Andrea Orlando

Principal Component Analysis of Near-Infrared and Visible Spectra: An Application to a XIIth Century Italian Work of Art

Statistical data processing was performed on the spectra of a painting recorded in the near-infrared (near-IR) and visible (Vis) region by a totally nondestructive method. Results are discussed also in connection with colorimetric analysis.

Mediaeval stained glasses of pisa cathedral (Italy): their composition and alteration products

X-ray microanalysis and infrared spectroscopic investigations of some coloured panes of the mediaeval stained-glass windows of Pisa Cathedral have provided information regarding their composition and alteration products. In particular, this study has revealed the existance of both potash and soda glasses, which were altered in two distinct ways. A comparison with a coeval glass belonging to a church in Bologna is reported.

New Insights on the Akragas’ Complex of Demeter and Persephone: The Role of the Moon

We present here in details the results obtained—within a campaign held in August 2015, aimed at a complete re-evaluation of the temples of Akragas—on the Temple of Demeter and Persephone. This temple, built on the eastern slopes of the Athena Rock, belongs to the final phase of the Archaic period (480–470 BC) and is traditionally attributed to the Eleusinian divinities. The archaeoastronomical analysis hints at a connection with the Moon and opens up new perspectives in the problem of the attribution of the temple. In fact, the eastern front yields a declination very close to −27°, and therefore the building is one of the rare examples of Greek temples which is not oriented within the arc of the rising sun. Furthermore, the western front—which looks towards the Akragas acropolis—yields a declination very close to that of the Moon at the maximal northern standstill. A vast, artificial esplanade was built on this side and was very probably the place where nocturnal processions gathered after ascending to the temple.

Archaeoastronomical Analysis of the Temple of Diana to Cefalù (Sicily)

The so-called Temple of Diana is situated on the Rock of Cefalu, that dominates the namesake fishing village in the northern coast of Sicily. The megalithic temple has a main entrance direct to the West, through which starts a corridor leading to the rocky cistern characterized by a dolmenic coverage. After the first drawings and reliefs between ’700 and ’800, respectively of Jean Houel and George Nott, the first official archaeological excavations were made by Pirro Marconi in the first half of the twentieth century. These excavations allowed to acquire more informations about the age of the temple and the cistern. With this study we present the first complete archaeoastronomical analysis of the building, allowing to find out that the megalithic architecture is a real Sun temple. The front door of the temple is indeed oriented to the point where the Sun sets at the equinoxes. This finding suggests that in these periods of the year the solar hierophany most likely invited to come inside the temple to reach the cistern, where they carried cults and rituals related to water. This study propone to identify the temple as an Artemision. The study made it possible to realize the first 3D relief of the temple also, suggesting a new process for the protection and enhancement of the archaeological site.

The First Archaeoastronomical Study of the Maltese Temple of Borġ In-Nadur

The Maltese island has megalithic temples of extraordinary interest for archaeoastronomy. In literature we find different works that involve most of its archaeological sites. The temple of Borġ in-Nadur, set on the top of a hill by the Marsaxlokk Bay in southern Malta, is less well known than the rest of the others, even though it started off as a major attraction for grand tourists and travellers in the Early Modern and Colonial periods. It was explored in the second half of the 1920s by a team of British archaeologists, led by Margaret Murray, who gradually uncovered the ruins of typical Maltese megalithic temple dated to the 3rd millennium BC. In 2011 the efforts of an international team of scholars brought to the publication of a general reassessment of the evidences about the temple of Borġ in-Nadur and the artifacts collected during its exploration, emphasizing its importance for the Maltese Temple Period. The new picture that emerged has reactivate the research around the Borġ in-Nadur temple attracting for the first time the interest of scholars in archaeoastronomy. The archaeoastronomical study of the Borġ in-Nadur’s archaeological site is the first of its kind, as the archaeological remains were put into evidence in 2010, and pays particular attention to the temple. At the moment it is difficult to determine the exact plan of the entire temple, and therefore its axes, but the apsidal building and the main entrance are quite intact. Although this research is at its early stage of development, with regards to archaeoastronomical issues and features related with the temple of Borġ in-Nadur some preliminary considerations can be put forth.

Argimusco: Cartography, Archaeology and Astronomy

Argimusco is a district in the neighborhood of the medieval city of Montalbano Elicona, in northern Sicily. It is a plateau, a suggestive naturalistic area that is near to many interesting archaeological sites, like Rocca San Marco and Sperlinga, whose origins date back respectively to the Paleolithic and Mesolithic Age (Brea in La Sicilia prima dei Greci, Il Saggiatore, Milano, 1958; Cavalier Il riparo della Sperlinga di S. Basilio (Novara di Sicilia), in Bullettino di Paletnologia Italiana, Roma, pp. 7–76, 1971). The Argimusco’s plateau has natural rock formations featuring anthropomorphic and zoomorphic forms. It is assumed that the entire area had been used since the prehistoric times as a place of worship and ritual use, and, according to some sicilian scholars, it could be a sort of natural sanctuary (Pantano in Megaliti di Sicilia, Edizioni Fotocolor, Patti, 1994; Todaro in Alla ricerca di Abaceno, Armando Siciliano Editore, Messina, 1992). Unfortunately, official archaeological excavations were never made on the Argimusco’s plateau, but, from several surveys, lithic and pottery fragments have emerged ranging from the prehistoric age to the late medieval period. Argimusco appears to be a good site for the observation of the sky and of celestial phenomena (Orlando Archaeoastronomy in Sicily: Megaliths and Rocky Sites, in The Materiality of the Sky, Sophia Centre Press, 2016). In this paper I present the results of a 6 years of study of this area, and I propose a possible calendar based on the eastern horizon profile characteristics with Rocca Novara that acts as an equinox indicator.

A Merz Telescope on Mount Etna: The Catania Astrophysical Observatory

After the establishment of the Palermo Astronomical Observatory, at the end of the 18th century, some attempts were also made to establish an astronomical observatory in Catania.