to those he appreciated, of whom he supported the work, the approach, the commitment. He encoded his articles, his works, with all his friendship for those he esteemed and those who surrounded him. The decoding and encoding of information is precisely the subject of this article which is dedicated to him. Read more ...
This PhotoGraphism entitled « Ecrin de lumière » offers a graphic reinterpretation of a sunset over
the Pyrenees mountain range. This graphical reinterpretation reminds us of the Egyptian
hieroglyph Akhet (N27) featuring the Sun above the horizon. (Further details ...)
[Scientific Paper] « Developing ArchaeoAstronomy and Space Archaeology in the XXIth century » (i-Medjat n°7, 2011)
This article lies in direct line with the one published in i-Medjat n°6. I here first detail the characteristics common to Archeology and Astronomy, then explain how the crossing of these two disciplines can give rise to two sub-disciplines of great scientific interest: Space Archeology and ArchaeoAstronomy. Next, I suggest a new way of developing these two research areas: implementing, on the Culture Diff' website, two Web interfaces dedicated, the one to Space Archeology, the other one to (Egyptian) ArchaeoAstronomy. Read more ...
[Scientific Paper] « ArchaeoAstronomy and Space Archaeology : a link between » (i-Medjat n°6, 2011)
This article is a brief introduction to ArchaeoAstronomy and Space Archaeology, two research fields both issued from the crossing of knowledge and techniques specific to Archaeology, History, Astronomy, and to the Space field. Within this introductory article, I choosed to more particularly focus on the similarities and the differences between ArchaeoAstronomy and Space Archaeology, and to explain why developing Space Archaeology, in close collaboration with worldwide Archaeologists, Egyptologists, Astronomers and Space Engineers, is a continuation of the research work in ArchaeoAstronomy I started about fifteen years ago. A further article, to be published within i-Medjat n°7, will detail the way to contribute to the development of both ArchaeoAstronomy and Space Archaeology by using XXIth century's tools. Read more ...
[Scientific Paper] « Introduction aux méthodes de l'archéoastronomie. Seconde partie : Application à la détermination de la source astronomique d'orientation de divers édifices égyptiens » (Cahiers Caribéens d'Egyptologie n°15, 2011)
This article is in direct line with the first one, published within i-Medjat n°1. It aims at applying the logic of the archaeoastronomical study defined in the previous article to the solving of a second egyptological problem : the determination of the source of orientation of monuments. The monuments in question are the Old Kingdom pyramids on the one hand, the temple of Isis at Dendara on the other hand. Read more ...
[ArchaeoAstronomy Software] « Software leading to determine the astronomical source of orientation of any monument » (Culture Diff', 2005)
Since the appearance of our species on Earth, humans and stone have had a very special relationship. So that Prehistory, which began about three million years ago, is divided into periods called Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic. Both their respective names and their succession underline the evolution of our relationship with stone - from the creation of the first lithic tools to their polishing through their geometrisation and microlithisation, for essentially everyday purposes: hunting, butchering, clearing, ploughing, harvesting, construction, etc. Logically, the use of stone to record the occurrence of events that have a significant impact on our life on Earth - such as the succession of the seasons of the year - follows. Thus, most of the megalithic complexes are oriented towards the positions of sunrise or sunset at various key times of the year: winter solstice, spring and autumn equinoxes, or summer solstice. The same applies to the stone monuments erected during Antiquity... unless, for cultural or worship reasons, some particularly bright stars were sometimes preferred to the Sun? This software designed during my PhD thesis invites you to accurately determine the astronomical source of orientation of any monument erected since 4713 before our era. Read more ...
