Archaeoastronomy (also spelled archeoastronomy) is the study of how peoples in the past "have understood the phenomena in the sky, how they used phenomena in the sky and what role the sky played in their cultures. A phenomenon (from Greek φαινόμενoν, pl φαινόμενα - phenomena) is any observable occurrence Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning "to cultivate" generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic "^[1] Clive Ruggles argues it specifically is not the study of ancient astronomy, as astronomy is a culturally specific concept and ancient peoples may have related to the sky in a different way. Astronomy (from the Greek words astron (ἄστρον "star" and nomos (νόμος "law" is the scientific study ^[2] It is often twinned with ethnoastronomy, the anthropological study of skywatching in contemporary societies. Anthropology (/ˌænθɹəˈpɒlədʒi/ from Greek grc ἄνθρωπος anthrōpos, "human" -λογία -logia) is the study of Archaeoastronomy is also closely associated with historical astronomy, the use of historical records of heavenly events to answer astronomical problems and the history of astronomy, which uses written records to evaluate past astronomical traditions. Historical astronomy is the science of analysing historic astronomical data Astronomy is the oldest of the Natural sciences dating back to antiquity, with its origins in the religious, Mythological, and Astrological

Archaeoastronomy uses a variety of methods to uncover evidence of past practices including astronomy, statistics and probability, anthropology, and history as well as archaeology. Because these methods are so diverse and pull data from such different sources the problem of integrating them into a coherent argument has been a long-term issue for archaeoastronomers. ^[3]

Archaeoastronomy fills complementary niches to landscape archaeology and cognitive archaeology. Landscape archaeology is a body of method and theory for the study of the material traces of past peoples within the context of their interactions in the wider (typically regional social Cognitive archaeology is a sub-discipline of Archaeology which focuses on the ways that ancient societies thought and the symbolic structures that can be perceived in past material Material evidence and its connection to the sky can reveal how a wider landscape can be integrated into beliefs about the cycles of nature, such as Mayan astronomy and its relationship with the agriculture. ^[4] Other examples which have brought together ideas of cognition and landscape include studies of the cosmic order embedded in the roads of settlements. ^[5][6]

Archaeoastronomy can be applied to all cultures and all time periods. The meanings of the sky vary from culture to culture; nevertheless there are scientific methods which can be applied across cultures when examining ancient beliefs. ^[7] It is perhaps the need to balance the social and scientific aspects of archaeoastronomy which led Clive Ruggles to describe it as: ". . . [A] field with academic work of high quality at one end but uncontrolled speculation bordering on lunacy at the other. "^[8]

Contents 1 History of archaeoastronomy 2 Archaeoastronomy and its relations to other disciplines 3 Methodology 3.1 Green Archaeoastronomy 3.2 Brown Archaeoastronomy 4 Source materials 4.1 Alignments 4.2 Artefacts 4.3 Art and Inscriptions 4.4 Ethnographies 5 Recreating the ancient sky 5.1 Declination 5.2 Solar positioning 5.3 Lunar positioning 5.4 Stellar positioning 5.5 Transient phenomena 6 Major topics of archaeoastronomical research 6.1 The use of calendars 6.2 Myth and cosmology 6.3 Displays of power 7 Major sites of archaeoastronomical interest 7.1 Newgrange 7.2 The Pyramids of Giza 7.3 El Castillo 7.4 Stonehenge 7.5 Uxmal 8 Fringe Archaeoastronomy 9 Archaeoastronomical organisations and publications 10 See also 11 Notes 12 References 13 External links 13.1 Societies 13.2 Journals

History of archaeoastronomy

In his short history of 'Astro-archaeology' John Michell argued that the status of research into ancient astronomy had improved over the past two centuries, going 'from lunacy to heresy to interesting notion and finally to the gates of orthodoxy. ' Nearly two decades later, we can still ask the question: Is archaeoastronomy still waiting at the gates of orthodoxy or has it gotten inside the gates?

—Todd Bostwick quoting John Michell^[9]

Two hundred years before Michell wrote the above, there were no archaeoastronomers and there were no professional archaeologists, but there were astronomers and antiquarians. Archaeology, archeology, or archæology (from Greek grc ἀρχαιολογία archaiologia – grc ἀρχαῖος archaīos An antiquarian or antiquary is one concerned with Antiquities or things of the past Some of their work is considered the precursors of archaeoastronomy, as antiquarians interpreted the astronomical orientation of the ruins that dotted the English countryside, as William Stukeley did of Stonehenge in 1740,^[10] while John Aubrey in 1678^[11] and Henry Chauncy in 1700 sought similar astronomical principles underlying the orientation of churches. Precursorism, called in its more extreme forms precursoritis or precursitis, is a characteristic of that kind of historical writing in which the author seeks antecedents The Rev Dr William Stukeley FRS, FRCP FSA ( November 7, 1687 &ndash March 3, 1765) was an English antiquary who pioneered "How these curiosities would be quite forgott did not such idle fellowes as I am putt them down Sir Henry Chauncy Kt was born in Ardeley, Hertfordshire on April 12, 1632. ^[12] Late in the nineteenth century astronomers such as Richard Proctor and Charles Piazzi Smyth investigated the astronomical orientations of the pyramids. Richard Anthony Proctor (born March 23 1837 in Chelsea London - died September 12 1888) was an English Astronomer Charles Piazzi Smyth ( January 3, 1819 &ndash February 21, 1900) was Astronomer Royal for Scotland from 1846 to 1888 well-known ^[13]

The term archaeoastronomy was first used by Elizabeth Chesley Baity (at the suggestion of Euan MacKie) in 1973,^[14] but as a topic of study it may be much older, depending on how archaeoastronomy is defined. Clive Ruggles^[15] says that Heinrich Nissen, working in the mid-nineteenth century was arguably the first archaeoastronomer. Heinrich Nissen (* 3 April 1839 in Hadersleben; † 29 February 1912 in Bonn) was a German Ancient Historian. Rolf Sinclair^[16] says that Norman Lockyer, working in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, could be called the 'father of archaeoastronomy. Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer, FRS ( May 17, 1836 &ndash August 16, 1920) was an English scientist and astronomer ' Euan MacKie^[17] would place the origin even later, stating: ". . . the genesis and modern flowering of archaeoastronomy must surely lie in the work of Alexander Thom in Britain between the 1930s and the 1970s. Professor Alexander Thom (1894–1985 was a Scottish engineer most famous for his theory of the Megalithic yard and his studies of Stonehenge and

In the 1960s the work of the engineer Alexander Thom and that of the astronomer Gerald Hawkins, who proposed that Stonehenge was a Neolithic computer,^[18] inspired new interest in the astronomical features of ancient sites. Aughlish (also Auglish) is the site of at least six stone circles and two stone rows in County Londonderry, Ulster. Gerald Stanley Hawkins (1928&ndash2003 was an English Astronomer and author most famous for his work in the field of Archaeoastronomy. Stonehenge is a Prehistoric Monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury The Neolithic (from Greek νεολιθικός — neolithikos from νέος neos, "new" + λίθος lithos The claims of Hawkins were largely dismissed,^[19] but this was not the case for Alexander Thom's work, whose survey results of megalithic sites also proposed widespread practice of accurate astronomy in the British Isles. ^[20] Euan MacKie, recognising that Thom’s theories needed to be tested, excavated at the Kintraw standing stone site in Argyllshire in 1970 and 1971 to check whether the latter’s prediction of an observation platform on the hill slope above the stone was correct. There was an artificial platform there and this apparent verification of Thom’s long alignment hypothesis (Kintraw was diagnosed as an accurate winter solstice site) led him to check Thom’s geometrical theories at the Cultoon stone circle in Islay, also with a positive result. MacKie therefore broadly accepted Thom’s conclusions and published new prehistories of Britain. ^[21] In contrast a re-evaluation of Thom’s fieldwork by Clive Ruggles argued that Thom's claims of high accuracy astronomy were not fully supported by the evidence. ^[22] Nevertheless Thom's legacy remains strong, Krupp^[23] wrote in 1979, "Almost singlehandedly he has established the standards for archaeo-astronomical fieldwork and interpretation, and his amazing results have stirred controversy during the last three decades. " His influence endures and practice of statistical testing of data remains one of the methods of archaeoastronomy. Statistics is a mathematical science pertaining to the collection analysis interpretation or explanation and presentation of Data. ^[24][25]

