ARCHAEO ASTRONOMY
What is archaeoastronomy?
Archaeoastronomy is the study of the practice and use of astronomy in the ancient cultures of the world based on all evidence both written and unwritten (A.Aveni). It is a cross-disciplinary science involving astronomy, anthropology, ethnology, archaeology, history, epigraphy and the overall study of antiquity.
Archaeoastronomy deals with many topics which pertain to the human culture of any time, from prehistory to very recent times.
Several prehistoric and protohistoric monuments show some parts precisely alligned with the sunrise position, at the time of their building, at the solstices or equinoxes or at other very important dates at that time.
Broadly speaking archaeoastronomy studies the signs marked on ancient monuments and in their placing, as well as the astronomical knowledge of many peoples testifying, together with other evidence, their interest on the sky and the celestial phenomena.
Measurement of time
Since prehistoric times man has turned with special attention to the sky both for cult matters and for laying down calendars used in agriculture and for sailing.
By observing every morning from a fixed spot the position on the horizon where the sun rises, you can see that this position moves day after day. The sunrise position is between north and east at the summer solstice for places situated on the northern emisphere, then it slowly moves towards east in the summer, reaching precisely this cardinal point at the autumn equinox, and moves then between east and south at the winter solstice. Then, while time passes, after the winter solstice, the sunrise position comes back, goes over the east cardinal point in spring and reaches the end of its path northward at the summer solstice. The cycle repeats itself every year.
Always observing from the same spot, you can carefully set a sign (like a pole or a large stone stuck into the ground, or a wall or some other fixture) at a certain distance towards the rising sun at a particular date considered important. The day when the sun will come back at the same direction, shown by the pointer, it will be the day, completing the cycle of a year, to which the same annual date will be given as the day of the year before.
In this way particular fixtures can be built to be used to state natural calendars.
The Archaeoastronomical sites
There are many examples of prehistoric monuments having features of interest to the archaeoastronomy.
Among the best known there is Stonehenge, a megalithic monument situated in southern England. Made of huge stones stuck into the ground along a circular path, this monument allows, by looking through reference points marked by the stones themselves, to point out the position on the horizon where the sun rises at the solstices and the equinoxes.
Another impressive monuments is found at Newgrange in Ireland, in the Boyne Valley. Inside a huge mound there is an imposing tomb dating back to the third millennium bC. A megalithic corridor, nineteen meters long, takes to the burial chambers. Only in the morning of the winter solstice a sun ray can reach the innermost of the tomb. The meaning of this hierophany was probably a sign of the strong dependency existing then between man and the sun.
Countless are the monuments of America having an impressive number of astronomical signs. Precolumbian civilizations, from those developed in the United States to those that have ruled Mesoamerica and Southern America had as fundamental base of their culture the study of celestial phenomena, which were used to mark the most important dates of their religious and agricultural activity.
Asia is also very rich of ancient buildings having astronomical purposes, from China to India to the Middle East
In Italy, at Aosta, in the area of Saint Martin de Corleans there is a megalithic site made of dolmen, standing stones and countless tombs, with an astounding number of aligned items indicating the positions of the horizon where the sun rises at the important dates of the year and also the moon at certain times when particular phenomena appeared.
In the Veneto region, like in other Italian regions there are many prehistoric
monuments dated from the second and first millennium bC, alligned towards the sunrise or
sunset at the winter solstice, a date of special interest for ancient populations.
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