Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T06:07:09.205Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Our Sky, the Sky of Our Ancestors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2021

A. César González-Garca*
Affiliation:
Instituto de Ciencias del Patrimonio, Incipit-CSIC Avda. de Vigo s/n, 15705, Santiago de Compostela, Spain email: a.cesar.gonzalez-garcia@incipit.csic.es
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.

When we talk about Astronomy, we normally do not take into account that we are using a cultural specific way of understanding the sky. Astronomers, either professional, amateur or just lovers of the sky nowadays tend to approach the sky from the point of view of modern science. There, we approach the sky as something that needs to be explored, understood and explained.

However, this vision was not always like that, or even in other cultures is/was completely different. For centuries, the human being has comprehended the sky, its changes and constancies, as part of their world, as part of the environment, as part of their everyday life.

In this paper, I review a few of these different ways of approaching the sky in several cultures, from the Near East to Rome or the Andes and how we can use them today for education, outreach and heritage management.

Type
Research Article
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of International Astronomical Union

References

Alpass, P. 2012, The Religious Life of Nabataea (Leiden: Brill)Google Scholar
Barton, T. 1995, Journal of Roman Studies 85, 33 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Belmonte, J.A. 2012, Pirámides, Templos y Estrellas (Barcelona: Crtica)Google Scholar
Belmonte, J.A., González-García, A.C. & Polcaro, A. 2013, Nexus Network Journal 15, 497 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Belmonte, J.A. & González-García, A.C. 2017, Culture and Cosmos 21, 131 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Belmonte, J.A., González-Garca, A.C. & Rodrguez-Antón, A. 2019, in: Magli, G., González-García, A.C., Belmonte, J.A., & Antonello, E. (eds.), Archaeoastronomy in Roman World (New York: Springer), p. 123 Google Scholar
Belmonte, J.A., González-Garca, A.C. Rodrguez-Antón, A. & Perera Betancor, M.A. 2017, Nexus Network Journal 22, 369 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burger, R. L. and Rosenswig, R.M. 2012, Early New World Monumentality. University Press of Florida (Gainsville: University of Florida Press)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Browning, I. 1989, Petra (London: Chatto and Windus)Google Scholar
Escacena, J. L. 2009, Complutum 20(2), 95 Google Scholar
Espinosa-Espinosa, D. & González-Garca, A.C. 2017, Numen 64(5-6), 545 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garca Quintela, M.V. & González-Garca, A.C. 2009, Complutum 20(2), 39 Google Scholar
González-Garca, A.C. et al. 2015, Zephyrus 75, 141 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
González-Garca, A.C. & Belmonte, J.A. 2019, Sustainability 11(8), 2240 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
González-Garca, A.C. & Rodrguez-Antón, A., Espinos-Espinos, D., Garca-Quintela, M.V. & Belmonte, J.A., 2019, in: Magli, G., González-García, A.C., Belmonte, J.A., & Antonello, E. (eds.), Archaeoastronomy in Roman World (New York: Springer), p. 85 Google Scholar
González-Garca, A.C. & Belmonte, J.A. 2020, Journal of Skyscape Archaeology 5(2), 177 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
González-Garca, A.C. et al. 2021, Latin American Antiquity in press Google Scholar
Gros, P., & Torelli, M. 1994, Storia dell’Urbanistica. Il Mondo Romano. (Roma: Editori Laterza)Google Scholar
Haas, J. & Creamer, W. 2004, in: Silvermann, H. (ed.) Cultural Transformations in the Central Andean Late Archaic. In Andean Archaeology (Oxford: Balckwell), p. 35 Google Scholar
Healy, J.F. 2000, The religion of the Nabataeans: a conspectus (Boston: Brill)Google Scholar
Iwaniszweski, S. 2009, Complutum 20(2), 23 Google Scholar
Iwaniszweski, S. 2015, in: Ruggles, C.L.N. (ed.), Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ehtnoastronomy (New York: Springer), p. 287 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krupp, E.C. 2015, in: Ruggles, C.L.N. (ed.), Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ehtnoastronomy (New York: Springer), p. 263 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
López, A.M. 2015, in: Ruggles, C.L.N. (ed.), Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ehtnoastronomy (New York: Springer), p. 341 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laurence, R., Esmonde Cleary, S., & Sears, G. 2011, The City in the Roman West c.250 BC-c.AD 250 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Noguera Celdrán, J.M. & Madrid Balanza, M.J., 2014 Espacio, tiempo y forma 7, 13CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roche, M.-J. 1995, Transeuphratène 10, 57 Google Scholar
Rodrguez-Antón, A., González-Garca, A.C. & Belmonte, J.A. 2018, Journal for the History of Astronomy 49(3), 363 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruggles, C.L.N 2015, in: Ruggles, C.L.N. (ed.), Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ehtnoastronomy (New York: Springer), p. 353 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruggles, C.L.N 2017, Heritage Sites of Astronomy and Archaeoastronomy in the context of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention: Thematic Study no.2. (Paris: ICOMOS)Google Scholar
Ruggles, C.L.N & Cotte, M. 2017, Heritage Sites of Astronomy and Archaeoastronomy in the context of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention(Paris: ICOMOS)Google Scholar
Shady, R. 2006, in: Osbell, W.H. and Silvermann, H. (eds.), Andean archaeology III: north and south (New York: Springer), p. 28 Google Scholar
Shady, R., Haas, J. and Creamer, W. 2001, Science 292, 723 Google Scholar
Vilas Estévez, B. 2015, in: Silva, F., Malville, K. Lomsdalen, T., & Ventura, F. (eds.), The Materiality of the Sky (Bath:Sofia Center Press), 23Google Scholar