Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-gtxcr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T08:51:44.868Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Pushing back the frontiers or still running around the same circles? ‘Interpretative archaeoastronomy’ thirty years on

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2011

Clive L. N. Ruggles
Clive L. N. Ruggles*
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, United Kingdom email: rug@le.ac.uk
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

This personal perspective on the development of archaeoastronomy over the last thirty years focuses on interpretative and methodological issues, picking up for example from the debate between Schaefer and Aveni at Oxford VII. How far we have actually progressed in the last three decades? Are we at last starting to achieve the correct fusion between the social science questions that our discipline addresses and the ‘hard science’ methods that are often involved in tackling them? In this paper I argue that the need for our hypotheses to be solidly grounded in social theory, which has rightly been recognised by most archaeoastronomers in recent years, is not an excuse for avoiding the need to be scientifically rigorous in assessing them against the actual evidence. I conclude that identifying robust methodologies for weighing together the different types of data with which the cultural astronomer is faced in different sitations, so as to infer the ‘best’ interpretation, remains at once the most challenging and the most pressing issue facing our ‘interdiscipline’ in the future.

Keywords

archaeoastronomyethnoastronomycultural astronomy‘Oxford’ conferencestheorymethodologyastronomical heritage
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 7 , Symposium S278: “Oxford IX” International Symposium on Archaeoastronomy , January 2011 , pp. 1 - 18
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2011