The approach In the New World, where anthropologists began to consider more fully the role of astronomy in Amerindian societies, was markedly different. The Maya civilization is a Mesoamerican Civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the Pre-Columbian Americas Uxmal ( Yucatec Maya: Óoxmáal is a large Pre-Columbian ruined city of the Maya civilization in the state of Yucatán, Mexico. The New World is one of the names used for the non-Eurasian/non-African parts of the Earth specifically the Americas and Australia. For indigenous peoples in the United States other than Hawaii and Alaska see also Native Americans in the United States. They had access to sources that the prehistory of Europe lacks such as ethnographies^[26][27] and the historical records of the early colonizers. Stone Age Paleolithic See also Paleolithic, Recent African Origin, Early Homo sapiens, Early human migrations "Paleolithic" Ethnography ( Greek ethnos = people and graphein = writing is a genre of writing that uses Fieldwork to provide a descriptive History is the study of the past particularly the written record Those who study history as a Profession are called Historians Etymology The start of the European colonization of the Americas is typically dated to 1492 although there was at least one earlier colonization effort Following the pioneering example of Anthony Aveni,^[28][29] this allowed New World archaeoastronomers to make claims for motives which in the Old World would have been mere speculation. The concentration on historical data led to some claims of high accuracy that were comparatively weak when compared to the statistically led investigations in Europe. ^[30]

This came to a head at a meeting sponsored by the IAU in Oxford in 1981. Oxford is currently bidding for the 2010 Wikimania Conference Oxford () is a city, and the County town of Oxfordshire, ^[31] The methodologies and research questions of the participants were considered so different that the conference proceedings were published as two volumes. Methodology (also called manner) is defined as "the analysis of the principles of methods rules and postulates employed by a discipline" ^[32][33] Nevertheless the conference was considered a success in bringing researchers together and Oxford conferences have continued every four or five years at locations around the world. The subsequent conferences have resulted in a move to more interdisciplinary approaches with researchers aiming to combine the contextuality of archaeological research,^[34] which broadly describes the state of archaeoastronomy today. Rather than merely establishing the existence of ancient astronomies archaeoastronomers seek to explain why people would have an interest in the night sky.

Archaeoastronomy and its relations to other disciplines

. . . [O]ne of the most endearing characteristics of archaeoastronomy is its capacity to set academics in different disciplines at loggerheads with each other.

—Clive Ruggles^[35]

Reflecting Archaeoastronomy's development as an interdisciplinary subject, research in the field is conducted by investigators trained in a wide range of disciplines. Authors of recent doctoral dissertations have described their work as concerned with the fields of archaeology and cultural anthropology; with various fields of history including the history of specific regions and periods, the history of science and the history of religion; and with the relation of astronomy to art, literature and religion. Only rarely did they describe their work as astronomical, and then only as a secondary category. ^[36]

Both practicing archaeoastronomers and observers of the discipline approach it from different perspectives. George Gummerman and Miranda Warburton view archaeoastronomy as part of an archaeology informed by cultural anthropology and aimed at understanding a "group’s conception of themselves in relation to the heavens', in a word, its cosmology. Cultural anthropology is one of four fields of Anthropology (the holistic study of humanity) as it developed in the United States. ^[37] Todd Bostwick argued that "archaeoastronomy is anthropology – the study of human behavior in the past and present. "^[38] Paul Bahn has described archaeoastronomy as an area of cognitive archaeology. ^[39] Other researchers relate archaeoastronomy to the history of science, either as it relates to a culture's observations of nature and the conceptual framework they devised to impose an order on those observations^[40] or as it relates to the political motives which drove particular historical actors to deploy certain astronomical concepts or techniques. ^[41][42] Art historian Richard Poss took a more flexible approach, maintaining that the astronomical rock art of the US Southwest be read employing "the hermeneutic traditions of western art history and art criticism"^[43] Astronomers, however, raise different questions, seeking to provide their students with identifiable precursors of their discipline, and are especially concerned with the important question of how to confirm that specific sites are, indeed, intentionally astronomical. Precursorism, called in its more extreme forms precursoritis or precursitis, is a characteristic of that kind of historical writing in which the author seeks antecedents ^[44]

The reactions of professional archaeologists to archaeoastronomy have been decidedly mixed. Some expressed incomprehension or even hostility, varying from a rejection by the archaeological mainstream of what they saw as an archaeoastronomical fringe to an incomprehension between the cultural focus of archaeologists and the quantitative focus of early archaeoastronomers. ^[45] Yet archaeologists have increasingly come to incorporate many of the insights from archaeoastronomy into archaeology textbooks^[46] and, as mentioned above, some students wrote archaeology dissertations on archaeoastronomical topics.

Since archaeoastronomers disagree so widely on the characterisation of the discipline, they even dispute its name. All three major international scholarly associations relate archaeoastronomy to the study of culture, using the term Astronomy in Culture or a translation. Michael Hoskin sees an important part of the discipline as fact-collecting, rather than theorizing, and proposed to label this aspect of the discipline Archaeotopography. ^[47] Ruggles and Saunders proposed Cultural Astronomy as a unifying term for the various methods of studying folk astronomies. ^[48] Others have argued that astronomy is an inaccurate term, what are being studied are cosmologies and people who object to the use of logos have suggested adopting the Spanish cosmovisión. Cosmology (from Greek grc κοσμολογία - grc κόσμος kosmos, "universe" and grc -λογία -logia) is study grc-Latn Logos (ˈloʊːgɒs ( Greek, logos) is an important term in Philosophy, Analytical psychology, Rhetoric and Religion ^[49]

When debates polarise between techniques, the methods are often referred to by a colour code, based on the colours of the bindings of the two volumes from the first Oxford Conference, where the approaches were first distinguished. ^[50] Green (Old World) archaeoastronomers rely heavily on statistics and are sometimes accused of missing the cultural context of what is a social practice. The Old World consists of those parts of Earth known to Europeans Asians and Africans in the 15th century Brown (New World) archaeoastronomers in contrast have abundant ethnographic and historical evidence and have been described as 'cavalier' on matters of measurement and statistical analysis. The New World is one of the names used for the non-Eurasian/non-African parts of the Earth specifically the Americas and Australia. ^[51] Finding a way to integrate various approaches has been a subject of much discussion since the early 1990s. ^[52][53]

Methodology

For a long time I have believed that such diversity requires the invention of some all-embracing theory. I think I was very naïve in thinking that such a thing was ever possible.

