See also:
Zenith Passage of the Sun. Mesoamerican Calendar Round; Teotihuacan Street Grid. Moon, Motions of.
References and further reading
Aveni, Anthony F. Skywatchers, 262–271. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2001. ———, ed. World Archaeoastronomy, 167–179. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989. ———. “Zapotec Astronomy: Reconsideration of an Earlier Study.” Archaeoastronomy: The Journal of Astronomy in Culture 18 (2004), 26–31.
Aveni, Anthony F., and Horst Hartung. “The Observation of the Sun at the Time of Passage through the Zenith in Mesoamerica.” Archaeoastronomy 3 (supplement to Journal for the History of Astronomy 12 [1981], S51–S70.
De la Fuente, Beatriz, Silvia Garza Tarazona, Norberto Gonzбlez Crespo, Arnold Lebeuf, Miguel Leуn Portilla, and Javier Wimer. La Acrуpolis de Xochicalco, 210–287. Mexico City: Instituto de Cultura de Morelos, 1995. [In Spanish.]
Zodiacs
See Ecliptic.
Bibliography
This general bibliography contains the principal sources used in compiling the entries, together with a number of additional works. Some focus upon broad themes and issues in cultural astronomy and typically include a range of case studies; some relate to particular cultures with a greater or lesser emphasis on practices relating to the sky; and some serve to put such astronomy in a broader cultural context. Others provide essential information for those wishing to visit and investigate particular monuments first hand: this category includes serious guides and gazetteers. The list also includes a small number of works that introduce background concepts and information, both from astronomy and from the human sciences. Journal articles are included only where they address broad themes and include material of which summaries cannot readily be obtained in any available book. Likewise, web sites are cited only in exceptional cases, because they do not constitute a permanent medium. A small number of the cited works describe the development of this field of study, or themselves form landmarks within that development. The cited works are in English unless otherwise stated.
The reader should approach the literature on ancient astronomy with caution. Because of its interdisciplinary nature, peppered with popular misconceptions, the subject is particularly prone to sensationalism and uncritical scholarship. These creep all too frequently into academic publications from which they can easily become propagated further in books directed at a wider audience. Collective works and conference proceedings may, likewise, contain articles varying widely in content, approach, and quality. Short notes are included against many of the works listed in the bibliography, in an attempt to help the reader navigate this minefield and to select reliable and authoritative sources, or else to approach the wider available literature with a duly critical eye. Various encyclopedia entries elaborate further on some of the main problems and issues.
Journals and Series
There are a small number of journals devoted to cultural astronomy. The following lists the principal ones. Academic papers on ancient astronomy also regularly appear in a broad variety of academic journals spanning a wide range of disciplines. Archaeoastronomy, the bulletin, subsequently journal, of the Center for Archaeoas
tronomy, College Park, MD. Published by the Center for Archaeoastronomy.
Vols. 1 (1977)–11 (1993). [Vols. 12–13 (1996) published as Songs from the Sky
(see Chamberlain et al. 2005 below). Superseded by the University of Texas Press
journal, see immediately below.] Archaeoastronomy: The Journal of Astronomy in Culture. Vols. 14 (1999) to date.
Published by the University of Texas Press.
Archaeoastronomy, the supplement to the Journal for the History of Astronomy. Nos. 1 (1979)–27 (2002). Published by Science History Publications, Cambridge, England. [Archaeoastronomical articles may also be found in the parent Journal for the History of Astronomy, particularly before 1979 and since 2003.]
Astronomie et Sciences Humaines, Nos. 1 (1988)–7 (1991). Published by l’Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg. [In French. Superseded by Jaschek 1992 and annual publications from SEAC meetings.]
Culture and Cosmos. Vols. 1 (1997) to date. Published by Culture and Cosmos, Bristol, England. [Includes archaeoastronomy and historical astronomy, but the main emphasis is upon the history of astrology. Vol. 8 (2004) published as The Inspiration of Astronomical Phenomena (see Campion 2005 below).]
Journal for the History of Astronomy. Vols. 1 (1970) to date. Published by Science History Publications, Cambridge, England. [Includes archaeoastronomy, but between 1979 and 2002, archaeoastronomical articles are mainly to be found in the supplement Archaeoastronomy.]
Rivista Italiana di Archeoastronomia, Vols. 1 (2003) to date. Published by Edizioni Quasar di Severino Tognon, Rome. [In Italian.]
The “Oxford” series of international symposia on archaeoastronomy are held at intervals of three to five years and are the principal conferences in the field. These have been published as follows (for full details cross-refer to the general bibliography below):
Oxford, England, 1981 (see Heggie 1982 and Aveni 1982).
Mйrida, Mexico, 1986 (see Aveni 1989).
St. Andrews, Scotland, 1990 (see Ruggles and Saunders 1993; Ruggles 1993).
Stara Zagora, Bulgaria, 1993 (as yet unpublished).
Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, 1996 (see Fountain and Sinclair 2005).
La Laguna, Tenerife (Spain), 1999 (see Esteban and Belmonte 2000; a number of keynote papers were published separately in vol. 15 of Archaeoastronomy: The Journal of Astronomy in Culture).
Flagstaff, Arizona, USA, 2004 (as yet unpublished).
In Europe, the publications of annual conferences on archaeoastronomy since 1988 have formed a diverse but as yet unbroken series. Since 1993 these have been produced under the auspices of the European Society for Astronomy in Culture (SEAC). For full details cross-refer to the general bibliography that follows.
Dobri≥ [then Tolbukhin], Bulgaria, 1988 (see Valev 1989).
Venice, Italy, 1989 (see Romano and Traversari 1991).
Warsaw, Poland, 1990 (see Iwaniszewski 1992).
Szйkesfehйrvбr, Hungary, 1991 (see Pбsztor 1995).
Strasbourg, France, 1992 (see Jaschek 1992).
Smolyan, Bulgaria, 1993 (see Koleva and Kolev 1996).
Bochum, Germany, 1994 (see Schlosser 1996).
Sibiu, Romania, 1995 (see St≤nescu 1999).
Salamanca, Spain, 1996 (see Jaschek and Atrio 1997).
Gda∞sk, Poland, 1997 (see Lebeuf and Ziу√kowski 1999).