Archaeoastronomy in the Old World

by D. C. Heggie

Overview

This volume summarises the proceedings of a conference which took place at the University of Oxford in September 1981. Held under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union and the International Union for the History and Philosophy of Science, the meeting reviewed research in Old World Archaeoastronomy. The publisher received the final typescript for production in March 1982. The papers in this book are concerned with shedding light on a controversial aspect of European prehistory, especially that of north-west Europe: was astronomy practised here in the late Neolithic and bronze ages, and if so, what was its purpose? These questions are of obvious interest to prehistorians, but fresh interest in them has been stimulated largely by those whose professional background is in the pure and applied sciences, while they raise technical issues which have aroused the interest of statisticians and astronomers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521125307
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	12/17/2009
Pages:	292
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

Table of Contents

Preface; List of contributors; Part I. Invited Papers: 1. Megalithic astronomy: highlights and problems D. C. Heggie; 2. Archaeology and astronomy: an archaeological view J. N. G. Ritchie; 3. The statistical approach P. R. Freeman; 4. Statistical and philosophical arguments for the astronomical significance of standing stones with a section on the solar calendar A. and A. S. Thom; 5. Megalithic astronomical sightlines: current reassessment and future directions C. L. N. Ruggles; 6. Aspects of the archaeoastronomy of Stonehenge R. J. C. Atkinson; 7. Implications for archaeology E. W. MacKie; 8. Pi in the sky H. A. W. Burl; Part II. Contributed Papers: 9. A survey of the Barbrook stone circles and their claimed astronomical alignments R. P. Norris, P. N. Appleton and R. W. Few; 10. Observations at Kintraw T. McCreery, A. J. Hastie and T. Moulds; 11. Decoding the Callandish complex - a progress report M. R. and G. H. Ponting; 12. Astronomy and stone alignments in S. W. Ireland A. Lynch; 13. Stone rings of Northern Poland R. M. Sadowski, M. S. Ziókowski and K. Piasecki; 14. Astronomical orientation of Neolithic sites in Central Europe W. Schlosser and J. Čierny; 15. Stone circle geometries: an information theory approach J. D. Patrick and C. S. Wallace; Part III. Invited Paper: 16. The present position of archaeoastronomy C. Pedersen; Index.