—Stanislaw Iwaniszewski^[54]

There is no one way to do Archaeoastronomy. The divisions between archaeoastronomers tend not to be between the physical scientists and the social scientists. Instead it tends to depend on the location of kind of data available to the researcher. In the Old World, there is little data but the sites themselves; in the New World, the sites were supplemented by ethnographic an historic data. The effects of the isolated development of archaeoastronomy in different places can still often be seen in research today. Research methods can be classified as falling into one of two approaches, though more recent projects often use techniques from both categories.

Green Archaeoastronomy

Green Archaeoastronomy is named after the cover the book Archaeoastronomy in the Old World. ^[55] It is primarily statistically led and is a particularly approach for prehistoric sites where the social evidence is relatively scant compared to the historic period. The basic methods were developed by Alexander Thom during his extensive surveys of British megalithic sites.

Thom wished to examine whether or not prehistoric peoples used high-accuracy astronomy. He believed that by using horizon astronomy, observers could make estimates of dates in the year to a specific day. The observation would require finding a place where on a specific data the sun set into a notch on the horizon. A common theme would be a mountain which blocked the Sun, but on the right day would allow the tiniest fraction to re-emerge on the other side for a 'double sunset'. The animation below shows two sunsets at a hypothetical site, one the day before the summer solstice and one at the summer solstice, which has a double sunset.

To test this idea he surveyed hundreds of stone rows and circles. Any individual alignment could indicate a direction by chance, but he planned to show that together the distribution of alignments was non-random, showing that there was an astronomical intent to the orientation of at least some of the alignments. His results indicated the existence of eight, sixteen, or perhaps even thirty-two approximately equal divisions of the year. The two solstices, the two equinoxes and four cross-quarter days, days half-way between a solstice and the equinox were associated with the medieval Celtic calendar. Solstices occur twice a year when the tilt of the Earth's axis is most oriented toward or away from the Sun, causing the Sun to reach its northernmost and southernmost extremes An equinox is the event of the Sun passing over the Earth's equator in its annual cycle A cross-quarter day is a day falling approximately halfway between a Solstice and an Equinox. ^[56] While not all these conclusions have been accepted, it has had an enduring influence on archaeoastronomy, especially in Europe.

Euan MacKie has most strongly supported Thom's analyses adding to which he added an archaeological context by comparing Neolithic Britain to the Mayan civilisation to argue for a stratified society in this period. ^[21] To test his ideas he conducted a couple of excavations at proposed prehistoric observatories in Scotland. Kintraw is a site notable for its four metre high standing stone. Thom proposed that this was a foresight to a point on the distant horizon between Beinn Shianaidh and Beinn o'Chaolias on Jura. ^[57] This Thom argued was a notch on the horizon where a double sunset would occur at midwinter. However, from ground level the site of the standing stone, this sunset would be obscured by a ridge in the landscape. The viewer would need to be raised by two metres. Therefore another observation platform was needed. This was identified across a gorge where a platform formed from small stones. The lack of artefacts caused concern for some archaeologists and the petrofabric analysis was inconclusive, but further research at Maes Howe^[58] and on the Bush Barrow Lozenge^[59] leads MacKie to conclude that while the term 'science' may be anachronistic, Thom was broadly correct upon the subject of high-accuracy alignments. Maeshowe (or Maes Howe) is a Neolithic Chambered cairn and Passage grave situated on mainland Orkney, Scotland. The Bush Barrow is a site of the early British Bronze Age (ca

In contrast Clive Ruggles has argued that there are problems with the selection of data in Thom's surveys. meaning that the arguments for high accuracy astronomy are unproven. ^[60][61] A deeper criticism of Green archaeoastronomy is that while it can answer if there was likely to be an interest in astronomy in past times, its lack of a social element means that it struggles to answer why people would be interested which makes it of limited use to people asking questions about the society of the past. Keith Kintigh wrote: "To put it bluntly, in many cases it doesn’t matter much to the progress of anthropology whether a particular archaeoastronomical claim is right or wrong because the information doesn’t inform the current interpretive questions. "^[62] Nonetheless the study of alignments remains a staple of archaeoastronomical research, especially in Europe. ^[63]

Brown Archaeoastronomy

In contrast to the largely alignment-orientated statistically-led methods of Green archaeoastronomy, Brown archaeoastronomy has been identified as being closer to the history of astronomy or to cultural history, insofar as it draws on historical and ethnographic records to enrich its understanding of early astronomies and their relations to calendars and ritual. Astronomy is the oldest of the Natural sciences dating back to antiquity, with its origins in the religious, Mythological, and Astrological The term cultural history (from the German term) refers both to an Academic discipline and to its subject matter ^[50] The many records of native customs and beliefs made by the Spanish chroniclers means that Brown archaeoastronomy is most often associated with studies of astronomy in the Americas. ^[64]

One famous site where historical records have been used to interpret sites is Chichen Itza. Chichen Itza (tʃiːˈtʃɛn iːˈtsɑː from Chi'ch'èen Ìitsha' "At the mouth of the well of the Itza " is a Rather than analysing the site and seeing which targets appear popular, archaeoastronomers have instead examined the ethnographic records to see what features of the sky were important to the Mayans and then sought archaeological correlates. The Maya civilization is a Mesoamerican Civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the Pre-Columbian Americas One example which could have been overlooked without historical records is the Mayan interest in the planet Venus. The VENUS ( V ictoria E xperimental N etwork U nder the S ea project is a cabled sea floor observatory operated by the University This interest is attested to by the Dresden codex which contains tables with information about the Venus's appearances in the sky. Maya codices (singular Codex) are folding Books stemming from the Pre-Columbian Maya civilization, written in Maya hieroglyphic ^[65] These cycles would have been of astrological and ritual significance as Venus was associated with Quetzalcoatl or Xolotl. Quetzalcoatl (Quetzalcōhuātl keʦalˈkoːwaːtɬ is an Aztec sky and creator god. In Aztec mythology, Xolotl (ˈʃolotɬ in Nahuatl) was the god with associations to both Lightning and death ^[66] Associations of architectural features with settings of Venus can be found in Chichen Itza.

The Temple of the Warriors bears iconography depicting feathered serpents associated with Quetzalcoatl or Kukulcan. This means that the building's alignment towards the place on the horizon where Venus first appears in the evening sky (when it coincides with the rainy season) may be meaningful. ^[67] Aveni claims that another building associated with the planet Venus in the form of Kukulcan, and the rainy season at Chichen Itza is the Caracol. Caracol or El Caracol is the name given to a large ancient Maya archaeological site located in what is now the Cayo District of Belize. ^[68] This is a building with circular tower and doors facing the cardinal directions. The base faces the most northerly setting of Venus. Additionally the pillars of a stylobate on the building's upper platform were painted black and red. These are colours associated with Venus as an evening and morning star. ^[69] However the windows in the tower seem to have been little more than slots, making them poor at letting light in, but providing a suitable place to view out. ^[70]

Aveni states that one of the strengths of the Brown methodology is that it can explore astronomies invisible to statistical analysis and offers the astronomy of the Incas as another example. The empire of the Incas was conceptually divided using ceques radial routes emanating from the capital at Cusco. ||} Cusco (also spelled Cuzco, and in the local Quechua language as Qusqu 'qos Thus there are alignments in all directions which would suggest there is little of astronomical significance, However, ethnohistorical records show that the various directions do have cosmological and astronomical significance with various points in the landscape being significant at different times of the year. ^[71][72] In eastern Asia archaeoastronomy has developed from the History of Astronomy and much archaeoastronomy is searching for material correlates of the historical record. This is due to the rich historical record of astronomical phenomena which, in China, stretches back into the Han dynasty, in the second century BC. The Han Dynasty ( 206 BC–220 AD followed the Qin Dynasty and preceded the Three Kingdoms in China. ^[73]

A criticism of this method is that it can be statistically weak. Schaefer in particular has questioned the how robust the claimed alignments in the Caracol are. ^[74][75]

Because of the wide variety of evidence, which can include artifacts as well as sites, there is no one way to practice archaeoastronomy. ^[76] Despite this it is accepted that Archaeoastronomy is not a discipline that sits in isolation. Because Archaeoastronomy is an interdisciplinary field, whatever is being investigated should make sense both archaeologically and astronomically. Studies are more likely to be considered sound if they use theoretical tools found in Archaeology like analogy and homology and if they can demonstrate an understanding of accuracy and precision found in Astronomy. Analogy is both the cognitive process of transferring Information from a particular subject (the analogue or source to another particular subject (the target and

Source materials

Because archaeoastronomy is about the many and various ways people interacted with the sky, there are a diverse range of sources giving information about astronomical practices.

