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We are delighted to welcome you to the inaugural issue of the Journal of Skyscape Archaeology (JSA), a publication concerned with the role and importance of the sky in the interpretation of the material record. Currently, elements of this study can be found separately in the disciplines of archaeoastronomy, archaeology, cultural astronomy, anthropology and history, but there is no journal that specifically caters for this interdisciplinary field. JSA brings these elements together in order to promote cross-fertilization towards an understanding of the cosmologies of the societies who constructed and used the rich archaeological heritage we study today. Consequently, it will encourage articles that consider the relationship between material culture, the sky and society, from a wide range of disciplines.The relationship between the sky and past and present societies is highlighted by the work of historians and anthropologists, who have explored the subject under the banner of "cultural astronomy". The textual and ethnographic records that form the primary sources of these disciplines are testament to the role and importance of the sky in culture. American archaeology has also embraced archaeoastronomy as a means of understanding and exploring how a society's worldview, which invariably includes the sky, is encoded in its material culture. In this it differs from British and European studies, which have been hampered by a historical divide between archaeoastronomy and archaeology. Archaeoastronomy today is an academic discipline deeply rooted in fieldwork and statistical tests for validity but, in the process of redefining itself to withstand scientific scrutiny, it failed to forge links with the wider archaeological and anthropological communities. The reasons for this are now historical but the consequences are clear: different approaches are not being integrated into holistic interpretations of the archaeological record. Traditionally, the focus of archaeologists has been on the ground, whereas archaeoastronomers have looked up to the sky. This separation is detrimental to both archaeology and archaeoastronomy, which have much to gain by working together towards a more comprehensive understanding of past and contemporary cultures. Furthermore, archaeoastronomical works have been confined to obscure and irregularly published journals or overpriced conference proceedings which are often delayed by several years. Because of this, those involved in archaeoastronomical research have difficulty finding a proper venue for

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The Theoretical Archaeology Group held its 35 th annual conference at Bournemouth. Traditionally this conference takes place at the end of December, a week before Christmas and this gives an end of term, festive feeling to the otherwise serious academic content. The holiday atmosphere was heightened by the title TAG-on-Sea, appropriate enough for a famous seaside resort. The seaside theme was represented in the programme by sessions on marine archaeology and land-, sea-, and skyscapes, but overridingly the content was a platform for dispersing ideas through presentations of completed work and discussions of theoretical and methodological issues. A full programme was offered over two and a half days with five simultaneous sessions at any one time.On Monday afternoon I presented a paper along with nine other archaeoastronomers in the session entitled 'Land, Sea and Sky: a '3-scape' Approach to Archaeology'. The premise here is that the macrocosm of land, sea and sky are reflected in the microcosm of any coastal society and this was ably demonstrated by Dan Brown (Nottingham Trent). Tore Lomsdalen and Olwyn Pritchard (Trinity Saint David) explored this concept via the Maltese megalithic temples and the Welsh dolmens. Archaeoastronomy has moved a long way since Alexander Thom's megalithic science and precision alignments. Now it shows an increasing acceptance that astronomic orientations must fit the archaeology of the site and Liz Henty, Pamela Armstrong (Trinity Saint David) and Fabio Silva (University College London) showed fresh insights into the ways the methodologies of archaeology and archaeoastronomy can be combined through their respective work on the Recumbent Stone Circles of Scotland, the Cotswold long barrows, and the Neolithic dolmens of Iberia. Lionel Sims, anthropologist and archaeoastronomer, showed how a multidisciplinary approach could be effective at Stonehenge. In conversation, Sims said that an attack was made on archaeoastronomy at the plenary session of TAG 2005 at Sheffield, yet not only were archaeoastronomers well-received at TAG 2012 in Liverpool in a session entitled 'The Role and Importance of the Sky in Archaeology' organised by Silva, but were welcomed back to Bournemouth. They showed that archaeoastronomers now embrace the material culture of archaeology and that archaeologists are increasingly embracing the sky as another 'scape'.A rainy Tuesday morning dawned and more delegates arrived and more left. A lasting visual image of TAG is that it is populated by bearers of small wheeled suitcases. This says something more profound about the discipline of archaeology as it finds itself today. There are so many different fields, specialisations and sub-disciplines that its voice Henty, L 2014

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