[Scientific Paper] « Détail du projet de constitution, à l'échelle internationale, d'un réseau de chercheurs en Astro-Egyptologie » (Cahiers Caribéens d'Egyptologie n°7, 2005)
The publication of articles dealing with ancient Egyptian Astronomy within Egyptological journals like the Cahiers Caribéens d’Egyptologie, i-Medjat, Revista de la Sociedad Uruguaya de Egyptologia, my participation as an Astronomer in the 2004 and 2005 ARCE (American Research Center in Egypt) meetings, the mixed composition of my PH.D. examining board, can be seen as many steps towards the forthcoming forming of a team made up of both Astronomers and Egyptologists from the whole world, willing to build together a database made up of everyone of the old Egyptian remnants characterized by a specific astronomical orientation or content, willing to study together their astronomical orientation or content ; finally, willing to publish the results of their interdisciplinary research work on the World Wide Web and within already existing egyptological and astronomical journals. Read more ...
[Scientific Award] Reception of an Award of the Academie des Sciences, Inscriptions et Belles Lettres de Toulouse
On this December 7, 2008, we were 24 "young" Ph.D graduates to receive an Award of the Academie des Sciences, Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres de Toulouse. Here is the text pronounced by the President of the Academy: « The Academy Award crowns the work of Miss Karine Gadré on a proposal from Roger Bouigue, Honorary Director of the Astronomical Observatory and University Professor. Miss Gadré designed a book entitled « The conception of a model of star visibility to the naked eye. Application to the identification of the old Egyptian decans. » The author of this thesis uses our current knowledge in the field of astronomy for "sorting" the stars used by the Egyptians and preparing all the tables similar to those which came to us in the hieroglyphic form, these tables making genuine "star clocks". From a scientific standpoint, the work of Miss Gadré is a real working basis for better training the future researchers in the field of archaeoastronomy, and secondly, it promotes the development of a closer collaboration between Egyptologists and Astronomers. »
[Doctoral Thesis] « Conception d'un modèle de visibilité d'étoile à l'oeil nu. Application à l'identification des décans égyptiens » (Thèse de doctorat soutenue le 21 mai 2008 au Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Toulouse)
On the interior lid of sarcophagi, on the external surface of water clocks, on the ceiling of temples and tombs dating from about 2100 to about 50 BC and located all along the Nile river, between Alexandria and Aswân, were drawn twenty stellar clocks and eighty star lists in the order of their successive heliacal risings, nocturnal risings or transits. Their identification to stars visible with the naked eye of the Hipparcos catalogue first required the making up of a complete list of these ninety stars accompanied with the translation of their respective hieroglyphic names. The comparison between the stellar arrangements characterizing the one hundred star lists led to their grouping into six types of star lists and to the determination of the spatial, temporal and optical sighting conditions of the decanal stars. These constraints have next been applied to a visibility model of stars visible with the naked eye in the dark or twilight sky of ancient Egypt which combines several astrometric and photometric parameters. Next, the making up of star lists in the order of their heliacal risings, of their nocturnal risings or transits, the comparison with the six prototypes of star lists, the taking into account of several astronomical, philological and parietal criteria, led to contract the number of candidate stars to everyone of the ninety decanal stars. This research work led to draw a map of the sky of ancient Egypt, to better define the ancient Egyptian nighthours, to refine the beginning of the reign of several pharaohs, etc. Read more ...
Egyptian bust in painted wood exhibited at the Champollion Museum, Figeac, France
[Scientific Paper] « Introduction aux méthodes de l'archéoastronomie. Première partie : Application à l'identification des décans égyptiens » (i-Medjat n°1, 2008)
This article, the first one in a series of two, is the proceedings of a public lecture made at the Bureau des Longitudes, Paris, on the 6th February 2008, and available on download on the website of the radio Canal Académie. After a brief introduction to Archaeoastronomy, we detail the logic of an archaeoastronomical study then apply it to the solving of a well-known egyptological problem : the identification of the old Egyptian decanal stars, which was the topic of my doctoral dissertation. Read more ...
