Chinese tombs oriented by a compass: Evidence from paleomagnetic changes versus the age of tombs |
| |
| Authors: | Ivanka Charvátová Jaroslav Kloko?ník Josef Kolma? Jan Kostelecký |
| |
| Institution: | 1.Institute of Geophysics,Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic,Praha 4,Czech Republic;2.Astronomical Institute,Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic,Ond?ejov,Czech Republic;3.Institute of Anthropology, Faculty of Science,Masaryk University,Brno,Czech Republic;4.Research Institute for Geodesy,Topography and Cartography,Zdiby 98,Czech Republic;5.Department of Advanced Geodesy, Faculty of Civil Engineering,Czech Technical University,Praha 6,Czech Republic |
| |
| Abstract: | Extant written records indicate that knowledge of an ancient type of compass in China is very old — dating back to before
the Han dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) to at least the 4th century BC. Geomancy (feng shui) was practised for a long time (for millenia)
and had a profound influence on the face of China’s landscape and city plans. The tombs (pyramids) near the former Chinese
capital cities of Xi’an and Luoyang (together with their suburban fields and roads) show strong spatial orientations, sometimes
along a basic South-North axis (relative to the geographic pole), but usually with deviations of several degrees to the East
or West. The use of the compass means that the needle was directed towards the actual magnetic pole at the time of construction,
or last reconstruction, of the respective tomb. However the magnetic pole, relative to the nearly ‘fixed’ geographic pole,
shifts significantly over time. By matching paleomagnetic observations with modeled paleomagnetic history we have identified
the date of pyramid construction in central China with the orientation relative to the magnetic pole positions at the respective
time of construction. As in Mesoamerica, where according to the Fuson hypothesis the Olmécs and Maya oriented their ceremonial
buildings and pyramids using a compass even before the Chinese, here in central China the same technique may have been used.
We found a good agreement of trends between the paleodeclinations observed from tomb aligments and the available global geomagnetic
field model CALS7K.2. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
| 本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录！ |
|
