GNOMON AS SOURCE OF INFORMATION ON PLANET RHYTHMS

Abstract

For millennia, humans have been using the gnomon whose shadow passes the trajectory of the
light source (sun or moon) as a measurement tool. With the gnomon authors prove that the ancient stone
labyrinths in Northern Europe are solar calendars, sundials and compasses. Studies of cultural heritage
around the world show that the majority of them might serve as orientation in space-time. According to the
authors, the collection of ancient navigational facilities can be considered as ancient astronomical and
geodetic network and as a record of astronomical history of the planet. For systemic analysis of this
information it is necessary to create a base of paleo-astronomical data. The acquired information may be
useful for studies of the history of the Earth and the history of science: the dynamics of changes of inclination
of the Earth's axis, offset of the polar circles and the tropics, the characteristics of long-period rhythms of the
planet, the evolution of climatic environments and the development of navigation technologies of the past. In
addition, the creation of a network of solar observatories, with the technique of automatic registration shadow
or a ray of light, will provide objective information on the solar-terrestrial relations and rhythms of nature