2025 Conference -Ottawa

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Published: 29 August 2025

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The annual NASS Conference was held 7-10 August, 2025 in Ottawa.  As usual, the conference began late Thursday afternoon with an introduction social and a "grab bag give away", taking your chances with tickets to win the bag's prize.  Will Grant was the final winner of the Walton Double Planar Polar Sundial, but Paul Ulbrich beat the statistic odds and won this prize three times, ultimately conceding the dial to Will.

Friday was a bus tour of Ottawa dials, including the corner dials at the Mother House of the Sisters of Charity (NASS #127) and the hemispherium dial originally located in Rideau Falls Park, but now located in Rockcliffe Park Pavillion (NASS #449).  The highlight of the tour was a visit to the Canada Science and Technology Museum.  We were greeted by David  Pantalony, Curator of Science and Medicine, who introduced us to the archival collection of sundials and solar compasses.  This was followed by historical remarks from Jean-François Lozier, Curator, French North America of the Canadian Museum of History.  After examining dials (look but don't touch) we paused for lunch in the Archive room.  The day ended at our Ottawa hosts home where Mike Moghadam showed his sundial and his wife Esther and family provided refreshments.

Saturday and Sunday consisted of a wide variety of dialing presentations. Frank King presented a double header on "Eine Block Sonnenuhr" and the mystery of the seven dials woodcut. Others discussed sundial projects (Paul Ulbrich, Mark Montgomery), odd sundials (Fred Sawyer), vector mathematics for sundials (Roger Goyder, Zoon Nguyen and Evan Boxer Cook), the sunlight itself and how it affects bio-rhythms (Pam Morris), navigating in the Arctic (Tom Kreyche),  trips to exotic sundials (Geoff Parsons) and Will Grant's trip to Columbia and the Muisica Indian megaliths.  All this and more.  Read the attached Retrospective for details.   

Group photo at Dominion Observatory in front of Bldg 9, the dome for the Astrograph seen at the museum.

12 (Back Row Left to Right) Steve Johnson, Bob & Bo Manning (barely visible), Bill Thibault, Geoff Parson, Jack Aubert, Mark Montgomery, Marvin Taylor (barely visible), Evan Boxer-Cook, Mike Moghadam, Steve Lelievre, Jeff Brewer, Maddy Lelievre, Russell Goyder, Christine Northeast, Jim Stegenga, Will Grant, José Montes, Tom Kreyche. (Front Row Left to Right) Dave & Joyce Robinson, Bob Kellogg, Frank King, Bryan & Kathy Preas, Thad Weakley, Pam Morris, Chris & Roger Bailey, Paul Ulbrich, Phil & Fred Sawyer. (Center-Front) Martha Villegas. Not in the photo were Marc Boon & Susan Hayes, Lizzy Longsworth, Phyllis Montgomery and Kate Aubert.

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2025_NASS_Conference_Ottawa.pdf

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2021 Conference - Philadelphia

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Published: 16 August 2021

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The North American Sundial Society, after by-passing the 2020 Conference due to Covid restrictions, held the 26th annual meeting from August 5th - 8th at the Hilton Garden Inn, Center City, Philadelphia. The venue was similar to past conferences: Thursday night social and door prizes for attendees, Friday a bus tour of 11 sundials in the Philadelphia area, Saturday sundial presentations and annual dinner, finishing on Sunday with more sundial presentations and the annual general meeting (AGM).The dial tour took us walking through Philadelphia parks and arboratums and visits to University of Pennsylvania, Swarthmore College, and Haverford College.

At Swarthmore we saw the modern vertical declining dial on Kohlberg Hall, designed by Martin Cowan. Frederick Orthlieb, professor and chair of the Dept of Engineering at Swarthmore "had a part in locating the bent-plate gnomon so as to give correct indications on the vertical wall. As installed, the gnomon's indicating edge (which lies on a Polar Axis) casts quite a short shadow in Autumn and Winter and requires some observing skill to make a close estimate of indicated time, but in Spring and Summer the longer shadow moves over the granite hour marks very plainly."

For the annual group photo attendees gathered around the "Point Where Things Change", a N-S meridian dial commissioned in 2001 by the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Philadelphia and designed by Michael Grothusen. The dial is on the grounds of Tasepoint Corporate Headquarters.

From Left to Right: Bill Gottesman, Joyce Robinson, Pam Morris, David Robinson, Bob Kellogg, George Wilson, Jack Aubert, Will Grant, Betsy Wilson, Jim Holland, Bill Thibault, Art Paque, Tish Grant, Fred Sawyer, Philomena Sawyer, Phyllis Montgomery, Jeff Kretsch , Mark Montgomery, Marvin Taylor, Zoon Nguyen, Kate Aubert, Pat O'Hearn, Roger Dignard, Paul Ulbrich.

