Decoding Astronomy in Art and Architecture

By Marion Dolan

For centuries, our ancestors carefully observed the movements of the heavens and wove that astronomical knowledge into their city planning, architecture, mythology, paintings, sculpture, and poetry. This book uncovers the hidden messages and advanced science encoded within these sacred spaces, showing how the rhythmic motions of the night sky played a central role across many different cultures. 

Our astronomical tour transports readers through time and space, from prehistoric megaliths to Renaissance paintings, Greco-Roman temples to Inca architecture. Along the way, you will investigate unexpected findings at Lascaux, Delphi, Petra, Angkor Wat, Borobudur, and many more archaeological sites both famous and little known. Through these vivid examples, you will come to appreciate the masterful ways that astronomical knowledge was incorporated into each society’s religion and mythology, then translated into their physical surroundings. 

The latest archaeoastronomical studies and discoveries are recounted through a poetic and nontechnical narrative, revealing how many longstanding beliefs about our ancestors are being overturned. Through this celestial journey, readers of all backgrounds will learn the basics about this exciting field and share in the wonders of cultural astronomy. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Springer
• Release date: Sep 17, 2021
• ISBN: 9783030765118

Book preview

Part IHistory of Cosmic Symbolism in Art and Architecture

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021

M. DolanDecoding Astronomy in Art and ArchitecturePopular Astronomyhttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-76511-8_1

1. Introduction to Archaeoastronomy Topics

Marion Dolan¹  

(1)

Deerfield Beach, FL, USA

Only in the darkness can you see the stars.―Martin Luther King Jr.

The earliest traces of visual art forms can be identified on bones, stones, and beads; recent archaeological finds push back the dates of art’s first appearance earlier and earlier. Carved markings, female images, and painted caves originated during the Upper Paleolithic era beginning about 40,000 BCE. Visual art is classified by archaeologists as a social communication strategy that uses material culture as a means to signal identity and to coordinate action between individuals and groups. Specialists suspect that these artistic remains incorporate astronomical information, but because of their great age, there is as yet no means of providing absolute proof of the depth of their understanding.

The oldest structures discovered from the megalithic period, which begins about 9500 BCE, display solar or cardinal orientations, and some megalithic structures have incorporated beams of sunlight into the design of the structures for calendric, religious, and astronomical purposes. These ancient structures integrated worship, agriculture, health, well-being, and comfort. Such works of art and architecture included ancient and essential knowledge that could be deciphered by those who understood the multiple layers of symbolism. The orientations of architecture to motions of the Sun and stars often paid special attention to the solstices and equinoxes for calendric, ritualistic, and agricultural purposes. And the more accurate dating techniques and satellite images of today produce unexpected result; prehistoric sites that have been restudied using these new methods are dated much older than previously thought, pushed deeper and deeper into the past.

After investigating many of the latest discoveries from the Paleolithic and Neolithic Periods, the book moves on to the Greco-Roman Period and the great advances in astronomical understanding, explaining the ways in which this knowledge was incorporated into ancient Greek temples, theaters, and myths. Archaeoastronomy has uncovered fascinating secrets long hidden in stories about the famous Oracle of Delphi and solar events at Delphi’s Apollo Temple. Recent studies prove that the Nabateans in the ancient rose-red city of Petra, located in present-day Jordan, also aligned their buildings, temples, and tombs in accordance with the motions of the celestial sphere. Roman engineering utilized its ingenious architectural skills in bringing significant light and shadows into its temples to honor the gods, to memorialize its emperors as gods, and to regulate its calendars. The mysteries of the Cult of Mithras were openly embedded in Roman artwork using astronomical constellation figures as symbols. Although many theories have been offered, they are still not fully understood; the truth remains hidden within their iconic artwork.

