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The Punic Wall was the scene where were announced on Monday the results of the study on Archeoastronomy in Cartagena, a conference served to show the result of the work promoted in October 2013 by Cartagena Port of Cultures, along with the Astronomical Association the city, to analyze the topography and the main religious groups of the Punic and Roman republican and imperial cities, from the perspective of Cultural Astronomy.

These works were carried out in the multidisciplinary team of Juan Antonio Belmonte Avilés, the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands, Antonio César González-García, Institute of Heritage Sciences (Incipit-CSIC), Andrea Rodriguez Anton Institute Astrophysics of the Canary Islands;

and José Miguel Noguera Celdrán, University of Murcia.

For three days, the scientists measured the astronomical orientations of the ancient city, including several sets of windlass area.

Thus, they measured the orientation of the Punic-Roman sanctuary of Atargatis and Republican Roman Italic temple sanctuary, both on top of the windlass;

platform and temple of the Forum, the neighborhood of the Roman Forum and the cavea of ​​the theater, all from the first century AD

Archaeological excavations in the historic center of Cartagena in the last three decades have set with some degree of precision surveying and town planning in the Punic and Roman Antiquity, at the same time have revealed a number ritual character sets in the same chronology of great interest.

The planning of the city as their sacred buildings were ceremonially opened and oriented and planned in response to the observation of the sky and the stars by the founders of the city, its priests, surveyors and architects.

The main result of these measurements, one can speak of the existence of a general solsticial guidance that relates several buildings and shrines.

Significantly Stresses the importance of a number of orientations toward sunrise and sunset at the summer solstice, which have a sense fully integrated into the Punic ritual world.

Possibly, this effect was subsequently incorporated and reinterpreted within the Roman urban-architectural program and specifically the Augusteo period.

For example, the orientation towards the rising and setting of the sun on the summer solstice seems that marked the path of maximum decumano of the Roman colony, which could be extended in the western area of ​​the city through the network of secondary decumans that delimited blocks in which the main buildings of monumental center were fitted, as the Roman Theatre.

These results were announced on Monday, will be published in both scientific journals and popular articles.

Source: Ayuntamiento de Cartagena