Attachments:

2021_NASS_Conference_Philadelphia.pdf

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3D Printing Tutorials

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Published: 24 November 2019

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Look for the new menu tab:3D Printing Tips.  Starting this December (2019) NASS begins a series of tutorials using OpenSCAD and other software for designing and printing 3D objects.  As you might guess, we'll focus on creating sundials and other shadow casting objects.  Download your copy of OpenSCAD at http://www.openscad.org and join our tutorials.  If you want even more detail on 3D sundials, join NASS and receive The Compendium with Bill Gottesman, Steve Lelievre, Bob Kellogg and others writing in the regular column "3D Design and Printing Sundials."

Seattle Sundial Tribute

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Published: 09 December 2014

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Professor Woody Sullivan's Reflection Dial [photo - NASS Conference 2011]

Professor Woody Sullivan of the University of Washington in Seattle, whose long time motto has been "Seattle, sundial capital of North America", received a tribute from local television station King5 for sundials that he has designed or brought to light around Seattle. His pride and joy is his ceiling reflection dial [photo at left] As related by Joan Kinsey from King5 news, "It took Sullivan and an artist three years to chart hundreds of reflected dots across the top of Sullivan's remodeled garage..." The celestial view includes hour lines, solar declination lines of the equinox and the soltices, and a variety of transit dots that represent special dates and times to the Sullivan family.

Sullivan, a professional astronomer, has helped design a number of Seattle dials. As Joan Kinsey notes, "His first one [a declining vertical dial] went up in 1994 on the side of the astronomy building at the university ...The huge wall sundial ignited Sullivan's passion to make more and research the ones that already exist in town." Woody has created a Sundial Trail of prominent Seattle dials ranging from several vertical dials increasing the educational value at local schools to a large Shepard's dial and an occulus gnomonic dial.

Of course being Seattle, Woody scribed an appropriate sundial motto, "I thrive in the sun, Can't work in the rain. So, if I'm beclouded, please come back again. "

Read about it at: king5 news

Native American Moon Alignment Ring

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Published: 21 March 2025

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Perhaps the most famous alignment circle in the United States is the Cahokia Woodhenge near St. Louis constructed between 700-1400 CE by Cahokia Indigenous native Americans. But there were an estimated 10,000 other earthen mounds that once were scatter across the mid-west..

In an article from Atlas Obscura (https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/octagon-earthworks-ohio) by Olivia Young on March 5, 2025:

"Just outside of Ohio’s capital, a wall of earth rises five feet from the smooth ground in a perfect circle,1,000 feet (305m) wide. Standing inside that ring of mounded terra firma today, you can see the Moon rise right where the walls break and an ancient passageway leads to an enormous octagonal arena. Thousands of years ago, the Native Americans who built it would have been standing in that very spot, watching the same celestial scene." This is the position of the lunar standstill, the farthest north that the moon rises in the sky and occurs every lunar cycle of 18.6 years.

"The significance and sophistication of the Octagon Earthworks has been compared to that of Stonehenge and the pyramids in Giza. Despite that, the 2,000-year-old site was leased to a country club and used as a golf course for more than 100 years—up until January 1, 2025. After more than a decade of negotiating the Ohio History Connection (OHC) took over the lease and opened the sacred landmark to the public."

Dr. John Low, director of the Newark Earthworks Center at Ohio State Univ. noted that, "At the start of the 1800s, there were more than 40 tribes in what is now Ohio, including the Shawnee, Kickapoo, and Miami. By 1842, they had all been forcibly removed under the Indian Removal Act." But the indigenous people's vibrant culture and astronomical precision remains in their earthen mounds.  Since 2023 this and other indigenous earthworks have been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site (the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks), including the Octagon and Alignment Ring.

Ancient Egyptian Clock

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Published: 24 September 2024

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Dario Radley reports in Archaelogical News Online Magazine (Aug 24, 2024) that an ancient observatory from the 6th century BCE was found by the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities at Tell El-Fara'in archaeological site.

“It highlights the advanced astronomical knowledge of the ancient Egyptians, including their ability to determine the solar calendar and  significant religious and agricultural dates,” Dr. Mohamed Ismail Khaled, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, told Ahram Online.

Archaeological News Online further reported: One of the key findings at the site is an inclined stone sundial, known as a shadow clock, which was used to measure time based on the sun’s  position. This sundial consists of a straight row of limestone slabs, approximately 4.80 meters long, with several vertical and horizontal blocks that may have been used to measure the angle and shadow of the sun throughout the day. Dr. Ayman Ashmawy, head of the Egyptian Antiquities Sector at the Supreme Council of Antiquities, described this sundial as one of the most significant artifacts found, illustrating the Egyptians’ skill in timekeeping and their understanding of solar movements. 