Alignments

A common source of data for archaeoastronomy is the study of alignments. This is based on the assumption that the axis of alignment of an archaeological site is meaningfully orientated towards an astronomical target. Brown archaeoastronomers may justify this assumption through reading historical or ethnographic sources, while Green archaeoastronomers tend to prove that alignments are unlikely to be selected by chance, usually by demonstrating common patterns of alignment at multiple sites.

An alignment is calculated by measuring the azimuth, the angle from north, of the structure and the altitude of the horizon it faces^[77] The azimuth is usually measured using a theodolite or a compass. Azimuth ( is a mathematical concept defined as the angle usually measured in degrees (° between a reference plane and a point. A theodolite ( is an instrument for measuring both horizontal and vertical Angles as used in Triangulation networks A compass, magnetic compass or mariner's compass is a navigational instrument for determining direction relative to the earth's Magnetic poles It consists A compass is easier to use, though the deviation of the Earth’s magnetic field from true north, known as its magnetic declination must be taken into account. The magnetic declination (also known as grid magnetic angle in military circles at any point on the Earth is the angle between the local magnetic field -- the direction Compasses are also unreliable in areas prone to magnetic interference, such as sites being supported by scaffolding. Additionally a compass can only measure the azimuth to a precision of a half a degree. ^[78]

A theodolite can be considerably more accurate if used correctly, but it is also considerably more difficult to use correctly. There is no inherent way to align a theodolite with North and so the scale has to be calibrated using astronomical observation, usually the position of the Sun. Calibration is the process of establishing the relationship between a measuring device and the units of measure ^[79] Because the position of celestial bodies changes with the time of day due to the Earth’s rotation, the time of these calibration observations must be accurately known, or else there will be a systematic error in the measurements. Horizon altitudes can be measured with a theodolite or a clinometer. An inclinometer or clinometer is an instrument for measuring angles of Slope (or Tilt) Elevation or Inclination of an object with

Artefacts

For artifacts such as the Sky Disc of Nebra, alleged to be a Bronze Age artifact depicting the cosmos,^[80][81] the analysis would be similar to typical post-excavation analysis as used in other sub-disciplines in archaeology. The Nebra sky disk is a Bronze disk of around 30 cm diameter patinated blue-green and inlaid with gold symbols Archaeology, archeology, or archæology (from Greek grc ἀρχαιολογία archaiologia – grc ἀρχαῖος archaīos An artifact is examined and attempts are made to draw analogies with historical or ethnographical records of other peoples. The more parallels that can be found, the more likely an explanation is to be accepted by other archaeologists.

A more mundane example is the presence of astrological symbols found on some shoes and sandals from the Roman Empire. Astrological symbols are images used in various astrological systems to denote relevant objects The use of shoes and sandals is well known, but Carol van Driel-Murray has proposed that astrological symbols etched onto sandals gave the footwear spiritual or medicinal meanings. ^[82] This is supported through citation of other known uses of astrological symbols and their connection to medical practice and with the historical records of the time.

Another well-known artifact with an astronomical use is the Antikythera mechanism. The Antikythera mechanism (ˌæntɪkɪˈθɪərə an-ti-ki- theer -uh is an ancient mechanical Calculator (also described as the first known " mechanical In this case analysis of the artifact, and reference to the description of similar devices described by Cicero, would indicate a plausible use for the device. The argument is bolstered by the presence of symbols on the mechanism, allowing the disc to be read. ^[83]

Art and Inscriptions

Art and inscriptions may not be confined to artefacts, but also appear painted or inscribed on an archaeological site. Fajada Butte is a Butte in Chaco Culture National Historical Park, a park in New Mexico. Sometimes inscriptions are helpful enough to give instructions to a site's use. For example an inscription on one Greek stele has been translated as:"Patron set this up for Zeus Epopsios. Winter solstice. Should anyone wish to know: off ‘the little pig’ and the stele the sun turns. "^[84] From Mesoamerica come Mayan and Aztec codices. Maya codices (singular Codex) are folding Books stemming from the Pre-Columbian Maya civilization, written in Maya hieroglyphic Aztec codices (singular Codex) are Books written by Pre-Columbian and colonial-era Aztecs These are folding books made from Amatl. Amatl (āmatl amate or papel amate) is a form of Paper that was manufactured in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. processed tree bark on which are glyphs in Mayan or Aztec script. A glyph is an element of writing Two or more glyphs representing the same symbol whether interchangeable or context-dependent are called Allographs the abstract unit they The Maya script, also known as Maya hieroglyphs, was the writing system of the Pre-Columbian Maya civilization of Mesoamerica, presently Aztec or Nahuatl writing is a pictographic Pre-Columbian Writing system used in central Mexico by the Nahua peoples The Dresden codex contains information regarding the Venus cycle, confirming its important to the Mayans. Maya codices (singular Codex) are folding Books stemming from the Pre-Columbian Maya civilization, written in Maya hieroglyphic ^[65]

More problematic are those cases where the movement of the Sun at different times and seasons causes light and shadow interactions with petroglyphs. Petroglyphs are Images created by removing part of a rock surface by incising pecking carving and abrading A widely known example is the Sun Dagger of Fajada Butte at which a glint of sunlight passing over a spiral petroglyph. Fajada Butte is a Butte in Chaco Culture National Historical Park, a park in New Mexico. ^[85] The location of the dagger on the petroglyph varies throughout the year. At the solstices a dagger can be seen either through the heart of the spiral or to either side of it. It is proposed that this petroglyph was created to mark these events. Recent studies have identified many similar sites in the US Southwest and Northwestern Mexico. ^[86][87] It has been argued that the number of solstitial markers at these sites provides statistical evidence that they were intended to mark the solstices. ^[88] If no ethnographic nor historical data are found which can support this assertion then acceptance of the idea relies upon whether or not there are enough petroglyph sites in North America that such a correlation could occur by chance. It is helpful when petroglyphs are associated with existing peoples. This allows ethnoastronomers to question informants as to the meaning of such symbols.

