SUMMER SOLSTICE. June solstice (northern hemisphere) or December solstice (southern hemisphere).
SUPERIOR PLANET. A planet whose orbit is farther out from the sun than the earth’s. The superior planets visible to the naked eye are Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Cf. Inferior planet and Outer planet.
SYNODIC MONTH. The time that it takes the moon to complete its cycle of phases. Equivalent to lunation.
TRILITHON. A formation of three stones, with two vertical uprights holding up a horizontal lintel, as at Stonehenge and Ha‘amonga-a-Maui.
TROPICAL YEAR. The seasonal year, equal to the time taken by the sun to complete one circuit around the celestial sphere. It is not quite the same as the time taken for the earth to complete an orbit of the sun (the “sidereal year”) because of precession.
WINTER SOLSTICE. December solstice (northern hemisphere) or June solstice (southern hemisphere).
ZENITH. The point in the sky directly above the observer. Cf. Antizenith or nadir.
ZODIAC. A set of asterisms spread around the ecliptic and hence useful as reference points for the sun’s annual motion through the stars. The term is commonly used to refer to the particular set of twelve zodiacal constellations that has come to be recognized in the modern Western world.
Topic Index
This list indicates the different types of entries to be found in this encyclopedia. CONCEPTS includes broad definitions and explanations of KEY CONCEPTS, together with nontechnical explanations of more BASIC CONCEPTS, mostly astronomical, often elaborating on short definitions to be found in the glossary. Some entries elaborate upon key THEMES and ISSUES relating to ancient astronomy. CASE STUDIES, which illustrate these and other key issues and themes, are organized in this list by continent: the Americas are split into North, South, and Mesoamerica, and Europe is divided into Britain and Ireland and Continental Europe. The entries also include a very small sample of PEOPLE important in the development of our knowledge of ancient astronomy, and an equally small sample of SKY OBJECTS AND EVENTS AND THEIR CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE. Items such as Sirius and the Pleiades that do not receive entries of their own may nonetheless appear in others, and these can be located using the general index. Finally, there are brief descriptions of a number of PROCEDURES AND TECHNIQUES that are used in the modern practice of archaeoastronomy.
Case Studies Pawnee Cosmology Africa Pawnee Earth Lodge Ancient Egyptian Calendars Pawnee Star Chart Borana Calendar Presa de la Mula Coffin Lids Sky Bears Egyptian Temples and Tombs Mursi Calendar America (South) Nabta Playa Andean Mountain Shrines Namoratung’a Barasana “Caterpillar Jaguar” Pyramids of Giza Constellation Ceque System America (North) Cusco Sun Pillars Cahokia Island of the Sun Casa Rinconada Misminay Chaco Canyon Nasca Lines and Figures Chaco Meridian Quipu Chaco Supernova Pictograph Yekuana Roundhouses Fajada Butte Sun Dagger Hopewell Mounds Asia Hopi Calendar and Worldview Angkor Inuit Cosmology Babylonian Astronomy and Astrology Lakota Sacred Geography Carahunge Medicine Wheels Chinese Astronomy Navajo Cosmology Crucifixion of Christ Navajo Hogan Islamic Astronomy Navajo Star Ceilings Javanese Calendar
Land of the Rising Sun Rujm el-Hiri Star of Bethlehem
Australasia and Oceania Aboriginal Astronomy Easter Island Emu in the Sky Ha‘amonga-a-Maui Hawaiian Calendar Kumukahi Kumulipo Mangareva N§ Pali Chant Navigation in Ancient Oceania Necker Island Polynesian and Micronesian Astronomy Polynesian Temple Platforms and Enclosures Star Compasses of the Pacific Zenith Stars in Polynesia
Britain and Ireland Avebury Axial Stone Circles Ballochroy Beltany Boyne Valley Tombs Brainport Bay Brodgar, Ring of Bush Barrow Gold Lozenge Callanish Church Orientations Circles of Earth, Timber, and Stone Clava Cairns Cumbrian Stone Circles Cursus Monuments Drombeg Fiskerton Iron Age Roundhouses Kintraw Maes Howe Megalithic Monuments of Britain and Ireland
Newgrange Recumbent Stone Circles Short Stone Rows Stone Circles Stonehenge Thornborough Tri-Radial Cairns Wedge Tombs
Continental Europe Abri Blanchard Bone Antas Church Orientations Crucuno Delphic Oracle Grand Menhir Brisй Gregorian Calendar Is Paras Julian Calendar Minoan Temples and Tombs Mithraism Nebra Disc Nuraghi Pantheon Prehistoric Tombs and Temples in Europe Roman Astronomy and Astrology Sarmizegetusa Regia Saroeak Sky Bears Son Mas Swedish Rock Art Taulas Temple Alignments in Ancient Greece
Mesoamerica Aztec Sacred Geography Cacaxtla Caracol at Chichen Itza Dresden Codex Governor’s Palace at Uxmal Group E Structures Horizon Calendars of Central Mexico
Kukulcan Maya Long Count Mesoamerican Calendar Round Mesoamerican Cross-Circle
Designs Teotihuacan Street Grid Venus in Mesoamerica Zenith Tubes
Concepts
Basic Concepts
Altitude Azimuth Celestial Sphere Circumpolar Stars Declination Diurnal Motion Ecliptic Extinction Heliacal Rise How the Sky Has Changed over the
Centuries Inferior Planets, Motions of Lunar Parallax Lunar Phase Cycle Meridian Moon, Motions of Obliquity of the Ecliptic Precession Refraction Solstices Star Names Star Rising and Setting Positions Sun, Motions of Superior Planets, Motions of Years B.C.E. and Years before 0
Key Concepts
Alignment Studies Archaeoastronomy Archaeotopography Astro-Archaeology “Brown” Archaeoastronomy Cosmology Ethnoastronomy
“Green” Archaeoastronomy “Megalithic Astronomy”
Issues
Astrology Astronomical Dating Celtic Calendar Ethnocentrism Ley Lines “Megalithic” Calendar Megalithic “Observatories” Methodology Nationalism Science or Symbolism?
People
Cobo, Bernabй (1582–1657) Hesiod (Eighth Century B.C.E.) Lockyer, Sir Norman (1836–1920) Nissen, Heinrich (1839–1912) Somerville, Boyle (1864–1936) Thom, Alexander (1894–1985)
Procedures and Techniques
Compass and Clinometer Surveys Field Survey GPS Surveys Precision and Accuracy Statistical Analysis Theodolite Surveys
Sky Objects and Events and Their Cultural Significance
Antizenith Passage of the Sun Catastrophic Events Comets, Novae, and Meteors Equinoxes Lunar Eclipses Magellanic Clouds Mid-Quarter Days Orion Solar Eclipses Solstitial Directions Zenith Passage of the Sun
Themes Navigation Calendars Orientation Cardinal Directions Palaeoscience Christianization of “Pagan” Pilgrimage Festivals Power Cognitive Archaeology Sacred Geographies Constellation Maps on the Ground Solstitial Alignments Eclipse Records and the Earth’s Space and Time, Ancient Rotation Perceptions of Landscape Star and Crescent Symbol Lunar and Luni-Solar Calendars Symbols Monuments and Cosmology
Geographical Index
This index lists the various case studies according to the modern country within which the culture area in question falls. Where they span more than one, only the main one (or ones) is listed. Entries not confined to a single country or even a few countries are listed separately at the end.
Argentina
Andean Mountain Shrines