The fusion of Astronomy and Archaeology
How can two fields of research, both seemingly working in opposite directions, one towards the sky and one beneath the Earth, be connected to each other? Well, that's the field of Archeoastronomy.
Astronomy, is the study of the sky above us, the sun, moon and stars and their motion as they move around in the celestial sphere. Archaeology is the study of ancient artefacts, scripts, relics and architecture through excavations, to understand history both recent, ancient and really ancient. What can these two fields have in common? Well on the surface, nothing at all. They are studies of two completely different things. One looks at the skies and beyond it, and one looks at the ground and below it.
The human fascination with the night sky can be traced all the way back to the dawn of human civilizations itself. Almost every ancient civilization has left for us the remnant of their spectacular architectural skills, which gives us an insight into their lives, culture and religious beliefs. The mysteries behind how and for what purpose they were constructed using only primitive technologies available then, still fascinate researchers. Out of all the many mysteries surrounding ancient monuments, we can observe that there is one thing common in some of these monuments and that’s their connection with the night sky. Archeoastronomy is a relatively new field of science that deals with understanding the astronomy aspect encoded in ancient architecture, texts and literature.
Reading through ancient literature that tells us about astronomical practices, we can work out that the most basic observations made by ancient astronomers must have been the periodicity in the motion of the sun and the moon. This periodicity was what helped ancient civilizations keep track of time. Since weather patterns, crop cycles and even animal behaviours change periodically, keeping track of time becomes an irreplaceable necessity for a stable civilization. Regardless of the geolocation of the civilization or differences in belief systems, natural phenomena like the sunrise and sunset, the phases of the moon and celestial events like meteor showers are perceived in the same way by all humans. There could be different reasons stated by different civilizations for reasons behind these phenomena, depending on their major religions. Similarly, Constellations can have different names and origin stories behind them. For example, one of the most well-known constellations, Orion, is seen and illustrated as a strong Hunter warrior in Greek mythology, whereas the same pattern of stars is called, “Mriga” and is seen and illustrated in Indian literature as a dead deer with an arrow sticking out of its torso or sometimes it’s head. Names of well-known stars and comets may change, and the names of planets may be different in different cultures, but the stars, their astronomical observations themselves and calculations remain the same in nature.
Without the help of any kind of observing tools like telescopes, and using just their eyes and a lot of patience, ancient astronomers calculated the periodicity of the Sun, Moon and Planets. The stars, on the other hand, were observed to be fairly constant every night. We know now that stars are not really as stationary and over an interval of many thousands of years, they do change and shift. But when observed in small intervals, they seem to be pretty perpetual.
Some of the most well-known constellations are the ones that fall on the plane of the ecliptic. There are a total of 12 officially recognised constellations that divide the ecliptic into 12 equal parts. There are called the Zodiac constellations. These constellations align with the earth and the sun to give us the “zodiac” of the specific month. There are many other constellations that played a vital role in many cultures in many civilizations around the world. Through excavations, researchers find, that these constellations and observations can be seen integrated into the architecture, artefacts and illustrations from these ancient civilizations.
Excavations reveal carvings on rocks that showcase the motion of the planets. Ancient literature gives us calendars, based on either the Sun or the Moon, such as the infamous, Mayan Calendar. Places of worship, are aligned with the direction of either the rising or setting Sun on either the summer or winter solstice. For example, The Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, in Kerala, India, has a massive and beautifully made entry gate with multiple levels, each with careful intrinsic carvings and an open window in the centre of each level. When seen from the central altar, during the days of the equinox, the setting sun seems to pass right through the centre of each of those windows, creating a beautiful alignment.
There can be monuments which could have been built to align with other specific celestial events. One of the main jobs of an archaeoastronomer is to figure out these alignments for different monuments and structures. It is not always as simple as it looks. Sometimes such alignments can be caused due to pure coincidence. It is important to know the difference between specifically intended architecture and just a peculiar coincidence. For example, there are claims that the Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt, along with the 2 other Pyramids next to it, aligns with the 3 stars on the belt of Orion. This claim is not particularly accepted by many as a proper conclusion and is seen as a Fabricated Hoax. The Pyramids in no way align with the 3 stars of Orion. There is a difference between observations and deducting a reasonable conclusion.
Thousands of years ago, when there were no skyscrapers, no electric wires and absolutely no light pollution, the night sky would have been a sight to behold and must have been one of the most prominent presences of the night.
Traces of astronomy can be found in some megalithic structures, dating back to the time, even before agriculture became a key part of human settlements. One of the oldest known megalithic structures is considered to be the ‘Almendres Cromlech’ near the town of Évora in Portugal, which is thought to be the oldest stone circle in Europe, even older than Stonehenge, which itself is over 5000 years old. The stones of the Almendres Cromlech are all peculiarly facing east, towards the direction of sunrise at the equinoxes.
Another of the most fascinating structures that seem to have an astronomical connection is the ‘Mnajdra Temple 2’. The main entrance of the temple faces east where the sun can be seen rising exactly from the centre of the door during the equinoxes as the rays of the sun fall on the central altar. To the left and right of the main altar, there are two monolithic slabs of similar dimensions that create a light-and-shadow effect on the days of the solstices as the rising sun projects a flag-like figure on either the two slabs depending on the day of the solstice.
Archeoastronomy doesn’t just consider ancient architecture but also artefacts and texts in ancient literature to figure out the extent of astronomy on the everyday lives of people and their religion. One such object was discovered by researchers off the island of Antikythera, Greece. It is the ‘Antikythera mechanism’, also considered to be one of the oldest analogue computers. After a thorough examination, researchers found out that the tool must have been used to calculate the date of solar eclipses, many years in advance!
Archeoastronomy as a field is still in its infancy and is developing. It can help us get a deeper understanding of how the ancient astronomers and people looked at the night sky and how they made sense of celestial phenomena like eclipses and meteor showers, without the use of many elaborate tools and using a very primitive understanding of the universe that they had then. The night sky has played a really important role in the evolution of human societies and to an extent, human nature. The curiosity and the urge to make sense of the universe have led humans to build giant stone monuments and temples. It just shows that humans have always been curious beings, always fascinated by the night sky. We’re the universe trying to understand itself.
I love the wonder-filled view of the sky at night. The thought of a starry night just does things to me...
Such a fascinating information!