Skyscape Archaeology: an emerging interdiscipline for archaeoastronomers and archaeologists

Henty, Liz

doi:10.1088/1742-6596/685/1/012003

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…The primary method in archaeoastronomy for claimed alignments is the statistical analysis of large data sets (Henty, 2016). Reliance on such an approach is not suitable for single sites and, it is argued, precludes any interpretive ability (Sims, 2012).…”

Section: Methodical Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Reliance on such an approach is not suitable for single sites and, it is argued, precludes any interpretive ability (Sims, 2012). However, a method, referred to as skyscape archaeology (Henty, 2016;Silva, 2014), has recently been developed which considers the role and importance of 'additional artefactual evidence, the site or sites' location within a particular ritual landscape, related ethnographic evidence and relative dating' (Henty, 2016, p. 685). It also takes into account the oral tradition of folktales.…”

Section: Methodical Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It also takes into account the oral tradition of folktales. This broader approach to cultural astronomy effectively combines archaeoastronomy and archaeology (Henty, 2016).…”

Section: Methodical Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Celestial objects were conceived as supernatural beings, ancestors or heroes, with whom people claimed relationships through descent, mythological narratives, political alliances or power relationships (Iwaniszewski, 2011, p. 31). Despite this, archaeological investigations generally ignore both the sky (Henty, 2016) and archaeoastronomy (Ruggles, 1999, p. vii). As the orientation of monuments is usually towards a horizon, cultural astronomers have concentrated on horizon azimuths, principally of solar and lunar phenomena.…”

Section: General Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Calanais myth and an alignment of the east stone-row with both the rising of the Pleiades and crossovers of Venus at sunrise on the summer solstices

Nance

2021

Scottish Geographical Journal

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A myth asserts that at sunrise on the summer solstice 'something' came to the Calanais Stones' central ring heralded by the cuckoo's call. This paper investigates which of the three celestial objects easily visible at sunrise, the Sun, Moon and Venus, might be referred to. The stones have no obvious orientation with the Sun and, while a 'window' of the midsummer full-moons could be seen over the stone ring, complex lunar orbits preclude any precise alignments including the lunar standstill positions. Several widespread European goddesses of fertility and sovereignty were associated with both Venus and the cuckoo, astronomically symbolised by the Pleiades in northern Europe. The east -row of the Calanais Stones is aligned with crossover events of Venus. Three crossover events occurred during the period of the east row construction suggested by radiocarbon dating. The azimuth of the rising Pleiades coincided with the Venus crossover of 1677 and 1674 BC. The 'something' was 'bright, shining, holy' in Brittonic, gwen, while Gwener is the planet Venus. The appearance of the Sun and Venus at sunrise on the summer solstice might represent a divine wedding. This is believed to be the first European prehistoric monument demonstrated to be purposely aligned with Venus.

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Section: Methodical Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodical Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It also takes into account the oral tradition of folktales. This broader approach to cultural astronomy effectively combines archaeoastronomy and archaeology (Henty, 2016).…”

Section: Methodical Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: General Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

A Calanais myth and an alignment of the east stone-row with both the rising of the Pleiades and crossovers of Venus at sunrise on the summer solstices

Nance

2021

Scottish Geographical Journal

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“…There is also a long tradition of neglect or disapproval regarding archaeoastronomy by archaeologists in Britain (Hutton, 2022, p. 315) where archaeology is not considered a scientific discipline but a branch of the humanities. Here, archaeological investigations generally ignore both the sky (Henty, 2016) and archaeoastronomy (Ruggles, 1999, p. vii) which is not regarded as a useful subsidiary of archaeology (Polcaro, 2016, p. 1). Moreover, the purely humanistic training of the 'vast majority of archaeologists (especially in Europe) makes it difficult for them to consider as conclusive the evidence that archaeoastronomers present in support of their arguments.'…”

Section: General Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Holme I (Seahenge) and Holme II: ritual responses to climate change in Early Bronze Age Britain

Nance

2024

GeoJournal

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Holme I and II were contemporary, adjacent Early Bronze Age (EBA) oak-timber enclosures exposed intertidally at Holme-next-the-sea, Norfolk, England, in 1998. Holme I enclosed a central upturned tree-stump, its function and intent unknown. Holme II is thought a mortuary structure. Both are proposed here best explained as independent ritual responses to reverse a period of severe climate deterioration recorded before 2049 BC when their timbers were felled. Holme I is thought erected on the summer-solstice, when the cuckoo traditionally stopped singing, departing to the ‘Otherworld’. It replicated the cuckoo’s supposed overwintering quarters: a tree-hole or the ‘bowers of the Otherworld’ represented by the tree-stump, remembered in folklore as ‘penning-the-cuckoo’ where a cuckoo is confined to keep singing and maintain summer. The cuckoo symbolised male-fertility being associated with several Indo-European goddesses of fertility that deified Venus - one previously identified in EBA Britain. Some mortal consorts of these goddesses appear to have been ritually sacrificed at Samhain. Holme II may be an enclosure for the body of one such ‘sacral king’. These hypotheses are considered, using abductive reasoning, as ‘inferences to the best explanations’ from the available evidence. They are supported with environmental data, astronomic and biological evidence, regional folklore, toponymy, and an ethnographic analogy with indigenous Late Iron Age practices that indirect evidence indicates were undertaken in EBA Britain. Cultural and religious continuity is supported by textual sources, the material record and ancient DNA (aDNA) studies.

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Alignment Patterns of Romanesque Churches Dedicated to the Virgin of the Assumption in Soria, Spain

Abril

Velasco

2023

JSA

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Previous studies have reported that in southern Spain some medieval churches are aligned to sunrise on the canonical equinox, independent of their dedication, and to sunrise on 15th August, for dedications to the Virgin of the Assumption. This paper aims to identify precedents of this tradition in the province of Soria (northeast Spain), where the campaign by Christians to recapture territory held by the Muslims was accomplished in the first third of the twelfth century. This Reconquista was followed by a repopulation process and the building of a large number of rural churches in the Romanesque Repopulation style until the middle of the thirteenth century, many of which are preserved. The paper studies a set of 73 parish churches dedicated to the Virgin of the Assumption in Soria, with a subsample of 44 ascribed to the Romanesque. Their azimuths were measured from georeferenced orthophotographs. The normalised sums of probability densities have been computed for azimuths and declinations, and subjected to quantitative statistical assessment by using the confidence envelope curve and total peak area methods. The results reveal that 50% of the churches in the Romanesque subsample have intended alignment patterns. About two thirds of these were aligned toward the “sol aequinoctialis”, which can be evoked by (1) true east (astronomical equinox), and (2) sunrise on 21st or 25th March in the Julian calendar, the dates of the ecclesiastical and canonical equinox, respectively. The remaining third were aligned towards sunrise on 15th August. Data allows discussion on the accuracy in the involved practical methods used for alignments and on some relevant questions on the origin and spread of this tradition.

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Skyscape Archaeology: an emerging interdiscipline for archaeoastronomers and archaeologists

Cited by 5 publications

References 14 publications

A Calanais myth and an alignment of the east stone-row with both the rising of the Pleiades and crossovers of Venus at sunrise on the summer solstices

A Calanais myth and an alignment of the east stone-row with both the rising of the Pleiades and crossovers of Venus at sunrise on the summer solstices

Holme I (Seahenge) and Holme II: ritual responses to climate change in Early Bronze Age Britain

Alignment Patterns of Romanesque Churches Dedicated to the Virgin of the Assumption in Soria, Spain

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