Orientation of Prehistoric Monuments in Britain: A Reassessment

Orientation of Prehistoric Monuments in Britain: A Reassessment
Author: Alistair Marshall
Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
Total Pages: 704
Release: 2021-07-08
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1789697069

Reassesses major axial alignment at many megalithic ritual and funerary monuments (Neolithic to Bronze Age) in Britain and Ireland, not in terms of abstract astronomical concerns, but as an expression of repeated seasonal propitiation involving community, agrarian economy and ancestry in an attempt to mitigate variable environmental conditions.

Stonehenge

Stonehenge
Author: Clive Ruggles
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
Total Pages: 243
Release: 2024-04-03
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 1835532713

Stonehenge is one of the most famous ancient monuments in the world and its solar alignment is one of its most important features. Yet although archaeologists have learned a huge amount about this iconic monument and its development, a sense of mystery continues about its purpose. This helps fuel numerous theories and common misconceptions, particularly concerning its relationship to the sky and the heavenly bodies. A desire to cut through this confusion was the inspiration for this book, and it fills a gaping hole in the existing literature. The book provides both an introduction to Stonehenge and its landscape and an introduction to archaeoastronomy—the study of how ancient peoples understood phenomena in the sky, and what role the sky played in their cultures. Archaeoastronomy is a specialism critical to explaining the relationship of Stonehenge and nearby monuments to the heavens, but interpreting archaeoastronomical evidence has often proved highly controversial in the past. Stonehenge: Sighting the Sun explains why. It makes clear which ideas about Stonehenge are generally accepted and which are not, with clear graphics to explain complicated concepts. This beautifully illustrated book shines new light on this most famous of ancient monuments, and is the first in-depth study of this fascinating topic suitable both for specialists and for anyone with a general interest.

The Significance of Monuments

The Significance of Monuments
Author: Richard Bradley
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 193
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1134744838

The Neolithic period, when agriculture began and many monuments - including Stonehenge - were constructed, is an era fraught with paradoxes and ambiguities. Starting in the Mesolithic and carrying his analysis through to the Late Bronze Age, Richard Bradley sheds light on this complex period and the changing consciousness of these prehistoric peoples. The Significance of Monuments studies the importance of monuments tracing their history from their first creation over six thousand years later. Part One discusses how monuments first developed and their role in developing a new sense of time and space among the inhabitants of prehistoric Europe. Other features of the prehistoric landscape - such as mounds and enclosures - across Continental Europe are also examined. Part Two studies how such monuments were modified and reinterpreted to suit the changing needs of society through a series of detailed case studies. The Significance of Monuments is an indispensable text for all students of European prehistory. It is also an enlightening read for professional archaeologists and all those interested in this fascinating period.

Exploring Ancient Skies

Exploring Ancient Skies
Author: David H. Kelley
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 622
Release: 2011-02-16
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1441976248

Exploring Ancient Skies brings together the methods of archaeology and the insights of modern astronomy to explore the science of astronomy as it was practiced in various cultures prior to the invention of the telescope. The book reviews an enormous and growing body of literature on the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean, the Far East, and the New World (particularly Mesoamerica), putting the ancient astronomical materials into their archaeological and cultural contexts. The authors begin with an overview of the field and proceed to essential aspects of naked-eye astronomy, followed by an examination of specific cultures. The book concludes by taking into account the purposes of ancient astronomy: astrology, navigation, calendar regulation, and (not least) the understanding of our place and role in the universe. Skies are recreated to display critical events as they would have appeared to ancient observers--events such as the supernova of 1054 A.D., the "lion horoscope," and the Star of Bethlehem. Exploring Ancient Skies provides a comprehensive overview of the relationships between astronomy and other areas of human investigation. It will be useful as a reference for scholars and as a text for students in both astronomy and archaeology, and will be of compelling interest to readers who seek a broad understanding of our collective intellectual history.

