1. Senmut’s Star Map Dated

The earliest known star maps in Egypt are found as a main part of the decor in a tomb (No. TT 353) at Thebes on the West bank of the Nile. The tomb was constructed during the first half of the Egyptian 18th dynasty, probably about 1490 BC, and it belonged to Queen Hatshepsut’s vizier and calendar registrar Senmut (or Senenmut). The Senmut maps, Fig. 1, are almost 4 metres long. They are found on the southern and northern panels of the ceiling, which is shaped as the inner part of a low-pitched roof of the burial chamber hewed out of the subterranean rock. The map on the southern panel proves to reflect a specific conjunction of planets around the longitude of Sirius. This particular configuration of planets actually occurred in the sky about May 1534 BC. These characteristics of the maps have not been recognized before. Egyptologists identified the planets on the maps long ago, but the actual occurrence of their configuration in the sky can now be verified through modern astronomical calculation. Definite planet configurations repeat themselves at certain intervals and if many planets are involved, at very long intervals. The configuration in ques-tion here, however, deals with all the planets except Mars whose position is opposite to the group formed by the other planets. This pattern occurs so sel-dom that alternative datings can be excluded. Table 1 lists the possible occur-rences between 2500 BC and AD 100. Ove von Spaeth160 Fig. 1. Senmut’s star maps in the ceiling of the tomb. Southern panel