Astronomers realized that the markings on the 2,500-year-old stone were not random but formed a well-known constellation and could reflect an ancient supernova. Not far from Trieste (Italy), almost on the border with Slovenia, there is Rupinpiccolo Castle. “Castellieri” means “little castle” in Italian. It is actually a small, fortified settlement.

Such settlements spread first to the Istrian peninsula (Croatia) and then to the north-east of Italy. They are united in the so-called archaeological culture of Castellier. We do not know who the carriers of this culture are.

The beginning of the construction of such walls is dated to the Early Bronze Age (1800-1650 BC) and the end to the Late Iron Age (400-300 BC). In other words, this culture existed from the Mycenaean period until the Roman conquests. This is not a very common phenomenon: many societies in the Mediterranean collapsed on the border of the Bronze and Iron Ages, but the local one survived.

Castellieri were often built on hills, or even in the mountains if there was a good view. Among such fortified settlements in northeastern Italy, Rupinpiccolo is one of the best preserved.

The “Small Castle” is located on top of a limestone hill surrounded by a wall three to four meters thick, but reaching seven meters in some places. The height of the preserved wall is about three meters, but initially it was at least seven to eight meters. An important ceramic collection was unearthed in the settlement. According to scientists, people lived there throughout the entire period of the Castellier culture’s existence – from the 1800s to the 400s BC.

During excavations in Rupinpiccolo, archaeologists found two large round stones that showed signs of processing: disks with a diameter of about 50 centimeters and a thickness of 30 centimeters were cut from them. One of the disks was relatively smooth, the other was dotted with markings of some kind.

Archaeologist Federico Bernardini (Federico Bernardini) from the University of Ca Foscari (Venice, Italy) tried to find a logical explanation for the markings on one of the disks. It seemed to him that he recognized the constellation Scorpio from a series of carved dots.

To test his hypothesis, the scientist turned to astronomer Paolo Molaro from the National Institute of Astrophysics in Italy. The result of their joint work is presented in an article published in the journal. Astronomische Nachrichten.

Researchers identified 29 engravings on the stone, most likely made by the same person. The engraver worked with a hammer and a coarse metal chisel with a tip six to seven millimeters wide. Most of the zodiac signs coincided perfectly with the constellations of Cassiopeia, Orion, Scorpius, and also the Pleiades.

Scientists carried out simulations of the night sky with the help of the Stellarium program, since the Sargassum star, namely Tita Scorpio, was not in today’s starry sky: it was not visible at the time of the creation of the engraving. On the stone for the observer from Rupinpiccolo.

Modeling showed that this is how the constellations in question appeared to an observer from the hill of Rupinpiccolo in the 4th century BC. Dating makes this starry sky map the oldest map found in Italy and one of the oldest maps in the world.

Considering the five zodiac signs behind the disc, which the authors of the study think are a continuation of the Cassiopeia constellation, we said above that not all 29 zodiac signs overlap with the constellations. In other words, it is extremely unlikely that the location of these marks is completely random. Not only that: deviations from actual positions vary depending on the size of the marks, indicating a great rigor of execution.

And scientists could not only compare a sign with a celestial body. According to them, the ancient engraver was depicting what he saw, but we cannot see – a supernova or a failed supernova. The second disc, which completely repeats the shape but does not bear any markings, was recognized by researchers as a symbolic image of the Sun.