Editing Camera obscura (section)

===Prehistory to 500 BC: Possible inspiration for prehistoric art and possible use in religious ceremonies, gnomons===
There are theories that occurrences of ''camera obscura'' effects (through tiny holes in tents or in screens of animal hide) inspired [[paleolithic]] [[cave painting]]s. Distortions in the shapes of animals in many paleolithic cave artworks might be inspired by distortions seen when the surface on which an image was projected was not straight or not in the right angle.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://paleo-camera.com/paleolithic/ |title=Paleolithic |publisher=paleo-camera |access-date=2 May 2017 |archive-date=12 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181112032902/http://paleo-camera.com/paleolithic/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
It is also suggested that ''camera obscura'' projections could have played a role in [[Neolithic]] structures.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://paleo-camera.com/neolithic/ |title=Neolithic |publisher=paleo-camera |access-date=2 May 2017 |archive-date=2 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171202122409/http://paleo-camera.com/neolithic/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Jennifer Ouellette |url=https://gizmodo.com/did-prehistoric-people-watch-the-stars-through-this-6-0-1782759791 |title=deadspin-quote-carrot-aligned-w-bgr-2 |website=Gizmodo |date=29 June 2016 |access-date=9 September 2017 |archive-date=18 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170918021216/https://gizmodo.com/did-prehistoric-people-watch-the-stars-through-this-6-0-1782759791 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Osservazione del solstizio 21.06.12, fi, 20.JPG|thumb|The gnomon projection of the sun's shape on the floor of [[Florence Cathedral]] during the solstice on 21 June 2012]]
Perforated [[gnomon]]s projecting a pinhole image of the sun were described in the Chinese ''[[Zhoubi Suanjing]]'' writings (1046 BC–256 BC with material added until {{circa|220 AD}}).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CyssAQAAIAAJ&q=%22pierced+gnomon%22|title=The Asiatic Review|year=1969|last1=Boulger|first1=Demetrius Charles|access-date=16 September 2020|archive-date=10 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231110061239/https://books.google.com/books?id=CyssAQAAIAAJ&q=%22pierced+gnomon%22|url-status=live}}</ref> The location of the bright circle can be measured to tell the time of day and year. In Middle Eastern and European cultures its invention was much later attributed to Egyptian astronomer and mathematician [[Ibn Yunus]] around 1000 AD.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=msaqctAH8OkC&pg=PA6|title=Sundials: History, Theory, and Practice|last=Rohr|first=René R.J.|year=2012|isbn=978-0-486-15170-0|page=6|publisher=Courier Corporation|access-date=20 December 2019|archive-date=10 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231110061238/https://books.google.com/books?id=msaqctAH8OkC&pg=PA6#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>