Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T15:17:44.345Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Closing remarks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2011

Johanna Broda
Johanna Broda*
Affiliation:
Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito Mario de la Cueva, Zona Cultural, Del. Coyoacán, 04510 México, D.F., Mexico email: jbroda@prodigy.net.mx
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.

The purpose of this invited commentary is to present some general closing remarks on the global content of the ‘Oxford IX’ International Symposium on Archaeoastronomy, taking into account how we evaluate the course archaeoastronomy has taken over the past few years. It is significant that the interdisciplinary field of archaeoastronomy has already, by common consent, changed its name into ‘astronomy in culture’ (or ‘cultural astronomy’). This happened several years ago, although it is still the case that the cultural aspect (cosmovision, or vision of the world) is not always taken sufficiently into account. The keynote presentations by Ruggles, Iwaniszewski and McCluskey addressed fundamental issues of method and theoretical concepts that should guide archaeoastronomical studies. The rest of the sessions as well as the posters were dedicated to case studies from different cultural regions of the world. This commentary synthesizes several common themes that were addressed in the many interesting papers from all over the world that were presented in the meeting. Finally I take up the proposition of Gary Urton that future efforts should be concentrated on the study of the production and maintenance of systems of knowledge in complex state societies as well as in more egalitarian rural communities. In my opinion it is an urgent task to begin discourse about the history of pre-Columbian civilizations in the Americas, a discipline of which the history of science and astronomy forms a fundamental part. The ‘Oxford’ International Conferences are a key forum for exchange and encounter regarding comparative studies with other ancient civilizations as well as indigenous traditions from all over the world.

Keywords

astronomy in cultureritualcosmovisionhistory of sciencehistory of astronomyanthropologyethnohistoryarchaeologycomparative studies
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 7 , Symposium S278: “Oxford IX” International Symposium on Archaeoastronomy , January 2011 , pp. 408 - 413
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2011

References

Aveni, A. F 1989, Whither archaeoastronomy? In Aveni, A. F. (ed.), World Archaeoastronomy. Selected papers from the 2nd Oxford International Conference on Archaeoastronomy held at Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 3–12.Google Scholar
Broda, J., Iwaniszewski, S., & Montero, A. 2001, La Montaña en el Paisaje Ritual, ENAH/INAH & UNAM, México D.F.Google Scholar
Broda, J. 2006, Zenith observations and the conceptualization of geographical latitude in ancient Mesoamerica: a historical interdisciplinary approach. In Bostwick, T. W. & Bates, B. (eds), Viewing the Sky through Past and Present Cultures. Selected Papers from the Oxford VII International Conference on Archaeoastronomy, Pueblo Grande Museum Anthropological Papers no.15, Phoenix, pp. 183–212.Google Scholar
Brotherston, G. 1992, Book of the Fourth World: Reading the Native Americas through their Literature, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Coleman, J. A. 1967, Early Theories of the Universe, Signet, New York.Google Scholar
Ghezzi, I. & Ruggles, C. L. N. 2007, Chankillo: a 2300-year-old solar observatory in coastal Peru. Science, 315, 1239–1243.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gibbs, S. L. 1982, The tropical zone: land of opportunity. In Aveni, Anthony F. & Urton, Gary (eds), Ethnoastronomy and Archaeoastronomy in the American Tropics, New York Academy of Sciences, New York, pp. 337–341.Google Scholar
Gingerich, O. 1982, Summary. Archaeoastronomy in the Tropics. In Aveni, Anthony F. & Urton, Gary (eds), Ethnoastronomy and Archaeoastronomy in the American Tropics, New York Academy of Sciences, New York, pp. 333–336.Google Scholar
Isbell, B. J. 1982, Culture confronts nature in the dialectical world of the Tropics. In Aveni, Anthony F. & Urton, Gary (eds), Ethnoastronomy and Archaeoastronomy in the American Tropics, New York Academy of Sciences, New York, pp. 353–364.Google Scholar
McCluskey, S. C. 1982, Archaeoastronomy, ethnoastronomy and the history of science. In Aveni, Anthony F. & Urton, Gary (eds), Ethnoastronomy and Archaeoastronomy in the American Tropics, New York Academy of Sciences, New York, pp. 343–351.Google Scholar
Ruggles, C. L. N. & Saunders, N. J. 1993, The study of cultural astronomy. In Ruggles, C. L. N. & Saunders, N. J. (eds), Astronomies and Cultures. Papers derived from the third ‘Oxford’ International Symposium on Archaeoastronomy, St. Andrews, UK, University Press of Colorado, Niwot, pp. 1–31.Google Scholar
Tedlock, B. 1982, Time and the Highland Maya, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar