You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
Archaeoastronomy is a discipline pioneered at Stonehenge and other megalithic sites in Britain and France. Many sites in the southwestern United States have yielded evidence of the prehistoric Anasazi's intense interest in astronomy, similar to that of the megalithic cultures of Europe. Drawing on the archaeological evidence, ethnographical parallels with historic pueblo peoples, and mythology from other cultures around the world, the authors present theories about the meaning and function of the mysterious stone alignments and architectural orientations of the prehistoric Southwest.
Drawing on the archaeological evidence, ethnographical parallels with historic pueblo peoples, and mythology from other cultures around the world, this book presents theories about the meaning and function of the mysterious stone alignments and architectural orientations of the prehistoric Southwest.
None
This is the first scholarly collection of articles focused on the cultural astronomy of the African continent. It weaves together astronomy, anthropology, and Africa and it includes African myths and legends about the sky, alignments to celestial bodies found at archaeological sites and at places of worship, rock art with celestial imagery, and scientific thinking revealed in local astronomy traditions including ethnomathematics and the creation of calendars.
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 tw...
Eighty-five black-and-white photos and accompanying essays share the beauty of the canyons and mesas of the Colorado Plateau and the history of the resourceful inhabitants.
This volume sheds new light on the geography and the history of the Chimney Rock Archaeological Area in southwestern Colorado. Home until the mid-twelfth century to the ancestral Pueblo peoples, the Chaco Canyon and Chimney Rock area holds a wealth of information for present-day archaeologists to uncover. This collection investigates the architecture, location, and alignment of Pueblo great houses and the significant features of designed clay feather holders. The contributors suggest varied pre-historical uses for the towering double spires of Chimney Rock: as a logging camp, military garrison, home of Chacoan priests, astronomical observatory, and/or ceremonial-pilgrimage center. Chimney Rock: The Ultimate Outlier is a model of multi-faceted inquiry into a physically intriguing and certainly symbol-laden ancient North American residential site.