Hello, I am Dr. Marc Frincu and I am curious about the many aspects of our history in relation to the stars. I am married to my beautiful and smart other half, Simina. I got my Ph.D. in computer science back in 2011. Simina also holds a Ph.D., in the history of translations, which she got in 2023. Simina is interested in new museology, the history of translations, and digital humanities. Talking about the marriage between sciences and humanities! I am so proud of her! In my day-to-day life, I am a senior lecturer at Nottingham Trent University, I research archaeoastronomy (among others including computer science topics such as Big Data, Machine Learning, and Distributed Systems), and I write computer programs (check out my Git repository for some of my projects). But I will not focus here on my computer science interests. I have over 10 years of experience in ancient archaeoastronomical sites. Currently, I am building a remote astronomical observatory and you can find more in my posts. In my spare time, I stargaze and we travel to visit places we read about in research articles. Obviously, all connected with the skies. My research (some of it together with Simina) spans the lower Danube area comprising Romania and Serbia, a less-known region of Europe, and parts of Armenia. I have published peer-reviewed articles on topics ranging from archaeoastronomy to computer science, given talks at international conferences, organized conferences, written books on archaeoastronomy, and edited collective volumes focusing on Romania and the Banat area’s archaeo and ethnoastronomy.
I am an IEEE Senior Member as well as the vice president of the European Society for Astronomy in Culture (SEAC) and vice president of the Romanian Society for Cultural Astronomy (SRPAC). I co-founded the latter in 2017 and served as its president between 2017-2021. Between 2020 and 2023 I served as a National Astronomy Education Coordinator for Romania (NAEC) to the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education. As part of my duties, I have contributed to the Astronomy Glossary, a joint IAU Office of Astronomy for Education project with the IAU Office of Astronomy Outreach.
In September 2022 I organized the 29th SEAC conference in Timisoara. Since 2017 I have been organizing the annual, respectively from 2022 biannual, SRPAC conferences. In June 2021 I was invited as an expert in cultural astronomy to discuss the sunrise and its impact on society at the BE Festival in Birmingham (here is a pic of me with the group of participants at sunrise at Edgbaston Reservoir).
My key findings include:
- The astronomical alignment at the Neolithic Vatin (Vrsac Circles), Serbia
- The Vrsac Circles in Serbia: Worshipping life and rebirth in the Neolithic, 2021 Theoretical Archaeological Group (TAG) Conference
- See also paper abstracts below for further published work
- The winter solstice and equinox alignment at the Neolithic Parta Sanctuary, Romania
- See paper abstracts below for published work
- The gnomon rock carving in the Sevsar Mountains, Armenia
- See paper abstracts below for published work
- The circumpolar marker at Hartashen Megaliths, Armenia
- New considerations regarding two megalithic sites in Armenia, 2021 SEAC Conference
Other presentations related to the Romanian archaeo and ethnoastronomy include:
- A look at the cosmological and Christian harmony in traditional Romanian carols and fairytales. Tracing back a long-forgotten solar myth with elements of Christianity, 2022 Sophia Centre Conference
- What do the cosmological paintings in old Romanian churches tell us? 2021 Sophia Centre Conference
Other talks and papers:
- Stars in the cave – why and how prehistoric people built the first planetariums? June 2021 Open Dome Event at Nottingham Trent University, UK
- When old meets new: evaluating numerical and machine learning based eclipse prediction methods, Romanian Astronomical Journal, 2021
I periodically post videos on my Youtube channel on astronomical and archaeoastronomical observations I perform.
We have traveled across the world to experience the ancient skies of our ancestors and the marvels of our cultures. Our journeys have taken us to the remote Easter Island, the peaceful Machu Picchu, the mysterious Maya and Teotihuacan, the adventurous American South-West, the megalithic Atlantic, the less-known Armenian prehistory, the magnificent Angkor Wat temples, and the breathtaking Egyptian pyramids and temples. And there are many more on our list!
What can you expect to find in this blog?
- Posts on our past and future trips around the world
- The archaeoastronomical tours we organize for the public in the Lower Danube region of Europe
- Live streams of celestial events
- Information about building the remote observatory
- Random thoughts
Curious about what we have researched? You can see some snippets of our articles on archaeoastronomy below.