[Scientific Paper] « Astronomical dating proposals of the ancient Egyptian stellar clocks » (Revista de la Sociedad Urugaya de Egiptologia n°26, 2009)
On the interior lid of nineteen sarcophagi unearthed in Middle and Upper Egypt necropolis on the one hand, on the ceiling of the cenotaph of Seti I at Abydos, Middle Egypt, on the other hand, were painted stellar clocks which worked on the basis of the successive appearances of stars in the east between the end of astronomical twilight and the very beginning of dawn throughout the ancient Egyptian civil year made up of 365 days. The present paper aims at dating the twenty stellar clocks by comparing their respective stellar arrangements. The dating proposals are next compared to those deduced from the applying of archaeological, topological and philological criteria. Read more ...
[Scientific Paper] « L'année civile égyptienne et les horloges stellaires » (Revista de la Sociedad Urugaya de Egiptologia n°25, 2008)
On the interior lid of nineteen wooden sarcophagi dating from the First Intermediate Period and the Middle Kingdom as well as on the ceiling of the Osireion at Abydos were painted stellar clocks which worked on the basis of the old Egyptian civil year made up of 365 days : every ten days, the rising of a given star marked the end of an earlier hour of the night, indeed. Since a quarter of day was not regularly added to the old Egyptian civil year, it wandered, and the content of the stellar clocks had to be regularly updated. Read more ...
Part of Nut goddess' body that the ancient Egyptians assimilated to the Milky Way (Further details ...)
[Scientific Paper] « Catalogue d'étoiles peuplant le ciel méridional de l'Egypte ancienne » (Cahiers Caribéens d'Egyptologie n°11, 2008)
On the interior lid of sarcophagi dating from the First Intermediate Period and the Middle Kingdom, on the one hand, on the external surface of water clocks, on the ceiling of temples and tombs dating from the New Kingdom to the Roman era, on the other hand, were written down the hieroglyphic names of ninety stars or groups of stars filling the southern part of the old Egyptian sky. This article gathers the hieroglyphic names, the translitterated form and, when available, the meaning of the hieroglyphic name of every one of these stars or groups of stars we today term as decanal since they rose heliacally at about ten-days interval during the course of the ancient Egyptian civil year made up of 365 days. Read more ...
[Scientific Paper] « Préalable à l'identification des décans égyptiens : constitution d'une base de données archéologiques » (Cahiers Caribéens d'Egyptologie n°19/20, 2015)
In ancient Egypt, the successive risings or transits of stars in the night or twilight sky were used to tell the hours of the night. These stars whose yearly period of invisibility was then close to seventy days are today termed as decanal since their heliacal rising occurred at ten days interval each. Their hieroglyphic names appear on the interior lid of wooden sarcophagi, on the external surface of water clocks, on the ceiling of temples and tombs dating from the First Intermediate Period to the Roman era. Every one of these vestiges makes up an archaeological database whose completion was needed to identify the ninety old Egyptian decanal stars to stars visible with the naked eye. Read more ...
[Scientific Paper] « Le lever héliaque de Sirius, source de datation historique » (Cahiers Caribéens d'Egyptologie n°6, 2004)
The study of old Egyptian recordings of the heliacal rising of Sirius in the reigns of pharaohs Sesostris ?, Amenhotep I, Thutmosis III, Ptolemy III, Ptolemy IV and in Roman times, leads to determine the average value of the visual acuity of the Egyptian astronomers. Then follow new dating proposals of the beginning of the reign of several pharaohs as wall as the identification of the Egyptian decans, these stars which remained unseen 70 days each year from the sky of ancient Egypt. Read more ...
