Cardinal Direction

В настоящей статье анализируются цветовая символика в культурах североамериканских индейцев и причины выбора цветовой палитры, которая совпадает у разных племён и является универсальной, причём в неё входят исключительно шесть базовых цветов (белый, чёрный, красный, жёлтый, синий и зелёный). Цвет несёт в себе глубокий символичный и сакральный смысл. Первостепенную роль для индейцев цвета играют в маркировании сторон света, на что опирается всё последующее ритуальное использование этих цветов, однако, несмотря на одинаковый набор цветов, между разными племенами нет единства в вызываемых ими ассоциациях, т.е. восприятие цвета во многом обусловлено культурой.

The paper analyses colour symbolism in North American Indian cultures and the reasons for choosing a colour palette, which is universal and the same in different tribes, and consists of only six basic colours (white, black, red, yellow, blue and green). Colour has a deep symbolic and sacred meaning. The primary role of colour for American Indians is marking the cardinal directions, on which all their subsequent ritual use is based. However, despite the same set of colours in different tribes, there is no unity in the associations they cause, i.e. colour perception is largely due to culture.

Orientation of Bronze Age houses in the Carpathian Basin
The investigation of the possible reasons for the orientation of Bronze Age houses is a field
neglected by the settlement archaeological research int he Carpathian Basin. If the
groundplans of a settling area signal regularity in positioning houses they are generally
attributed to the prevailing wind. Positioning a house is mostly influenced by environmental
factors such as solar radiation, prevailing wind or necessity for natural light. Archaeological
and ethnographical research however, argues the significance of non-environmental factors as
well (Coudart 1998, Bereznai 1999). Case studies support intention in orientation.
13 unique houses of a settlement of the early Bronze Age Bell Beaker culture are aligned
with midwinter sun. At winter solstice for about 10 -12 days the sunrays penetrate into the
houses through the gables at about 9 am (Pásztor 2005). A Late Bronze Age settlement of 60
houses at Dunakeszi – Székesdőlı site, Hungary is also a good example for intentional
orientation. The longer axes of the houses show a high correlation with the north - south
direction. The same can be argued for the main entrances of the houses in connection with the
east direction as the main doorways were generally found on the eastern side of the houses,
close to its southern end. The aligning with the southern direction (for the main axis) or the
rising sun (for the main entrances) might have had strong symbolical meaning including the
sun motion. If the houses were oriented at all, their main entrances preferred to be aligned
with the due east, and/or the long axes with the due north-south (Pásztor 2009). Although the
orientation of the entrances is likely astronomical but that of the main axis is rather
cosmological in connection to the belief system.
Investigating the orientations of other houses available from published material, it can be
concluded that the dispersion is often low, which supports intentional orientation, the
dispersion at a site with different cultures is often lower than at different sites of a cultural
group, clusters of certain directions can be detected and a slight preference of N-S/S-N can be
observed. This direction has, however more in common with cosmological beliefs than
astronomy.
The primary purpose of the study is to draw attention of how valuable information can be
benefited from the investigation of orientation of houses. Thus these data are also necessary to
be exactly measured and published.

Citation:

Griffis, K. 2002. Traversing the Far-Land: Post-Amarna through early Ramesside Royal Tombs as Sacred Landscapes in Ancient Egypt. Institute of Archaeology. M.A. Dissertation (Egyptian Archaeology). London: University College London.

Ancient Egyptian space concepts were historically imbued with distinct values and sacred meaning. Indications of this were most apparent in the royal tomb, a concrete representation of the afterlife book maps, which portrayed the sun-god’s journey at night.  Since the king must travel to participate in both the sun-god’s and his own eternal rejuvenation, knowledge of the passage to the Far-Land (dwA.t), the physical realm of the afterlife, depended upon recognising specific orientation and direction, as a pilgrim on sacred journey.  (Based upon issues examined in 2002 MA dissertation at University College London.)