Astronomies And Cultures

Astronomy Across Cultures: A History of Non-Western Astronomy consists of essays dealing with the astronomical knowledge and beliefs of cultures outside the United States and Europe. In addition to articles surveying Islamic, Chinese, Native American, Aboriginal Australian, Polynesian, Egyptian and Tibetan astronomy, among others, the book includes essays on Sky Tales and Why We Tell Them and Astronomy and Prehistory, and Astronomy and Astrology. The essays address the connections between science and culture and relate astronomical practices to the cultures which produced them. Each essay is well illustrated and contains an extensive bibliography. Because the geographic range is global, the book fills a gap in both the history of science and in cultural studies. It should find a place on the bookshelves of advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, and scholars, as well as in libraries serving those groups.

This book provides an overview of the astronomical practices that continued through the so-called "Dark Ages." Like the astronomies of traditional societies, early medieval astronomies established a religious framework of sacred time and ritual calender; here Christian feasts tied to a pre-Christian ritual solar calender, the date of Easter tied to the Hebrew lunar calender; and the timing of monastic prayers in terms of the course of the stars. Coupled with the remnants of ancient geometrical astronomy, these provided the framework for the rebirth of astronomy with the rise of the medieval universities.

Ten thematic articles illustrating the broad scope, diversity and cultural significance of contemporary studies in archaeoastronomy. Contents: The Study of Cultural Astronomy ( Clive Ruggles and Nicholas Saunders ); The Yao Dian and the Origins of Astronomy in China ( Chen Cheng-Yih and Xi Zezong ); The Riddle of Red Sirius: An Anthropological Perspective ( Roger Ceragioli ); Astronomies and Rituals at the Dawn of the Middle Ages ( Stephen McCluskey ); Folk Astronomy in the Service of Religion: The Case of Islam ( David King ); Cosmos and Kings at Vijayanagara ( John McKim Malville and John Fritz ); Medicine Wheel Astronomy ( David Vogt ); Venus-Regulated Warfare and Ritual Sacrifice in Mesoamerica ( John Carlson ); Astronomical Knowledge, Calendrics, and Sacred Geography in Ancient Mesoamerica ( Johanna Broda ); The Pleiades in Comparative Perspective: The Waiwai Shirkoimo and the Shipibo Huishmabo ( Peter G. Roe ).

This collection of essays on cultural astronomy celebrates the life and work of Clive Ruggles, Emeritus Professor of Archaeoastronomy at Leicester University. Taking their lead from Ruggles’ work, the papers present new research focused on three core themes in cultural astronomy: methodology, case studies, and heritage. Through this framework, they show how the study of cultural astronomy has evolved over time and share new ideas to continue advancing the field. Ruggles’ work in these areas has had a profound impact on the way that scholars approach evidence of the role of sky in both ancient and modern cultures. While the papers span many time periods and regions, they are closely connected by these three major themes, presenting methodological investigations of how we can approach archaeological, textual, and ethnographic evidence; describing detailed archaeoastronomical case studies; or stressing the importance of global heritage management. This work will appeal to researchers and scholars interested in the history and development of cultural astronomy.

This is the first scholarly collection of articles focused on the cultural astronomy of the African continent. It weaves together astronomy, anthropology, and Africa and it includes African myths and legends about the sky, alignments to celestial bodies found at archaeological sites and at places of worship, rock art with celestial imagery, and scientific thinking revealed in local astronomy traditions including ethnomathematics and the creation of calendars.

Proceedings of the SEAC 27th annual meeting held in September 2019 in Bern in confluence with the EAA annual meeting.

Exploring Ancient Skies brings together the methods of archaeology and the insights of modern astronomy to explore the science of astronomy as it was practiced in various cultures prior to the invention of the telescope. The book reviews an enormous and growing body of literature on the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean, the Far East, and the New World (particularly Mesoamerica), putting the ancient astronomical materials into their archaeological and cultural contexts. The authors begin with an overview of the field and proceed to essential aspects of naked-eye astronomy, followed by an examination of specific cultures. The book concludes by taking into account the purposes of ancient astronomy: astrology, navigation, calendar regulation, and (not least) the understanding of our place and role in the universe. Skies are recreated to display critical events as they would have appeared to ancient observers - events such as the supernova of 1054, the 'lion horoscope' or the 'Star of Bethlehem.' Exploring Ancient Skies provides a comprehensive overview of the relationships between astronomy and other areas of human investigation. It will be useful as a reference for scholars and students in both astronomy and archaeology, and will be of compelling interest to readers who seek a broad understanding of our collective intellectual history.

Throughout the Indian subcontinent there are territories and areas wherein culture, geography, and the archetypal cosmos interact with each other to create a sacredscape that is infused with meaning, cultural performances and transcendent power. These sacred sites possess extensive mythological associations where believed that spirit can cross between different realms. In a broad perspective such studies falls within the realm of cultural astronomy, which has two broad areas, viz. archaeoastronomy, concerned with the study of the use of astronomy and its role in ancient cultures and civilizations; and ethnoastronomy that studies the use of astronomy and its role in contemporary cultures. The seven essays in this volume deals with the critical appraisal of studying cultural astronomy and cosmic order and its implications in India, illustrated with case studies like heritagescape of Khajuraho, where stone speaks; manescape of Gaya, where manes come and bless the devotees; Deviscape of Vindhyachal, where goddess resorts; Shivascape of Kashi, where Shiva dances in making order; Shaktiscape of Kashi, that possesses the spatial ordering of goddesses; and Naturscape of Chitrakut, where mother earth blesses.