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Ancient Astronomy

An Encyclopedia of Cosmologies and Myth

by Clive Ruggles

Published in 2005 by ABC-CLIO

This book aims to help the general reader distinguish sound evidence and key themes of archaeoastronomy from unsupported speculation and common misconceptions.

Its over 200 entries include a broad selection of case studies worldwide, some famous, some much less known. It also provides critical assessments of a range of facts and theories together with explanations of concepts and tools so that the reader can critically examine new evidence and claims for themselves.

Some of these articles will be updated and made available on this website in the near future.

The book contains articles on:

A B C D E F

G H I J K L

M N O P Q R

S T V W Y Z

Aboriginal emu carving at Elvina Track, New South Wales, Australia. (Photo by Clive Ruggles)

A
  • Aboriginal astronomy
  • Abri Blanchard bone
  • Alignment studies
  • Altitude
  • Ancient Egyptian calendars
  • Andean mountain shrines
  • Angkor
  • Antas
  • Antizenith passage of the sun
  • Archaeoastronomy
  • Archaeotopography
  • Astro-archaeology
  • Astrology
  • Astronomical dating
  • Avebury
  • Axial stone circles
  • Azimuth
  • Aztec sacred geography
B
  • Babylonian astronomy and astrology
  • Ballochroy
  • Barasana “caterpillar jaguar” constellation
  • Beltany
  • Borana calendar
  • Boyne Valley tombs
  • Brainport Bay
  • Brodgar, Ring of
  • “Brown” archaeoastronomy
  • Bush Barrow gold lozenge

The Caracol viewed from an adjacent structure, Chichen Itza, Mexico. (Photo by Clive Ruggles)

C
  • Cacaxtla
  • Cahokia
  • Calendars
  • Callanish
  • Caracol at Chichen Itza
  • Carahunge
  • Cardinal directions
  • Casa Rinconada
  • Catastrophic events
  • Celestial sphere
  • Celtic calendar
  • Ceque system
  • Chaco Canyon
  • Chaco Meridian
  • Chaco supernova pictograph
  • Chinese astronomy
  • Christianization of “pagan” festivals
  • Church orientations
  • Circles of earth, timber, and stone
  • Circumpolar stars
  • Clava cairns
  • Cobo, Bernabé (1582-1657)
  • Coffin lids
  • Cognitive archaeology
  • Comets, novae, and meteors
  • Compass and clinometer surveys
  • Constellation maps on the ground
  • Cosmology
  • Crucifixion of Christ
  • Crucuno
  • Cumbrian stone circles
  • Cursus monuments
  • Cusco sun pillars
D
  • Declination
  • Delphic oracle
  • Diurnal motion
  • Dresden Codex
  • Drombeg

Ahu Nau Nau at Anakena, Easter Island. (Photo by Clive Ruggles)

E
  • Easter Island
  • Eclipse records and the earth’s rotation
  • Ecliptic
  • Egyptian temples and tombs
  • Emu in the sky
  • Equinoxes
  • Ethnoastronomy
  • Ethnocentrism
  • Extinction
F
  • Fajada Butte sun dagger
  • Field survey
  • Fiskerton
G
  • Governor’s Palace at Uxmal
  • GPS surveys
  • Grand Menhir Brisé
  • “Green” archaeoastronomy
  • Gregorian calendar
  • Group E structures
H
  • Ha‘amonga-a-Maui
  • Hawaiian calendar
  • Heliacal rise
  • Hesiod (8th century B.C.)
  • Hopewell mounds
  • Hopi calendar and worldview
  • Horizon calendars of central Mexico
  • How the sky has changed over the centuries

Is Paras, Sardinia, Italy. (Photo by Clive Ruggles)

I
  • Inferior planets, motions of
  • Inuit cosmology
  • Iron-Age roundhouses
  • Is Paras
  • Islamic astronomy
  • Island of the Sun
J
  • Javanese calendar
  • Julian calendar
K
  • Kintraw
  • Kukulcan
  • Kumukahi
  • Kumulipo
L
  • Lakota sacred geography
  • Land of the Rising Sun
  • Landscape
  • Ley lines
  • Lockyer, Sir Norman (1836–1920)
  • Lunar and luni-solar calendars
  • Lunar eclipses
  • Lunar parallax
  • Lunar phase cycle

Majorville Medicine Wheel, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Clive Ruggles)

M
  • Maes Howe
  • Magellanic Clouds
  • Mangareva
  • Mayan Long Count
  • Medicine Wheels
  • “Megalithic astronomy”
  • “Megalithic” calendar
  • Megalithic monuments of Britain and Ireland
  • Megalithic “observatories”
  • Meridian
  • Mesoamerican calendar round
  • Mesoamerican cross-circle designs
  • Methodology
  • Mid-quarter days
  • Minoan temples and tombs
  • Misminay
  • Mithraism
  • Monuments and cosmology
  • Moon, motions of
  • Mursi calendar
N
  • Nā Pali chant
  • Nabta Playa
  • Namoratung’a
  • Nasca lines and figures
  • Nationalism
  • Navajo cosmology
  • Navajo hogan
  • Navajo star ceilings
  • Navigation
  • Navigation in ancient Oceania
  • Nebra disc
  • Necker Island
  • Newgrange
  • Nissen, Heinrich (1839–1912)
  • Nuraghi
O
  • Obliquity of the ecliptic
  • Orientation
  • Orion
P
  • Palaeoscience
  • Pantheon
  • Pawnee cosmology
  • Pawnee earth lodge
  • Pawnee star chart
  • Pilgrimage
  • Polynesian and Micronesian astronomy
  • Polynesian temple platforms and enclosures
  • Power
  • Precession
  • Precision and accuracy
  • Prehistoric tombs and temples in Europe
  • Presa de la Mula
  • Pyramids of Giza

Pyramids of Giza, Egypt. (Photo by Clive Ruggles)

Q
  • Quipu
R
  • Recumbent stone circles
  • Refraction
  • Roman astronomy and astrology
  • Rujm el-Hiri
S
  • Sacred geographies
  • Sarmizegetusa Regia
  • Saroeak
  • Science or symbolism?
  • Short stone rows
  • Sky bears
  • Solar eclipses
  • Solstices
  • Solstitial alignments
  • Solstitial directions
  • Somerville, Boyle (1864–1936)
  • Son Mas
  • Space and time, ancient perceptions of
  • Star and crescent symbol
  • Star compasses of the Pacific
  • Star names
  • Star of Bethlehem
  • Star rising and setting positions
  • Statistical analysis
  • Stone circles
  • Stonehenge
  • Sun, motions of
  • Superior planets, motions of
  • Swedish rock art
  • Symbols

The taula at Talati de Dalt, Menorca, Spain. (Photo by Clive Ruggles)

T
  • Taulas
  • Temple alignments in ancient Greece
  • Teotihuacan street grid
  • Theodolite surveys
  • Thom, Alexander (1894–1985)
  • Thornborough
  • Tri-radial cairns
V
  • Venus in Mesoamerica
W
  • Wedge tombs
Y
  • Years B.C. and years before 0
  • Yekuana roundhouses
Z
  • Zenith passage of the sun
  • Zenith stars in Polynesia
  • Zenith tubes