References

Ashmore, W. & Knapp, A. B. (eds) 1999, Archaeologies of Landscape: Contemporary Perspectives, Blackwell, Oxford.Google Scholar
Aveni, A. F. (ed.) 1982, Archaeoastronomy in the New World, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Aveni, A. F. 1988, The Thom paradigm in the Americas: the case of the cross-circle designs. In Ruggles, C. L. N. (ed.), Records in Stone: Papers in Memory of Alexander Thom, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 442–472.Google Scholar
Aveni, A. F. (ed.) 1989, World Archaeoastronomy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Aveni, A. F. 1992, Nobody asked, but I couldn't resist: a response to Keith Kintigh on archaeoastronomy and archaeology. Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy News 6, 1.Google Scholar
Aveni, A. F. 2001, Skywatchers, University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Aveni, A. F. 2006a, Evidence and intentionality: on method in archaeoastronomy. In Bostwick, T. W. & Bates, B. (eds) 2006, Viewing the Sky through Past and Present Cultures, Pueblo Grande Museum Anthropological Papers no. 15, City of Phoenix, Phoenix, pp. 57–70.Google Scholar
Aveni, A. F. 2006b, Schaefer's rigid ethnocentric criteria. In Bostwick, T. W. & Bates, B. (eds) 2006, Viewing the Sky through Past and Present Cultures, Pueblo Grande Museum Anthropological Papers no. 15, City of Phoenix, Phoenix, pp. 79–83.Google Scholar
Aveni, A. F. 2008, The unwritten record. In Aveni, A. F. (ed.), Foundations of New World Cultural Astronomy. A Reader with Commentary, University Press of Colorado, Boulder, pp. 1–11.Google Scholar
Aveni, A. F., Dowd, A. S., & Vining, B. 2003, Maya calendar reform? Evidence from orientations of specialized architectural assemblages. Latin American Antiquity 14, 159–178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aveni, A. F. & Hartung, H. 1989, Uaxactun, Guatemala, Group E and similar assemblages: an archaeoastronomical reconsideration. In Aveni, A. F. (ed.), World Archaeoastronomy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 441–461.Google Scholar
Aylesworth, G. R. 2004, Astronomical interpretations of ancient Maya E-group architectural complexes. Archaeoastronomy. The Journal of Astronomy in Culture 18, 34–66.Google Scholar
Belmonte, J. A. 2010, Finding our place in the cosmos: the role of astronomy in ancient cultures. Journal of Cosmology 9, 2052–2062.Google Scholar
Belmonte, J. A. & Shaltout, M. (eds) 2009, In Search of Cosmic Order: Selected Essays on Egyptian Archaeoastronomy, American University in Cairo Press, Cairo.Google Scholar
Belmonte, J. A., Shaltout, M., & Fekri, M. 2008, On the orientation of ancient Egyptian temples: (4) Epilogue in Serabit el Khadim and overview. Journal for the History of Astronomy 39, 148–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bostwick, T. W. & Bates, B. (eds) 2006, Viewing the Sky through Past and Present Cultures, Pueblo Grande Museum Anthropological Papers no. 15, City of Phoenix, Phoenix.Google Scholar
Boutsikas, E. & Ruggles, C. L. N. 2011, Temples, stars, and ritual landscapes: the potential for archaeoastronomy in ancient Greece. American Journal of Archaeology, 115 (1), 55–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campion, N. 2008, Teaching cultural astronomy: on the development and evolution of the syllabus at Bath Spa University and the University of Wales, Lampeter. In Holbrook, J. C., Medupe, R. T. & Urama, J. O. (eds), African Cultural Astronomy. Current Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy Research in Africa, Springer, New York, pp. 109–119.Google Scholar
Carlson, J. B. 1999, Pilgrimage and the equinox ‘serpent of light and shadow’ phenomenon at the Castillo, Chichén Itzá, Yucatán. Archaeoastronomy. The Journal of Astronomy in Culture 14 (1), 136–152.Google Scholar
Chamberlain, V. D. 1982, When Stars Came Down to Earth. Cosmology of the Skidi Pawnee Indians of North America, Ballena/Center for Archaeoastronomy, Los Altos/College Park.Google Scholar
Chapman, H. 2006, Landscape Archaeology and GIS, Tempus, Stroud.Google Scholar
Cotte, M. & Ruggles, C. L. N. 2010a, Introduction. In Ruggles, C. L. N. & Cotte, M. (eds), Heritage Sites of Astronomy and Archaeoastronomy in the Context of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. A Thematic Study, ICOMOS–IAU, Paris, pp. 1–12.Google Scholar
