Archaeoastronomy: Introduction to the Science of Stars and Stones

by Giulio Magli

This is a second edition of a textbook that provides the first comprehensive, easy-to-read, and up-to-date account of the fascinating discipline of archaeoastronomy, in which the relationship between ancient constructions and the sky is studied in order to gain a better understanding of the ideas of the architects of the past and of their religious and symbolic worlds. The book is divided into three sections, the first of which explores the past relations between astronomy and people, power, the afterworld, architecture, and landscape. The second part then discusses in detail the fundamentals of archaeoastronomy, including the celestial coordinates; the apparent motion of the sun, moon, stars, and planets; observation of celestial bodies at the horizon; the use of astronomical software in archaeoastronomy; and current methods for making and analyzing measurements. The final section reviews what archaeoastronomy can now tell us about the nature and purpose of such sites and structures as Stonehenge, the Pyramids of Giza, Chichen Itza, the Angkor Temples, the Campus Martius, and the Valley of the Temples of Agrigento. In addition, it provides a set of exercises that can be performed using non-commercial free software, e.g., Google Earth and Stellarium, and that will equip readers to conduct their own research. This new edition features a completely new chapter on archaeoastronomy in Asia and an “augmented reality” framework, which on the one hand enhances the didactic value of the book using direct links to the relevant sections of the author’s MOOC (online) lessons and, on the other, allows readers to directly experience – albeit virtually –many of the spectacular archaeological sites described in the book. This is an ideal introduction to what has become a wide-ranging multidisciplinary science.

Genres: Astronomy, History, Nonfiction, Science, Egypt, Anthropology, Physics

260 pages, Paperback

First published November 22, 2015

About the author

Giulio Magli is a Physicist (PhD 1992), currently Full Professor at the Politecnico di Milano, where he teaches the unique official course on Archaeoastronomy ever established in an Italian University. His research activity first developed in Relativistic Astrophysics, but gradually moved to the study of the relationship between architecture, landscape and mathematical - astronomical lore of ancient cultures, especially among the ancient Egyptians but also among the Incas and in the Mediterranean area. In this field he authored several papers and the books “Mysteries and Discoveries of Archaeoastronomy” (Springer Verlag 2009), “Architecture, astronomy and sacred landscape in ancient Egypt” (Cambridge University Press 2013) and “Archaeoastronomy-Introduction to the science of stars and stones” (Springer Verlag 2016). He is one of the authors of the UNESCO-IAU document on astronomical heritage and has been conducting archaeological survey missions on pre-nuragic Sardinia and in Central Italy, as well as spending several periods in Egypt investigating the ancient topography of the pyramid’s fields and other ancient landscapes; since 2015 he is responsible of the scientific cooperation project between the Politecnico di Milano and the Archaeological Park of the UNESCO site “Valley of the Temples” in Agrigento, Sicily. Along with scientific activity, he developed a wide activity in the field of scientific communication and since 2013 he serves as appointed director of the FDS laboratory for Formation and Scientific Communication of the Department of Mathematics. Recently he has been involved, together with METID - Politecnico di Milano, in research and development of MOOCs and other e-learning tecniques and, together with Domenico Brunetto, he authored the first Pre-Calculus MOOC course ever published in Italian. His researches in Archaeoastronomy have been reported several times in national and international TV broadcasts, including CNN, Discovery News, History Channel and National Geographic.

Reviews

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

My review is of the Second edition. This is probably the only academic work on the subject suitable for a college introduction. It is basically lecture notes from Giulio Magli's classes at at the Politecnico di Milano. I purchased this book as a companion to the author's Massive Open Online Course offered through Coursera. The book was splendid for that purpose. This is an academic work focusing on the science behind this discipline. The book is divided into three parts. The first covering how work is actually done in the field. The second part is a review of the archeological and philosophical principles of the subject. The third part offers case studies of actual sites of significance for Archaeoastronomy. After years of studying this subject through popular works of interest or narrow academic volumes , I feel I finally have a grounding in the subject. The work also has and interactive function. Smart phones may be used to pull additional content with an app. This is nifty and good supplementary material. The course and the book cover most of the same ground with only a few things unique each. Together they really reinforce each other. It should be noted that some knowledge of undergrad astronomy really makes this book a lot more accessible. I can't recommend them enough to the serious academic enquirer.

[Paige McLoughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very basic it is a slim volume and there is so much to this topic. This might be an undergraduate supplement. I have reviewed far more comprehensive archeo-astronomy textbooks like "exploring ancient skies" which is a deep dive into this subject. The ancients didn't have modern tools and were not gifted with our modern insights but they were just as clever as us if not more so. We stand on their shoulders and it is good to know their picture of the world and how they incorporated the lights in the sky into their own particular cosmologies and religious systems.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of fascinating and eye-opening information about a topic I hadn't known was a topic before finding his free course on Coursera. It's physics but readable for the non-science nerd.

[Dr. Watson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing 🤩