Read the full article at:https://archaeologymag.com/2024/08/astronomical-observatory-discovered-in-kafr-el-sheikh/

Pleistocene Sunburst Pocket-Art Unearthed

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Published: 28 March 2020

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Photo Credit: Andrew Thompson

Archaeologists have found two miniature stone engravings in a cave on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia. One plaquette appears to be a sunburst, the other an ibex like animal, the anoa. These pocket-sized carvings dating back between 14,000 and 26,000 years. Elsewhere in Sulawesi the oldest cave art dating to 44,000 years ago was recently discovered, dispelling the Euro-centric notion of Pleistocene art.

Examining the incisions cut into the ancient flowstone, the Sunburst hexegon outline was carved starting in the photo from upper left, with continuing connecting lines done clockwise. Then the 7 rays were added. Small traces of a red mineral (perhaps red ochre pigment) exist in some of the sunburst cuts, possibly indicating that the sun was enhanced in a beautiful red color. Before this discovery the oldest known depiction of the sun was from the Nebra sky disk found in Germany and fabricated of metal 3,600 years ago, rivaling Pharaoh Akenaten who built a whole city to the glory of the sun (Aten) 3,365 years ago. These are recent times compared to the sunburst.

The archaeology team was lead by Michelle C. Langley of the Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith University, with associates at Arkeologi Nasional (ARKENAS), Jakarta, Balai Arkeologi Sulawesi Selatan and Balai Pelestarian Cagar Budaya in Makassar. They report in Nature Human Behaviour "... the discovery of two small stone ‘plaquettes’ incised with figurative imagery dating to 26–14 ka from Leang Bulu Bettue, Sulawesi. [The pocket-art was discovered in a cave and rockshelter complex of Leang Bulu Bettue (4° 59' 31.18" S, 119° 40' 5.53" E) situated at the foot of a limestone tower in the Maros-Pangkep karst area.] These new findings, together with the recent discovery of rock art dating to at least 40 ka in this same region, overturns the long-held belief that the first H. sapiens of Southeast Asia–Australasia did not create sophisticated art and further cements the importance of this behaviour for our species’ ability to overcome environmental and social challenges."

The artefacts reported here are currently curated at the Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith University, Nathan, Australia. They will return to Indonesia at the conclusion of the project where they will be given accession numbers and be curated in Makassar by Balai Arkeologi Sulawesi Selatan.

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Hemicyclium Sundial Discovered in Turkey

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Published: 21 March 2020

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Several years ago in 2017 archaeologists found a rare hemicyclium sundial. Now another hemicyclium in excellent condition has been unearthed in Turkey's city of Denizli. Celal Şimşek, chief archaeologist at Denizli's Pamukkale University, calls it "unique". A better word is rare. Less than a hundred examples of this type of Hellenistic sundial have survived. It was found in the ancient city of Laodicea about 370 miles south of Istanbul. The sundial seems to have come from the archaeological site of one of the temples. As reported in the Daily Sabah, "Among the rare, largely preserved buildings in the city are the largest ancient stadium in Turkey, a theater and a sacred agora." The hemicyclium of pink marble has an outer edge decorated in foliage while the interior hemisphere has the traditional Greek names of the seasons. Hour lines deliniate the time. Almacantor lines show the solstices and a great circle marks the equinox. In AA Photo of the sundial at right, a needle gnomon has been restored to show how the sundial casts a shadow. Time and season are read at the gnomon shadow's tip.

Read more at: https://www.dailysabah.com/life/history/2000-year-old-sundial-unearthed-in-southern-turkeys-denizli

ADDENDUM FROM SUNDIAL DIGEST - 10 April 2020

I would like to add two arguments to the questions [of the sundial's age] under discussion:

1. Prof. Şimşek said: “On the North Parados passage in the Western Theater, which dates back to the Hellenistic Era, in the ancient city we have found a spherical sundial facing south, which we believe to be 2,020 years old.

This is a kind of conclusion which does not help by dating the dial. A comparison with similar specimens reveals that it was probably done around 200 – 400 CE.

2.  “Inscribed on the dial are the Greek word ‘Ksimerini’, or winter on the upper part; ‘Isimerini’, or solstice, which denotes the equality of day and night in the middle; and ‘Terini’, or summer in the bottom.”

I read (ΤΡΟΠH) ΧΕ(Ι)ΜΕΡΙΝH / IΣΗΜΕΡΙΝH / (ΤΡΟΠH) ΘΕΡΙΝH.

These are the names of the solstices and the equinoxes. What is conspicuous is the missing of I in χειμερινή (it should be written with diacritic signs). That is another strong argument that it was done in the Roman era.

With best wishes

Karlheinz Schaldach