Cotte, M. & Ruggles, C. L. N. 2010b, Conclusion. Astronomical heritage in the context of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention: developing a professional and rational approach. In Ruggles, C. L. N. & Cotte, M. (eds), Heritage Sites of Astronomy and Archaeoastronomy in the Context of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. A Thematic Study, ICOMOS–IAU, Paris, pp. 260–272.Google Scholar
Esteban, C. & Belmonte, J. A. (eds) 2000a, Oxford VI and SEAC 99: Astronomy and Cultural Diversity, Organismo Autónomo de Museos del Cabildo de Tenerife, La Laguna.Google Scholar
Esteban, C. & Belmonte, J. A. (eds) 2000b, Archaeoastronomy. The Journal of Astronomy in Culture 15, 3–177.Google Scholar
Fleming, A. 2005, Megaliths and post-modernism: the case of Wales. Antiquity 79, 921–932.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fleming, A. 2006, Post-processual landscape archaeology: a critique. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 16 (3), 267–280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fountain, J. W. & Sinclair, R. M. (eds) 2005, Current Studies in Archaeoastronomy: Conversations across Time and Space, Carolina Academic Press, Durham NC.Google Scholar
Ghezzi, I. & Ruggles, C. L. N. 2007, Chankillo: a 2300-year-old solar observatory in coastal Peru. Science 315, 1239–1243.Google Scholar
Heggie, D. C. (ed.) 1982, Archaeoastronomy in the Old World, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Henriksson, G. 2010, Einstein's theory of relativity confirmed by ancient solar eclipses. Journal of Cosmology 9, 2137–2146.Google Scholar
Hoskin, M. A. 2001, Tombs, Temples and their Orientations, Ocarina Books, Bognor Regis.Google Scholar
Ingold, T. 2000, The Perception of the Environment. Essays in Livelihood, Dwelling and Skill, Routledge, London & New York.Google Scholar
Iwaniszewski, S. 1989, Exploring some anthropological theoretical foundations for archaeoast-ronomy. In Aveni, A. F. (ed.), World Archaeoastronomy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 27–37.Google Scholar
Iwaniszewski, S. 1991, Astronomy as a cultural system. Interdisciplinarni Izsledwaniya 17, 282–288.Google Scholar
Iwaniszewski, S. 2001, Time and space in social systems—further issues for theoretical archaeo-astronomy. In Ruggles, C. L. N., Prendergast, F. & Ray, T. P. (eds), Astronomy, Cosmology and Landscape, Ocarina Books, Bognor Regis, pp. 1–7.Google Scholar
Iwaniszewski, S. 2009, Por una astronomía cultural renovada. Complutum 20, 23–37.Google Scholar
Kintigh, K. W. 1992, I wasn't going to say anything, but since you asked: archaeoastronomy and archaeology. Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy News 5, 1&4.Google Scholar
Kirch, P. V. 2004, Temple sites in Kahikinui, Maui, Hawaiian Islands: their orientations decoded. Antiquity 78, 102–114.Google Scholar
Lindström, J. & Roslund, C. 2000, Arkeoastronomi och Göran Henrikssons nonsensforskning. Folkvett 3–4, 7–30 (http://www.vof.se/folkvett/20003-4goran-henrikssons-nonsensforskning) [in Swedish].Google Scholar
McCluskey, S. C. 2005, Different astronomies, different cultures and the question of cultural relativism. In Fountain, J. W. & Sinclair, R. M. (eds), Current Studies in Archaeoastronomy: Conversations across Time and Space, Carolina Academic Press, Durham NC, pp. 69–79.Google Scholar
McCluskey, S. C. 2010, Medieval astronomy in Europe. In Ruggles, C. L. N. & Cotte, M. (eds), Heritage Sites of Astronomy and Archaeoastronomy in the Context of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. A Thematic Study, ICOMOS–IAU, Paris, pp. 169–187.Google Scholar
MacKie, E. W. 2009, The prehistoric solar calendar: an out-of-fashion idea revisited with new evidence. Time and Mind 2 (1), 9–46.Google Scholar
Malville, J. M. & Holbrook, J. (eds) 2010, Archaeoastronomy: Cosmology of Ancient Cultures. Journal of Cosmology 9, 2030–2244 (http://JournalofCosmology.com/Contents9.html).Google Scholar
Platt, T. 1991, The anthropology of astronomy [essay review of Aveni 1989]. Archaeoastronomy no. 16 (supplement to Journal for the History of Astronomy 22), S76–S83.Google Scholar
Ruggles, C. L. N. 1984, Megalithic astronomy: the last five years. Vistas in Astronomy 27, 231–289.Google Scholar
Ruggles, C. L. N. (ed.) 1993, Archaeoastronomy in the 1990s, Group D Publications, Lough-borough.Google Scholar
Ruggles, C. L. N. 1994, The meeting of the methodological worlds? Towards the integration of different discipline-based approaches to the study of cultural astronomy. In Iwaniszewski, S., Lebeuf, A., Wierciński, A. and Ziółkowski, M. (eds), Time and Astronomy at the Meeting of Two Worlds, Centro de Estudios Latinoamericanos, Uniwersytet Warszawski, Warsaw, pp. 497–515.Google Scholar
