ROMANIAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY INSTITUTE OF ATOMIC PHYSICS ARCHAEOMETRY IN ROMANIA re arANAH CONFERENCE ON TRE APPLICATION OF PRYSICS METRODS IN ARCRAEOLOGY CLUJ-RAPOCK, FEBRUARY 17-18,1989 Raitore: |, RT. FRANGOPOL VN. MORARIU VOLUME 2=. = ASTRONOMICAL ELEMENTS OF THE DACIAN SANCTUARY AT SARMIZEGETUSA REGIA G.Chis®, P.Muresan®*, C.D. Chis"** *® University of Cluj-Napoca, Str.M.Kogalniceany 1, é 3400 Cluj-Napoce, Romania ** Ethnographic Museum of Transylvenia, Str.30 Decembrie 21, 3400 Cluj-Napoca, Romania #4 Centre for Astronomy and Space Sciences, Astronomical Observatory, Str.Ciresilor 19, 3400 Cluj-Napoca, Romenia ABSTRACT The results of the astronomical measurements performed at the Dacian sanctuary at Sarmizegetusa Regia are presented. The senctuary is oriented in space and time, and its function of calendar is confirmed. INTRODUCTION In order tn carry out its productive activities, ae human group needs references for orientation in space and time, for establishing the points of interest on the terrestrial surface and performing the works connected to vegetation periods. For space orientation, the celestial sphere (starry’ sky) with its constellations in their apparent diurnal rotetion, as well es the different positions of the Sun and Moon are primary references, easily observable by their permanence. For the orientation in time, the continous motions of the celestial bodies, can serve as time units and references for man’s setivities. The most useful celestial body for the nomadic peoples was the oon, Its circumterrestrial motion and the reproduction of the lunar phases gave as time unit the month. Easily observable phases (ee, for instance, the Full Moon) indicated the beginning of the month. For stable peoples, the apparent motions of the the diurnal apparent motion provided the day, while the anual with their periodicity, also eesily observabl Sun gave two time unit: one - the year, The beginning of the day wes sometimes marked by the Instant of the shortest shadow (Sun's transit at the meridian of the site). Ae to the year, the seasonswere of great interest. The beginning of the seasons was marked by the shortest Gummer solstice) and iongest (winter solstice) meridian shadow. The equinoxes were determined similarly using shadows. It was easy to fix these beginnings by marking on the horizon the points of the sunrise at soistices and equinoxes. The observation of the sunrise in one of these Points determined the beginning of the season. One of these sunrises was considered aa marking the beginning of the year. Some peoples limited themselves to determinations of the above orientations. Other people went further by building a science of the celestial bodies able to explain the work system. It is important to determine the place of our ancestors, the Dacian, in this hierarchy. Their inheritance is not written on pap) rus or Parchment, but rather carved into stone monuments, among which the most important is the sacred arca of Sarmizegetusa Regia, the capital city of the Dacian Kingdam. The city is situated in the Orastie Mountains, on a tableland of 200 m Tength. The geographic coordinates of the site are: latitude 4593715 North, longitude 23°13'.6 East (measured on the chart). The plan of the sacred areas is illustrated in Fig.1. ASTRONOMICAL MEASUREMENTS (2) The polar coordinates ( d= 1¢em, A= 1") of 116 points (considered as essential) were determined by means of a DAHLTA theodolite. (b) The astronomical orientation of the large round sanctuary was determined by fixing the meridian of the site. ixed by determining the azimuth of the (c) The coordinate system was bench mark on Jigar Height (A = 515°24"), (d) The geographic latitude of the site, was re-determined obtaining the value 45933! + 0.7 North. (2) The sunrise at the summer solstice was observed in order to find the astronomicai azimuth of the sunrise point. (f) The astronomical azimuth of the sunrise point at the autumn equinox was also determined. The next step was to search for these directions amongst the structural elements of the sanctuary.Figure 1 The secred ares of Sarmizegetusa Regia, the capital city of the Dacian Kingdom, at the end of the first century AD 1 - the Jarge round sanctuer); 2 - the smal] round sanctuary ; 3 -the Sun of andesite; 4 - the eastern rectangular sanctuary; 5 - the western rectangular sanctuary; 6 - the sacred way; 7 - the southern old sanctuary; 8 - the western new sanctuary.CONCLUSIONS Following the astronomical measurements performed at the Dacian sanctuary at Sarmizegetusa Regia, we can formulate some preliminary conclusions: (i) The sanctuary is oriented in space: =the centre of the "Sun of andesite" and the centre of ‘the Western rectanqular sanctuary determine the meridian of the site with en error smalier than 4% =the centre of the sinall round sanctuary and the centre of the Western rectangular sanctuary determine the direction East-Weast with an error smaller than a. (ii) The sanctuary is oriented in time: =the direction of the sunrise at the summer solstice is given by the centre of the "Sacred Way" and the centre of symmetry of the large round sanctuary , with an error of about 2' (there are on the ground three supplementary directions parailel to this one); =the directions of the sunrise at the winter solstice and at equinoxes are materialized on the ground for the year 100 AD with errors of only tens of minutes of degree. (iii) By means of the observations of the Sun performed from these alignments, the Dacians were abie to establish the beginning of the year and seasons, and this fact confirms the role of calendar played by the Dacian sanctuary at Sarmizegetusa Regia.