Ethnographies

As well as the materials left by peoples themselves, there are also the reports of other who have encountered them. The historical records of the Conquistadores are a rich source of information about the precolumbian Americans. This article is about the Spanish explorer soldiers of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuriesfor other uses see Conquistador (disambiguation A Conquistador Ethnographers also provide material about many other peoples. Ethnography ( Greek ethnos = people and graphein = writing is a genre of writing that uses Fieldwork to provide a descriptive

Aveni uses the importance of zenith passages as an example of the importance of ethnography. For peoples living between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn there are two days of the year when the noon Sun passes directly overhead and casts no shadow. In parts of Mesoamerica this was considered a significant day as it would herald the arrival of rains, and so play a part in the cycle of agriculture. This knowledge is still considered important amongst Mayan Indians living in Central America today. The ethnographic records suggested to archaeoastronomers that this day may have been important to the ancient Mayans. Alignments to the sunrise and sunset on the day of the zenith passage have been found in Mayan cities such as Chichen Itza. There are also shafts known as 'zenith tubes' which illuminate subterranean rooms when the sun passes overhead found at places like Monte Alban and Xochicalco. Monte Albán is a large Pre-Columbian Archaeological site in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. Xochicalco ("sho-chee-cal-co") is a Pre-Columbian archaeological site in the western part of the Mexican state of Morelos. It is only through the ethnography that we can speculate that the timing of the illumination was considered important in Mayan society. ^[89]

Ethnographies also caution against over-interpretation of sites. At Pueblo Bonito, in Chaco Canyon can be found a petroglyph with a star, crescent and hand. Pueblo Bonito, the largest and best known Great House in Chaco Culture National Historical Park, northern New Mexico, was built by ancestral Pueblo people Chaco Culture National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park and it is a portion of a UNESCO World Heritage Site hosting the densest It has been argued that this is a record of the 1054 Supernova. SN 1054 (Crab Supernova was a Supernova that was widely seen on Earth in the year 1054 ^[90] However anthropological evidence suggests this is not the case. The Zuni who live in the region mark sun-watching stations with a crescent, star, hand and sundisc, which can also be found at the site. ^[91] The local peoples appear to have adopted the supernova explanation after it was suggested by visitors to the site. ^[92]

Ethnoastronomy is also an important field outside of the Americas. For example anthropological work with aboriginal Australians is producing much information about their indigenous astronomies^[93] and about their interaction with the modern world including a new genre of Aboriginal UFO stories. Australian Aboriginal astronomy is a name given to the Indigenous Australian cultural traditions of astronomical study ^[94]

Recreating the ancient sky

. . . [A]lthough different ways to do science and different scientific results do arise in different cultures, this provides little support for those who would use such differences to question the sciences' ability to provide reliable statements about the world in which we live.

—Stephen McCluskey^[95]

Once the researcher has data to test, it is often necessary to attempt to recreate ancient sky conditions to place the data in its historical environment.

Declination

Main article: Declination

To calculate what astronomical features a structure faced a coordinate system is needed. The stars provide such a system. If you were to go outside on a clear night you would observe the stars spinning around the celestial pole. This point is +90° if you are watching the North Celestial Pole or −90° if you are observing the Southern Celestial Pole. ^[96] The concentric circles the stars trace out are lines of celestial latitude, known as declination. The arc connecting the points on the horizon due East and due West (if the horizon is flat) and all points midway between the Celestial Poles is the Celestial Equator which has a declination of 0°. The visible declinations vary depending where you are on the globe. Only an observer on the North Pole of Earth would be unable to see any stars from the Southern Celestial Hemisphere at night (see diagram below). Once a declination has been found for the point on the horizon that a building faces it is then possible to say whether a specific body can be seen in that direction.

Solar positioning

While the stars are fixed to their declinations the Sun is not. The rising point of the Sun varies throughout the year. It swings between two limits marked by the solstices a bit like a pendulum, slowing as it reaches the extremes, but passing rapidly through the mid-point. A pendulum is a mass that is attached to a pivot from which it can swing freely If an archaeoastronomer can calculate from the azimuth and horizon height that a site was built to view a declination of +23. 5° then he need not wait until June 21 to confirm the site does indeed face the summer solstice. Events 524 - Godomar, King of the Burgundians defeats the Franks at the Battle of Vézeronce. ^[97] For more information see History of solar observation. The Sun (Sol is the Star at the center of the Solar System.

Lunar positioning

The Moon’s appearance is considerably more complex. Its motion, like the Sun, is between two limits — known as lunastices rather than solstices. However, its travel between lunastices is considerably faster. It takes a sidereal month to complete its cycle rather than the year long trek of the Sun. The month is a unit of Time, used with Calendars which is approximately as long as some natural period related to the motion of the Moon; This is further complicated as the lunastices marking the limits of the Moon’s movement move on an 18.6 year cycle. At a major lunar standstill, which takes place every 186 years the range of the Declination of the Moon reaches a maximum For slightly over nine years the extreme limits of the moon are outside the range of sunrise. For the remaining half of the cycle the Moon never exceeds the limits of the range of sunrise. However, much lunar observation was concerned with the phase of the Moon. Lunar phase (or Moon phase refers to the appearance of the illuminated portion of the Moon as seen by an observer usually on Earth The cycle from one New Moon to the next runs on an entirely different cycle, the Synodic month. This article is about the lunar phase for other uses see New Moon (disambiguation. The month is a unit of Time, used with Calendars which is approximately as long as some natural period related to the motion of the Moon; ^[98] Thus when examining sites for lunar significance the data can appear sparse due the extremely variable nature of the moon. See Moon for more details.

Stellar positioning

Main article: Precession of the equinoxes

Finally there is often a need to correct for the apparent movement of the stars. On the timescale of human civilisation the stars have maintained the same position relative to each other. Each night they appear to rotate around the celestial poles due to the Earth’s rotation about its axis. However, the Earth spins rather like a spinning top. A top, or spinning top, is a Toy that can be spun on an axis balancing on a point Not only does the Earth rotate, it wobbles. The Earth’s axis takes around 25,800 years to complete one full wobble. ^[99] The effect to the archaeoastronomer is that stars did not rise over the horizon in the past in the same places as they do today. Nor did the stars rotate around Polaris as they do now. Polaris (α UMi / α Ursae Minoris / Alpha Ursae Minoris commonly North(ern Star or Pole Star, and sometimes Lodestar In the case of the Egyptian pyramids, it has been shown they were aligned towards Thuban, a faint star in the constellation of Draco. The Egyptian pyramids are pyramid shaped structures located in Egypt, and were built as a tomb for dead pharaohs This article is about the Star Th'uban is an Arabic word for Dragon. Draco (ˈdreɪkoʊ Dragon) is a far northern Constellation that is circumpolar for many Northern hemisphere observers ^[100] The effect can be substanstial over relatively short lengths of time, historically speaking. For instance a person born on December 25 in Roman times would have been born under the astrological sign of Capricorn. Events 274 - Roman Emperor Aurelian Capricorn is the tenth Astrological sign in the Zodiac, originating from the constellation of Capricornus. In the modern period a person born on the same date is now a Sagittarian^[101] due to the precession of the equinoxes. Sagittarius is the ninth Astrological sign in the Zodiac, originating from the constellation of Sagittarius.

Transient phenomena

Additionally there are often transient phenomena, events which do not happen on an annual cycle. The Bayeux Tapestry (Tapisserie de Bayeux is a 50 cm by 70 m (20 in by 230 ft long embroidered cloth which explains the events leading up to the 1066 Norman invasion of Most predictable are events like eclipses. An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when one Celestial object moves into the shadow of another In the case of solar eclipses these can be used to date events in the past. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth so that the Sun is wholly or partially obscured A solar eclipse mentioned by Herodotus enables us to date a battle between the Medes and the Lydians, which following the eclipse failed to happen, to May 28, 585 BC. Herodotus of Halicarnassus ( Greek: Hēródotos Halikarnāsseús) was a Greek Historian who lived in the 5th century BC ( 484 BC&ndash The Medes were an ancient Iranian people who lived in the northwestern portions of present-day Iran. Defining Lydia Aside from a legend related by Herodotus, who states that the name Lydia came from king Lydus at the time of the fall of Troy Events 585 BC - A Solar eclipse occurs as predicted by Greek philosopher and scientist Thales, while Alyattes is battling ^[102] Other easily calculated events are supernovae whose remains are visible to astronomers and therefore their positions and magnitude can be accurately calculated. A supernova (plural supernovae or supernovas) is a stellar Explosion.

