Skyscapes
Subtitle: the role and importance of the sky in archaeology
By: edited by Fabio Silva and Nicholas Campion
Publisher: Oxbow Books
Published: 2015
Place of publication: Oxford
Language: eng
Number of pages: 148
ISBN-13: 9781782978404; 9781782978411
Subjects: Archaeoastronomy; Prehistoric peoples; Sky; Social archaeology; Cosmology; Astrology; Landscape archaeology; Sacred space; History
Description: "Eleven papers extend discussion of the role and importance of the landscape and the wider environment to past societies, and to the understanding and interpretation of their material remains, into consideration of the significance of the celestial environment: the skyscape. The role of the sky for past societies has been relegated to the fringes of archaeological discourse. Nevertheless archaeoastronomy has developed a new rigour in the last few decades and the evidence suggests that it can provide insights into the beliefs, practices and cosmologies of past societies. Skyscapes explores the current role of archaeoastronomical knowledge in archaeological discourse and how to integrate the two"--Provided by publisher.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
Table of contents: title: Preface: Meaning and intent in ancient skyscapes : an Andean perspective / J. McKim Malville; title: The role and importance of the sky in archaeology : an introduction / Fabio Silva; title: Skyscapes : locating archaeoastronomy within academia / Nicholas Campion; title: An examination of the divide between archaeoastronomy and archaeology / Liz Henty; title: Skyscapes : present and past : from sustainability to interpreting ancient remains / Daniel Brown; title: 30b : the West Kennet Avenue stone that never was : interpretation by multidisciplinary triangulation and emergence through four field anthropology / Lionel Sims; title: Can archaeoastronomy inform archaeology on the building chronology of the Mnajdra Neolithic temple in Malta? / Tore Lomsdalen; title: Star phases : the naked-eye astronomy of the Old Kingdom pyramid texts / Bernadette Brady; title: An architectural perspective on structured sacred space : recent evidence from Iron Age Ireland / Frank Prendergast; title: The circumpolar skyscape of a Pembrokeshire dolmen / Olwyn Pritchard; title: The view from within : a "time-space-action" approach to megalithism in central Portugal / Fabio Silva; title: Afterword: Dances beneath a diamond sky / Timothy Darvill.