[ArchaeoAstronomy Software] « Software leading to determine the days of heliacal rising and setting of any star visible with the naked eye » (Culture Diff', 2005)
At intermediate terrestrial latitudes (between -66°33' and +66°33'), star rises and star sets follow one another. Some of these events occur at dusk (shortly after sunset), others in the dark night, and still others in the light of dawn (shortly before sunrise). The day and the moment at which these events occur depend mainly on the geographical latitude of the observer, on his/her visual acuity (his/her capacity to distinguish contrasting objects at a given distance), on the apparent magnitude of the star sighted, on its position on the celestial vault at the historical period considered, as well as on the local atmospheric conditions : temperature and humidity rate of the ambient air. This software designed during my PhD thesis invites you to accurately determine the days and instants of heliacal rising and setting (in the dawnlight and the twilight) of any star visible to the naked eye of the Hipparcos catalog (5043 stars in total) since the year 4713 before our era. Read more ...
[ArchaeoAstronomy Software] « Software leading to determine the days of solstices and equinoxes » (Culture Diff', 2005)
The succession of the seasons of the year, the alternation of periods of drought and humidity, of heat, warmth and coolness, govern life on Earth - both on the surface of the continents and at the bottom of the oceans. They result from slow but inexorable variations in the duration and intensity of the sunshine. In other words, the trajectory that our Sun seems to describe above the Earth's horizon. A trajectory that differs each day: more or less extended and inclined, depending on the time of the year. The winter solstice, the spring equinox, the summer solstice and the autumn equinox are, at intermediate latitudes, the high points of each season of the year. Their occurrence materializes key moments, at which the Sun occupies particular positions: extreme or intermediate, two to two opposite, on the celestial vault centered on our Earth. This software designed during my PhD thesis invites you to accurately determine the instants at which the spring equinox, the summer solstice, the autumn equinox and the winter solstice occur since the year 4713 before our era. Read more ...
[Press Release] « Evolution de l'imagerie céleste égyptienne au cours de la Période Dynastique » (Toutankhamon Magazine n°3, 2002)
The ancient Egyptians bequeathed to us many architectural, rocky and scriptural remains whose scientific study provides information about their exact knowledge of the surrounding nature - their perception of the sky including the objects populating it, the movements animating them. (Article soon available on download)
[Scientific Paper] « Le lever du Soleil sur la Terre d'Egypte : une recréation au quotidien » (African Skies / Cieux Africains n°6, 2002)
In ancient Egypt, every celestial event took on particular symbolism. Among these celestial events there was the rising of the Sun, its appearance above the eastern horizon as a reddish disk. According to the ancient Egyptians, the daily rebirth of the Sun, its coming forth from the primeval waters, the waters of the Nun from which comes life on earth and in the sky, was similar to its very first appearance in the sky of Egypt the day the world was created, on this day they called Sep Tepy. Read more ...
[Article] « Jean-François Champollion : le père de l'égyptologie française » (Editions Culture Diff', 2002)
Summary : To Jean-François Champollion, the epithet "father of French Egyptology" is often attributed. Was this brilliant linguist indeed the rediscoverer of this mystical and legendary Egypt, with its customs and habits that had been forgotten since the Christian emperor Theodosius ordered the definitive closure of the "pagan" temples in 384 AD? Wasn't he rather the prestigious continuator of a very French tradition, the one who gave a new dimension and a new impulse to our legendary passion for Egypt, to this Egyptomania that he definitively commuted into Egyptology on that precise day of the year 1822 when he exclaimed: "I've got the case!" ? Read more ...
[Book] « La signification astronomique des pyramides d'Egypte. L'ordre céleste recréé » (Editions La Maison de Vie, ISBN 2 909 816 29 X, 1998)
Summary : Egyptologists have not yet solved all the problems posed by the pyramids of Egypt. The author sought to solve one of them: were these extraordinary monuments erected on the basis of astronomical knowledge and which ones? Drawing up a list of known pyramids and offering their major significance, Karine Gadré, with a degree in astrophysics, describes the sky of the ancient Egyptians, their methods of observation and their conception of the pillars of the universe, which allows us to approach the celestial determination of the four cardinal directions by the astronomical priests of ancient Egypt. We discover that the « distribution » of the pyramids is by no means due to chance or the imagination of the architects, but that it corresponds to a celestial order recreated on Earth.