用Stellarium软件解读牛河梁遗址第十三地点的天文设计理念

Interpreting the astronomical design philosophy of the thirteenth site of Niuheliang Remains with Stellarium software

牛河梁红山文化遗址第十三地点是该遗址群中规模最大的人工建筑,与第一地点女神庙遥相呼应,构成遗址群的主体建筑架构.自从它被考古发现以来,其设计理念和功能一直是困扰学术界的谜团.把第十三地点的建筑结构平面图与应用模拟天文软件Stellarium模拟当时北极天区的天象进行对比研究,发现该建筑三层圆环的设计理念是基于对北斗绕极天象的天文观测,建筑外圆、中圆和内圆分别与天璇、天权和开阳三星的绕极轨迹吻合,从而使建筑的外环堆石带和中环石台阶分别与斗魁四星和斗柄三星绕极旋转的区域对应,内圆夯土区与北斗内星(开阳)绕极旋转的北极中心天区对应.这个发现不仅与中国汉代文献记载的关于北斗七星命名的古老依据相契合,而且将中国古人进行准确天文观测的历史推进到5500年前.

The thirteenth site of the Niuheliang Hongshan Cultural Remains is the biggest manmade building of the remains, which echoes each other at a distance with the Goddess Temple of the first site. Both of them constitute the main architectural structure of the remains. Since its archaeological discovery, its design philosophy and function have been a mystery that has plagued academic circle. By comparing the structural plan of the thirteenth site with the celestial phenomena of the arctic sky simulated by the Stellarium-an astronomical simulation software, it is found that the design concept of the three-layer rings of the building is based on the astronomical observation of the celestial phenomena around the north celestial pole. The outer, the middle and the inner circle of the building correspond to the circumpolar orbits of Merak, Megrez and Mizar which are rotating around the north celestial pole respectively. It makes that the outer ring stacked with stones and the middle ring of stone steps of the building which correspond to the swept areas of the four stars of Big Dipper′s bowl and the three stars of Big Dipper′s handle rotating around the north celestial pole respectively. The inner circular rammed earth area corresponds to the center of the north pole sky, the rim of which is the circumpolar orbit of Mizar rotating around the north celestial pole. This discovery is not only in line with the origin of the name of the Big Dipper recorded in the documentary records of the Chinese Han Dynasty, but also propelled the history of accurate astronomical observations by Chinese ancients to 5500 years ago.