Some comets are predictable, most famously Halley’s Comet. A comet is a small Solar System body that orbits the Sun and when close enough to the Sun exhibits a visible coma (atmosphere or a tail — Halley's Comet, officially designated 1P/Halley and also referred to as Comet Halley after Edmond Halley, is a Comet that can be seen every Yet as a class of object they remain unpredictable and can appear at any time. Some have extremely lengthy orbital periods which means their past appearances and returns cannot be predicted. The orbital period is the time taken for a given object to make one complete Orbit about another object Others may have only ever passed through the solar system once and so are inherently unpredictable. ^[103]

Meteor showers should be predictable, but the meteors are cometary debris and so require calculations of orbits which are currently impossible to complete. A meteor shower, some of which are known as a "meteor storm" or "meteor outburst" is a celestial event where a group of meteors are observed to radiate from one point ^[104] Other events noted by ancients include aurorae, sun dogs and rainbows all of which are as impossible to predict as the ancient weather, but nevertheless may have been considered important phenomena. A sun dog or sundog (scientific name parhelion, plural parhelia, for "beside the sun" is a common bright circular spot on a solar A rainbow is an optical and meteorological phenomenon that causes a spectrum of Light to appear in the Sky when the Sun

Major topics of archaeoastronomical research

What has astronomy brought into the lives of cultural groups throughout history? The answers are many and varied. . .

—Von Del Chamberlain and M. Jane Young^[105]

The use of calendars

A common justification for the need for astronomy is the need to develop an accurate calendar for agricultural reasons. The word Calendar consist of two words 1 Cal ( in Pashto means Year in Hindi and Persian is Sal- also means Year Agriculture refers to the production of goods through the growing of plants and fungi and the raising of domesticated Animals The study of agriculture Ancient texts like Hesiod’s Works and Days, an ancient farming manual, would appear to contradict this. Hesiod ( Greek: Hesiodos) was an early Greek Poet and Rhapsode, who presumably lived around 700 BCE Instead astronomical observations are used in combination with ecological signs, such as bird migrations to determine the seasons. Ecology (from Greek grc οἶκος oikos, "house(hold" and grc -λογία -logia) is the scientific study of Bird migration refers to the regular seasonal journeys undertaken by many species of Birds Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability Ethnoastronomical work with the Mursi of Ethiopia shows that haphazard astronomy continued until recent times in some parts of the world. The Mursi (or Murzu) are a Nomadic cattle herder ethnic group located in the Debub Omo Zone of the Southern Nations Nationalities and People's NOTE This intro is the result of careful NPOV work Please do not make potentially controversial edits to it without first discussing on the talk page ^[106] All the same, calendars appear to be an almost universal phenomenon in societies as they provide tools for the regulation of communal activities.

An example of a non-agricultural calendar is the Tzolk'in calendar of the Maya civilization of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, which is a cycle of 260 days. Tzolk'in (in the revised Guatemala Mayan languages Academy Orthography which is now preferred formerly and commonly tzolkin) is the name bestowed by The Maya civilization is a Mesoamerican Civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the Pre-Columbian Americas The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences Mesoamerica or Meso-America (Mesoamérica is a Region extending approximately from central Mexico to Honduras and Nicaragua, defined This count is based on an earlier calendar and is found throughout Mesoamerica. Mesoamerican calendars are the calendrical systems devised and used by the Pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica. This formed part of a more comprehensive system of Maya calendars which combined a series of astronomical observations and ritual cycles. The Maya calendar is a system of distinct Calendars and Almanacs used by the Maya civilization of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, and by ^[107]

Other peculiar calendars include ancient Greek calendars. The Hellenic calendar &mdashor more properly the Hellenic calendars, for there was no uniform calendar imposed upon all of Classical Greece &mdashbegan in most Greek These were nominally lunar, starting with the New Moon. A lunar calendar is a Calendar that is based on cycles of the Moon phase. This article is about the lunar phase for other uses see New Moon (disambiguation. In reality the calendar could pause or skip days with confused citizens inscribing dates by both the civic calendar and ton theoi, by the moon. ^[108] The lack of any universal calendar for ancient Greece suggests that coordination of panhellenic events such as games or rituals could be difficult and that astronomical symbolism may have been used as a politically neutral form of timekeeping. Panhellenic Games is the collective term for four separate sports festivals held in Ancient Greece. ^[109]

Myth and cosmology

Another motive for studying the sky is to understand and explain the universe. The sky is the part of the Atmosphere or of Outer space visible from the surface of any Astronomical object. The Universe is defined as everything that Physically Exists: the entirety of Space and Time, all forms of Matter, Energy In these cultures myth was a tool for achieving this and the explanations, while not reflecting the standards of modern science, are cosmologies. The word mythology (from the Greek grc μυθολογία mythología, meaning "a story-telling a legendary lore" Science (from the Latin scientia, meaning " Knowledge " or "knowing" is the effort to discover, and increase human understanding Cosmology (from Greek grc κοσμολογία - grc κόσμος kosmos, "universe" and grc -λογία -logia) is study

The Incas arranged their empire to demonstrate their cosmology. The capital, Cusco, was at the centre of the empire and connected to it by means of ceques, conceptually straight lines radiating out from the centre. ||} Cusco (also spelled Cuzco, and in the local Quechua language as Qusqu 'qos ^[110] These ceques connected the centre of the empire to the four suyus, which were regions defined by their direction from Cusco. The notion of a quartered cosmos is common across the Andes. The Andes form the world's longest exposed Mountain range. They lie as a continuous chain of highland along the western coast of South America. Gary Urton, who has conducted fieldwork in the Andean villagers of Misminay, has connected this quartering with the appearance of the Milky Way in the night sky. The Milky Way (a translation of the Latin Via Lactea, in turn derived from the Greek Γαλαξίας (Galaxias sometimes referred to simply ^[111] In one season it will bisect the sky and in another bisect it in a perpendicular fashion. In Geometry, two lines or planes (or a line and a plane are considered perpendicular (or orthogonal) to each other if they form congruent

The importance of observing cosmological factors is also seen on the other side of the world. The Forbidden City in Beijing is laid out to follow cosmic order though rather than observing four directions the Chinese saw five, North, South, East, West and Centre. The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial Palace from the mid- Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. This is about the direction for other uses see North (disambiguation. South is one of Cardinal directions and is opposite to the North. The Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST internal designation HT-7U is an experimental Superconducting Tokamak Magnetic fusion energy This article refers to the cardinal direction for other uses see West (disambiguation. In Geometry, the centre (or center, in American English of an object is a point in some sense in the middle of the object The Forbidden City occupied the centre of ancient Beijing. ^[112] One approaches the Emperor from the south, thus placing him in front of the circumpolar stars. In Astronomy, circumpolar Constellations are those that from the viewer's latitude never set This creates the situation of the heavens revolving around the person of the Emperor. The Chinese cosmology is now better known through its export as Feng Shui. Feng shui ( ˈfəŋˌʃueɪ fehng-shway in English is an ancient Chinese system of Aesthetics believed to utilize the Laws of both heaven (astronomy and earth (geography

