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Archaeoastronomy
Archaeoastronomy is the study of the connection ancient cultures had with the things they saw in the sky. Connections with the sky are one aspect of a knowledge of the natural world that people across time have experienced and built upon. Patterns in weather and the changing seasons, animal behavior, cycles of vegetation growth, and the passage of time are all intertwined. There are many aspects of human experience that are universal and shared among all cultures, but most interactions with the physical world are widely varied depending on location. Different places have different plants and animals, landscapes and climates, and ways of life adapted to different conditions. |
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Most aspects of the sky, on the other hand, are shared across the entire world and across long stretches of time (with some slight variations and limits applied to specific locations). What can be observed in the sky by people from all times and places is not simply a shared idea or abstract of human experience, but is an interaction with the same physical reality.
While there have been some changes in observable patterns in the sky over time, and not all locations on Earth can see the same parts of the sky (such as stars visible only in one hemisphere because of Earth’s orientation in space), for the most part, the overall experience of the sky is very similar. The extent that any meaning or use is attached to these phenomena is as diverse as all the individuals and cultures that have ever considered them, but they all spring from the same source. That may be one of the reasons Archaeoastronomy can be so compelling.
Material evidence from the past that might have a connection to the sky can be representational or physical.
Rock art that depicts a constellation with a pattern of dots, an artifact decorated with images of the sun or moon, or a tally count of days connected to an object in the sky all represent ideas and information.
A physical connection to the sky often takes the form of a site with structures that actually mark out angles or positions in the sky or on the horizon that an object reaches at some point in time such as the place where the sun rises or sets during a solstice. The features of a site and the surrounding landscape connected along sightlines to certain positions can be referred to as alignments.
Establishing alignments is often a focus in archeoastronomy but as with any interpretation of the past, making observations and drawing conclusions are two very different things. Just because an alignment can be demonstrated, it does not prove it was intentionally created. It is important to build up multiple points of evidence.
Ideas connected to what we think of as archaeoastronomy today have developed slowly over time and there has often been some tension with mainstream disciplines. There are many approaches to archaeoastronomy, and there is often disagreement related to its application as well as problems of misinformation and wild speculation. There are many well-studied sites that are widely accepted to have an archaeoastronomy connection, such as Stonehenge in England and Newgrange in Ireland, and more and more work is being done in this area, but archaeoastronomy as a discipline is still developing.
Our knowledge of astronomy is important in setting up investigations into possible connections with the sky that might be suggested by what people in the past have left behind, but caution must be exercised not to confuse our modern idea of astronomy with the practices of ancient cultures.
Of course there are many ways to glean knowledge from the past, and archaeoastronomy will not have the same importance in every situation, but as a tool that has helped in many instances it should be applied appropriately to ask questions and test hypotheses. By collecting objective data that can later be used to draw conclusions, archaeoastronomy can be a method to investigate important questions that might not otherwise even get asked.
While there have been some changes in observable patterns in the sky over time, and not all locations on Earth can see the same parts of the sky (such as stars visible only in one hemisphere because of Earth’s orientation in space), for the most part, the overall experience of the sky is very similar. The extent that any meaning or use is attached to these phenomena is as diverse as all the individuals and cultures that have ever considered them, but they all spring from the same source. That may be one of the reasons Archaeoastronomy can be so compelling.
Material evidence from the past that might have a connection to the sky can be representational or physical.
Rock art that depicts a constellation with a pattern of dots, an artifact decorated with images of the sun or moon, or a tally count of days connected to an object in the sky all represent ideas and information.
A physical connection to the sky often takes the form of a site with structures that actually mark out angles or positions in the sky or on the horizon that an object reaches at some point in time such as the place where the sun rises or sets during a solstice. The features of a site and the surrounding landscape connected along sightlines to certain positions can be referred to as alignments.
Establishing alignments is often a focus in archeoastronomy but as with any interpretation of the past, making observations and drawing conclusions are two very different things. Just because an alignment can be demonstrated, it does not prove it was intentionally created. It is important to build up multiple points of evidence.
Ideas connected to what we think of as archaeoastronomy today have developed slowly over time and there has often been some tension with mainstream disciplines. There are many approaches to archaeoastronomy, and there is often disagreement related to its application as well as problems of misinformation and wild speculation. There are many well-studied sites that are widely accepted to have an archaeoastronomy connection, such as Stonehenge in England and Newgrange in Ireland, and more and more work is being done in this area, but archaeoastronomy as a discipline is still developing.
Our knowledge of astronomy is important in setting up investigations into possible connections with the sky that might be suggested by what people in the past have left behind, but caution must be exercised not to confuse our modern idea of astronomy with the practices of ancient cultures.
Of course there are many ways to glean knowledge from the past, and archaeoastronomy will not have the same importance in every situation, but as a tool that has helped in many instances it should be applied appropriately to ask questions and test hypotheses. By collecting objective data that can later be used to draw conclusions, archaeoastronomy can be a method to investigate important questions that might not otherwise even get asked.
Auglish Alignment (Wikimedia)
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