Prehistoric Materialities

Prehistoric Materialities
Author: Andrew Meirion Jones
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 251
Release: 2012-07-05
Genre: History
ISBN: 0199556423

This volume focuses on the analysis of materials, from the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age periods of Britain and Ireland, in the study of prehistoric artefacts. Challenging the assumption that materials are inert and shaped by past societies, it argues that it is rather the materials which shaped the societies.

The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe

The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe
Author: Chris Fowler
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 1303
Release: 2015-03-26
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0191666890

The Neolithic --a period in which the first sedentary agrarian communities were established across much of Europe--has been a key topic of archaeological research for over a century. However, the variety of evidence across Europe, the range of languages in which research is carried out, and the way research traditions in different countries have developed makes it very difficult for both students and specialists to gain an overview of continent-wide trends. The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe provides the first comprehensive, geographically extensive, thematic overview of the European Neolithic --from Iberia to Russia and from Norway to Malta --offering both a general introduction and a clear exploration of key issues and current debates surrounding evidence and interpretation. Chapters written by leading experts in the field examine topics such as the movement of plants, animals, ideas, and people (including recent trends in the application of genetics and isotope analyses); cultural change (from the first appearance of farming to the first metal artefacts); domestic architecture; subsistence; material culture; monuments; and burial and other treatments of the dead. In doing so, the volume also considers the history of research and sets out agendas and themes for future work in the field.

The Lines of Nazca

The Lines of Nazca
Author: Anthony F. Aveni
Publisher: American Philosophical Society Press
Total Pages: 368
Release: 1990
Genre: History
ISBN:

From the height of an airplane circling over the Pampa Ingenio in Southern Peru, one may see the ground drawings which have puzzled scientists since their discovery in the 1930s. Etched across the landscape are lines and lifelike drawings depicting monkeys, birds, fish and spiders. The pre-Incaic Nazca people made these geoglypha. After several years of investigation, Aveni and his team of researchers have asembled their results here for the first time. These include a complete description and statistical analysis of the Nazca features, the surface archaeology of the pampa and the nearby ceremonial center of Cahuachi, and the relationship between the lines and pan-Andean systems of social organization. Illustrations. Photomozaic fold-out map.

The Cambridge Prehistory of the Bronze and Iron Age Mediterranean

The Cambridge Prehistory of the Bronze and Iron Age Mediterranean
Author: A. Bernard Knapp
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 1677
Release: 2015-01-12
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 131619406X

The Cambridge Prehistory of the Bronze and Iron Age Mediterranean offers new insights into the material and social practices of many different Mediterranean peoples during the Bronze and Iron Ages, presenting in particular those features that both connect and distinguish them. Contributors discuss in depth a range of topics that motivate and structure Mediterranean archaeology today, including insularity and connectivity; mobility, migration, and colonization; hybridization and cultural encounters; materiality, memory, and identity; community and household; life and death; and ritual and ideology. The volume's broad coverage of different approaches and contemporary archaeological practices will help practitioners of Mediterranean archaeology to move the subject forward in new and dynamic ways. Together, the essays in this volume shed new light on the people, ideas, and materials that make up the world of Mediterranean archaeology today, beyond the borders that separate Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.

Archaeoastronomy in the Old World

Archaeoastronomy in the Old World
Author: D. C. Heggie
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 294
Release: 1982-08-05
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0521247349

The papers in this book, summarising the proceedings of a conference at the University of Oxford in September 1981, are concerned with shedding light on a controversial aspect of European prehistory: was astronomy practised in the late Neolithic and bronze ages? This volume will be of interest to prehistorians, professionals with pure and applied sciences background and statisticians.

Sacred Heritage

Sacred Heritage
Author: Roberta Gilchrist
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 275
Release: 2020-01-02
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1108496547

Forges innovative connections between monastic archaeology and heritage studies, revealing new perspectives on sacred heritage, identity, medieval healing, magic and memory. This title is available as Open Access.