Ruggles, C. L. N. 1999, Astronomy in Prehistoric Britain and Ireland, Yale University Press, New Haven & London.Google Scholar
Ruggles, C. L. N. 2000a, Ancient astronomies—ancient worlds. Archaeoastronomy no. 25 (supplement to Journal for the History of Astronomy 31), S65–S76.Google Scholar
Ruggles, C. L. N. 2000b, The general and the specific: dealing with cultural diversity. Archaeoast-ronomy. The Journal of Astronomy in Culture 15, 151–177.Google Scholar
Ruggles, C. L. N. 2005, Archaeoastronomy. In Renfrew, C. & Bahn, P. (eds), Archaeology: the Key Concepts, Routledge, Abingdon.Google Scholar
Ruggles, C. L. N. 2006, Interpreting solstitial alignments in Late Neolithic Wessex. Archaeoast-ronomy. The Journal of Astronomy in Culture 20, 1–27.Google Scholar
Ruggles, C. L. N. 2007, Cosmology, calendar, and temple orientations in ancient Hawai'i. In Ruggles, C. L. N. & Urton, G. (eds), Skywatching in the Ancient World. New Perspectives in Cultural Astronomy, University Press of Colorado, Boulder, pp. 287–329.Google Scholar
Ruggles, C. L. N. 2010, Indigenous astronomies and progress in modern astronomy. In Norris, R. P. (ed.), Accelerating the Rate of Astronomical Discovery, SpS5, August 11–14 2009, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Proceedings of Science, PoS(sps5)029. http://pos.sissa.it/archive/conferences/099/029/sps5_029.pdf.Google Scholar
Ruggles, C. L. N. & Barclay, G. J. 2000, Cosmology, calendars and society in Neolithic Orkney: a rejoinder to Euan MacKie. Antiquity 74, 62–74.Google Scholar
Ruggles, C. L. N. & Rousseau, A. n.d., Solstitial sunlight and the Great Cairn of Barnenez, Finistère. Publication in preparation.Google Scholar
Ruggles, C. L. N. & Saunders, N. J. (eds) 1993a, Astronomies and Cultures, University Press of Colorado, Niwot.Google Scholar
Ruggles, C. L. N. & Saunders, N. J. 1993b, The study of cultural astronomy. In Ruggles, C. L. N. & Saunders, N. J. (eds), Astronomies and Cultures, University Press of Colorado, Niwot, pp. 1–31.Google Scholar
Ruggles, C. L. N. & Urton, G. 2007, Introduction. In Ruggles, C. L. N. & Urton, G., Skywatching in the Ancient World: New Perspectives in Cultural Astronomy, University Press of Colorado, Boulder, pp. 1–15.Google Scholar
Schaefer, B. E. 2006a, Case studies of three of the most famous archaeoastronomical alignments in North America. In Bostwick, T. W. & Bates, B. (eds) 2006, Viewing the Sky through Past and Present Cultures, Pueblo Grande Museum Anthropological Papers no. 15, City of Phoenix, Phoenix, pp. 27–56.Google Scholar
Schaefer, B. E. 2006b, No astronomical alignments at the Caracol. In Bostwick, T. W. & Bates, B. (eds) 2006, Viewing the Sky through Past and Present Cultures, Pueblo Grande Museum Anthropological Papers no. 15, City of Phoenix, Phoenix, pp. 71–77.Google Scholar
Taçon, P. S. C. & Chippindale, C. 1998, An archaeology of rock-art through informed methods and formal methods. In Chippindale, C. & Taçon, P. S. C. (eds), The Archaeology of Rock Art, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 1–10.Google Scholar
Therkorn, L. L. 2004, Landscaping the Powers of Darkness and Light: 600 BC–350 AD Settlement Concerns of Noord-Holland in Wider Perspective. PhD thesis, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam. http://dare.uva.nl/document/120954Google Scholar
Thomas, J. (ed.) 2000, Interpretive Archaeology: a Reader, Leicester University Press, London.Google Scholar
Tilley, C. 1994, A Phenomenology of Landscape. Places, Paths and Monuments, Berg, Oxford.Google Scholar
Urton, G. 1981, At the Crossroads of the Earth and Sky. An Andean Cosmology, University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Vaiškūnas, J. (ed.) 2008, Astronomy and Cosmology in Folk Traditions and Cultural Heritage, Archaeologia Baltica 10, Klaipėda University Institute of Baltic Sea Region History and Archaeology, Klaipėda.Google Scholar
Whitley, D. S. 2006, Issues in archaeoastronomy and rock art. In Bostwick, T. W. & Bates, B. (eds) 2006, Viewing the Sky through Past and Present Cultures, Pueblo Grande Museum Anthropological Papers no. 15, City of Phoenix, Phoenix, pp. 85–102.Google Scholar
Xu, F. & He, N. 2010, Taosi observatory, China. In Ruggles, C. L. N. & Cotte, M. (eds), Heritage Sites of Astronomy and Archaeoastronomy in the Context of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. A Thematic Study, ICOMOS–IAU, Paris, pp. 86–90.Google Scholar