There is also much information about how the universe was thought to work stored in the mythology of the constellations. In common usage a constellation is a group of celestial bodies that are connected together in some arrangement typically stars to form a visible figure or picture The Barasana of the Amazon plan part of their annual cycle based on observation of the stars. The Amazon Rainforest (Brazilian Portuguese: Floresta Amazônica or Amazônia; Spanish: Selva Amazónica or Amazonía When their constellation of the Caterpillar-Jaguar (roughly equivalent to the modern Scorpius) falls they prepare to catch the pupating caterpillars of the forest as they fall from the trees. ^[113] The caterpillars provide food at a season when other foods are scarce. ^[114]

A more well-known source of constellation myth are the texts of the Greeks and Romans. The origin of their constellations remains a matter of vigorous and occasionally fractious debate. ^[115][116]

Displays of power

By including celestial motifs in clothing it becomes possible for the wearer to make claims the power on Earth is drawn from above. It has been said that the Shield of Achilles described by Homer is also a catalogue of constellations. "Achilleus" redirects here For the emperor with this name see Achilleus (emperor. Homer ( Ancient Greek:, Homēros) is a legendary ancient Greek epic Poet, traditionally said to be the author of the epic poems the ^[117] In North America shields depicted in Comanche petroglyphs appear to include Venus symbolism. The Comanche are a Native American ethnic group whose range (the Comancheria) consisted of present-day eastern New Mexico, southern Colorado Petroglyphs are Images created by removing part of a rock surface by incising pecking carving and abrading ^[118]

Solsticial alignments also can be seen as displays of power. Solstices occur twice a year when the tilt of the Earth's axis is most oriented toward or away from the Sun, causing the Sun to reach its northernmost and southernmost extremes When viewed from a ceremonial plaza on the Island of the Sun (the mythical origin place of the Sun) in Lake Titicaca, the Sun was seen to rise at the June solstice between two towers on a nearby ridge. Lake Titicaca is a lake located on the border of Bolivia and Peru. Lake Titicaca is a lake located on the border of Bolivia and Peru. The sacred part of the island was separated from the remainder of it by a stone wall and ethnographic records indicate that access to the sacred space was restricted to members of the Inca ruling elite. Ordinary pilgrims stood on a platform outside the ceremonial area to see the solstice Sun rise between the towers. In Religion and Spirituality, a pilgrimage is a long journey or Search of great Moral significance ^[119]

In Egypt the temple of Amun-Re at Karnak has been the subject of much study. Amun, reconstructed Egyptian Yamānu (also spelled Amon, Amoun, Amen, and rarely Imen, Greek Ἄμμων The Karnak temple complex, universally known only as Karnak, describes a vast conglomeration of ruined temples chapels pylons and other buildings Evaluation of the site, taking into account the change over time of the obliquity of the ecliptic show that the Great Temple was aligned on the rising of the midwinter sun. In Astronomy, axial tilt is the Inclination angle of a planet's rotational axis in relation to its orbital plane. ^[120] The length of the corridor down which sunlight would travel would have limited illumination at other times of the year.

In a later period the Serapeum in Alexandria was also said to have contained a solar alignment so that, on a specific sunrise, a shaft of light would pass across the lips of the statue of Serapis thus symbolising the Sun saluting the god. A Serapeum is a Temple or other religious institution dedicated to the syncretic Hellenistic - Egyptian god Serapis, who combined aspects Alexandria ( Egyptian Arabic: اسكندريه Eskendereyya; Standard Arabic: ar الإسكندرية Al-Iskandariyya; Ἀλεξάνδρεια The Sun (Sol is the Star at the center of the Solar System. Serapis (Latin spelling or Sarapis in Greek was a syncretic Hellenistic - Egyptian god in Antiquity. The Sun (Sol is the Star at the center of the Solar System. ^[121]

Major sites of archaeoastronomical interest

Main article: List of archaeoastronomical sites sorted by country

At Stonehenge in England and at Carnac in France, in Egypt and Yucatán, across the whole face of the earth, are found mysterious ruins of ancient monuments, monuments with astronomical significance. This is a list of sites where claims for the use of astronomy have been made sorted by country . . They mark the same kind of commitment that transported us to the moon and our spacecraft to the surface of Mars.

—Edwin Krupp^[122]

Newgrange

Main article: Newgrange

Newgrange is a passage tomb in the Republic of Ireland dating from around 3,300 to 2,900 BC^[123] For a few days around the Winter Solstice light shines along the central passageway into the heart of the tomb. Newgrange (Dún Fhearghusa is one of the Passage tombs of the Brú na Bóinne complex in County Meath, one of the most famous Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world What makes this notable is not that light shines in the passageway, but that it does not do so through the main entrance. Instead it enters via a hollow box above the main doorway discovered by Michael O'Kelly. ^[124] It is this roofbox which strongly indicates that the tomb was built with an astronomical aspect in mind. Clive Ruggles notes:

. . . [F]ew people - archaeologists or astronomers- have doubted that a powerful astronomical symbolism was deliberately incorporated into the monument, demonstrating that a connection between astronomy and funerary ritual, at the very least, merits further investigation. ^[96]

The Pyramids of Giza

Main article: Giza pyramid complex

Since the first modern measurements of the precise cardinal orientations of the pyramids by Flinders Petrie, various astronomical methods have been proposed for the original establishment of these orientations. The Giza Necropolis stands on the Giza Plateau on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt. Professor Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie FRS ( 3 June 1853 &ndash 28 July 1942) known as Flinders Petrie, was an ^[125][126] It was recently proposed that this was done by observing the positions of two stars in the Plough / Big Dipper which was known to Egyptians as the thigh. Ursa Major ( is a Constellation visible throughout the year in most of the northern hemisphere It is thought that a vertical alignment between these two stars checked with a plumb bob was used to ascertain where North lay. A plumb-bob or a plummet is a weight with a pointed tip on the bottom that is suspended from a string and used as a vertical reference line The deviations from true North using this model reflect the accepted dates of construction. ^[127]

Some have argued that the pyramids were laid out as a map of the three stars in the belt of Orion,^[128] although this theory has been criticized by reputable astronomers. Graham Hancock (born August 2 1950 is a British Writer and Journalist. ^[129][130]

El Castillo

Main article: El Castillo, Chichen Itza

El Castillo, also known as Kukulcán, is a Mesoamerican step-pyramid built in the centre of Mayan city of Chichen Itza in Mexico. El Castillo ( Spanish for "The Castle " is the nickname of a spectacular Mesoamerican step-pyramid that dominates the center Mesoamerican pyramids, pyramid-shaped structures are an important part of ancient Mesoamerican architecture. The Maya civilization is a Mesoamerican Civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the Pre-Columbian Americas Chichen Itza (tʃiːˈtʃɛn iːˈtsɑː from Chi'ch'èen Ìitsha' "At the mouth of the well of the Itza " is a The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America. It has a couple of features which have suggested it may have astronomical elements built into it. Each of the stairways built into the sides of the pyramid has 91 steps. Along with the extra one for the platform at the top, this totals 365 steps, which is possibly one for each day of the year. A more striking effect is seen every March and September as an unusual shadow effect occurs each equinox. A shadow appears to descend the west balustrade of the northern stairway. The visual effect is of a serpent descending the stairway, with its head at the base in light. Additionally the western face points to sunset around May 25, traditionally the date of transition from the dry to the rainy season^[131]

Stonehenge

Main article: Stonehenge

Many astronomical alignments have been claimed for Stonehenge, a complex of megaliths and earthworks in the Salisbury Plain of England. Stonehenge is a Prehistoric Monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury Salisbury Plain is a Chalk Plateau in central southern England covering. The most famous of these is the midsummer alignment, where the Sun rises over the Heel Stone. However, this interpretation has been challenged by some archaeologists who argue that the midwinter alignment, where the viewer is outside Stonehenge and sees the sun setting in the henge, is the more significant alignment, and the midsummer alignment may be a coincidence due to local topography. ^[132] As well as solar alignments, there are proposed lunar alignments. The four station stones mark out a rectangle. The short sides point towards the midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset. The long sides if viewed towards the south-east, face the most southerly rising of the moon. Aveni notes these have never gained the acceptance which the claims solar alignments have. ^[133]

Uxmal

Main article: Uxmal

Uxmal is Mayan city in the Puuc Hills of Yucatan, Mexico. Uxmal ( Yucatec Maya: Óoxmáal is a large Pre-Columbian ruined city of the Maya civilization in the state of Yucatán, Mexico. Yucatán is one of the 31 states of Mexico, located on the north of the Yucatán Peninsula. The Governor's Palace at Uxmal is often used as an exemplar of why it is important to combine ethnographic and alignment data. The palace is aligned with an azimuth of 118º on the pyramid of Cehtzuc. Azimuth ( is a mathematical concept defined as the angle usually measured in degrees (° between a reference plane and a point. This alignment is also towards a southerly rising of Venus which occurs once every eight years. By itself this would not be sufficient to argue for a meaningful connection between the two events. The palace has to be aligned in one direction or another and why should the rising of Venus be any more important than the rising of the Sun, Moon, other planets, Sirus et cetera? The answer given is that not only does the palace point towards the rising of Venus, it is also covered in glyphs which stand for Venus and Mayan zodiacal constellations. A glyph is an element of writing Two or more glyphs representing the same symbol whether interchangeable or context-dependent are called Allographs the abstract unit they ^[134] It is the combination of the alignment and the ethnography which suggests that the city was built with cosmic order in mind.

Fringe Archaeoastronomy

At least now we have all the archaeological facts to go along with the astronomers, the Druids, the Flat Earthers and all the rest.

—Sir Jocelyn Stephens^[135]

Archaeoastronomy owes something of this poor reputation among scholars to its occasional misuse to advance a range of pseudo-historical accounts. Pseudohistory is a term applied to texts which purport to be historical in nature but which depart from standard historiographical conventions in a way which undermines During the 1930s Otto S. Reuter compiled a study entitled Germanische Himmelskunde, or German Skylore. The astronomical orientations of ancient monuments claimed by Reuter and his followers would place the Germans ahead of the Ancient Near East in the field of astronomy, demonstrating the intellectual superiority of the "Aryan Race. The Ancient Near East refers to early Civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia (modern Iraq The " Aryan race " is a concept in European culture that was influential in the period of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries "^[136]

Since the Nineteenth Century numerous scholars have sought to use archaeoastronomical calculations to demonstrate the antiquity of Ancient Indian Vedic culture, computing the dates of astronomical observations ambiguously described in ancient poetry to as early as 4000 BCE. Hindu Archaeoastronomical dating of the Vedic period or Hindu Time Cycles, are based on early references to astronomy in Vedic scriptures ^[137] David Pingree, a historian of Indian astronomy, condemned "the scholars who perpetrate wild theories of prehistoric science and call themselves archaeoastronomers. David Edwin Pingree ( January 2, 1933 - November 11, 2005) late University Professor and Professor of History of Mathematics and Classics at "^[138]

More recently Gallagher,^[139] Pyle,^[140] and Fell^[141] interpreted inscriptions in West Virginia as a description in Celtic Ogham alphabet of the supposed winter solstitial marker at the site. Barry Fell (born Howard Barraclough Fell on June 6 1917 in Lewes, Sussex, England; died on April 21 1994 of Heart failure in Ogham (ogam ˈɔɣam Modern Irish or, English) is an Early Medieval Alphabet used primarily to represent the Old Irish language (and The controversial translation was supposedly validated by a problematic archaeoastronomical indication in which the winter solstice sun shone on an inscription of the sun at the site. Subsequent analyses criticized its cultural inappropriateness, as well as its linguistic and archeaoastronomical^[142] claims, to describe it as an example of "cult archaeology. Pseudoarchaeology (also called "fantastic archaeology" or "cult archaeology" is Pseudoscientific Archaeology, the unscientific interpretation "^[143]

Archaeoastronomical organisations and publications

There are currently three academic organisations for scholars of archaeoastronomy. ISAAC—the International Society for Archaeoastronomy and Astronomy in Culture—was founded in 1995 and now sponsors the Oxford conferences and Archaeoastronomy — the Journal of Astronomy in Culture. SEAC— La Société Européenne pour l’Astronomie dans la Culture—is slightly older; it was created in 1992. SEAC holds annual conferences in Europe and publishes refereed conference proceedings on an annual basis. There is also La Sociedad Interamericana de Astronomía en la Cultura, primarily a Latin American organisation which was founded in 2003.

Additionally the Journal for the History of Astronomy publishes many archaeoastronomical papers. For twenty-seven volumes it also published an annual supplement Archaeoastronomy.

See also

• Cultural astronomy
• List of archaeoastronomical sites sorted by country Sites where claims for the use of astronomy have been made. Cultural astronomy is a blanket term used to describe Interdisciplinary fields that relate to astronomical systems of current and/or ancient societies and cultures This is a list of sites where claims for the use of astronomy have been made sorted by country
• List of artefacts of archaeoastronomical significance Artefacts which have been interpreted as being used for some astronomical purpose. Antikythera mechanism – A device for plotting positions of heavenly bodies
• European Megalithic Culture
• Australian Aboriginal Astronomy
  • Aboriginal stone arrangements
• Lunar standstill
• Medicine wheels
• Mound builders
• Petroforms
• Astronomical chronology
• Astrotheology

Notes

References

External links

• Archaeoastronomy A Thinkquest website surveying archaeoastronomical sites across the world.
• Astronomy before History, by Clive Ruggles and Michael Hoskins, a chapter from The Cambridge Concise History of Astronomy, Michael Hoskin ed. , 1999
• Clive Ruggles's webpage: images, bibliography, software, and synopsis of his course at the University of Leicester
• Space Imaging’s Ancient Observatories gallery — Satellite pictures of ancient observatories. The University of Leicester is a research led university based in Leicester, England, with approximately 19000 registered students - about 12000 of them full-time
• Traditions of the Sun — NASA and others exploring the world’s ancient observatories.
• Ancient Observatories: Timeless Knowledge NASA Poster on ancient (and modern) observatories.
• There is more between heaven and earth — Archaeocosmology research: sites, myths and tools.

Societies

• ISAAC, The International Society for Archaeoastronomy and Astronomy in Culture.
• SEAC La Société Européenne pour l’Astronomie dans la Culture. Site in English.
• SIAC La Sociedad Interamericana de Astronomía en la Cultura.
• Society for the History of Astronomy

Journals

• Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy News
• Archaeoastronomy: Supplement to the Journal for the History of Astronomy
• Archaeoastronomy: The Journal of Astronomy in Culture
• Culture and Cosmos
• Journal for the History of Astronomy

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