The thousand-year period from the end of the late Classic era through the Middle Ages was also a time of astronomical interest as heavenly references expanded into many areas. Celestial poetry and constellation images were copied over and over by medieval scribes and beautifully illuminated by artists for their illustrated manuscripts. Astronomical charts, maps, paintings, and diagrams recorded what was known, mostly passed down from Greek and Roman sources, such as Pythagoras, Plato, and Aristotle and especially Pliny the Elder. Medieval and Gothic cathedrals too were astronomically aligned, decorated with ancient symbolism. Zodiacal motifs appeared in religious sculpture, in calendric almanacs, in Books of Hours, and in magnificent stained glass windows. In the twelfth century, the Almagest and Tetrabiblos of Ptolemy were finally rediscovered in Arabic libraries and translated into Latin by medieval scholars.

The Renaissance then saw a resurgence of knowledge and astronomical science from the Classical era as the important works of early Greek astronomers, once thought lost, were studied by scholars. The Renaissance also invigorated the restoration of classical sculpture, painting, and mythology, celebrating the revival of pagan gods with their astronomical and astrological symbolism. Creation myths and celestial frescoes of these ancient planetary deities were painted by the illustrious masters of the Renaissance. Humanist scholars reenergized Greek and Roman poetry and literature rife with classical astronomical treatises. Astronomical measurements and seasonal markers were built into church architecture, even into their floors.

Elsewhere in the world, ancient cultures of Southeast Asia created temples and artwork that displayed deference to astronomy in their design and symbolism. The ancient folklore and spiritual beliefs of India, one of the earliest Asian cultures, eventually became encapsulated in the Hindu religion and was further defined by Buddhist concepts in the fifth century BCE. This section of the book will present Hindu images and the spectacular temple of Angkor Wat. It will detail how secrets of Buddhist philosophy were encoded into Southeast Asian temples, stupas, and pagodas. The sacred cosmological symbolism found in Java will also be discussed.

Chinese traditions too hold fascinating symbols within ancient ceremonies, astronomical rituals, and celebrations. Essential sacred rites were performed by the emperor in accordance with the cyclical solar movements each season in order to reinforce ancient beliefs and reaffirm the divine emperor’s right to rule. Ancient Chinese star maps and celestial symbols are the oldest yet discovered.

Across the ocean, the New World has become an active area of archaeoastronomical research. Some of its astronomically aligned temples were discovered to be almost as old as those in the Old World. The Olmec culture is considered the first to develop astronomy, mathematics, a written language, and accurate calendars; the Olmec also created numerous symbolic artworks, particularly sculptures. Pyramids and temples in Mesoamerica and South America rival those of ancient Egypt in size, workmanship, and accuracy of astronomical orientations. The architecture of the ancient Maya overwhelmed archaeologists with their height, majesty, splendid carvings, and vast numbers. A more precise understanding of Mayan script carved on monuments and in the few books that survive has provided extensive exposure to their use of astronomical symbolism. These ancient records together with archaeological evidence help clarify the relationship between functional and symbolic astronomical knowledge. They offer graphic evidence that structures served as calendric markers and as sacred stages for seasonally timed rituals determined by their cosmic connections. The astronomical priests or skywatchers of the Incan Empire during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries likewise excelled in their monument-building, constructing sacred Sun temples aligned to the celestial motions.

It is hoped that bringing this variety of astronomical art and architecture together in one place will provide new understanding of the importance and depth of scientific knowledge held by so-called primitive societies. The field of archaeoastronomy has expanded vastly; during a recent conference on the topic, scholars presented over 80 papers on societies that developed around the world, and this is just one of many conferences held each academic year. This partial account was gathered to foster an appreciation for earlier artisans, architects, sculptors, masons, scribes, and patrons, who devoted their lives to the production of masterful works of art and architecture.

The following chapter presents an overview of cultural astronomy to simplify the field for newcomers and curious readers. The intention of this book is to synthesize recent studies for easier understanding and introducing the astronomical references emphasized in works of art and architecture that are not as well-known and not widely published, pulling together and integrating the current research. As more examples are discovered, investigators realize the diversity and richly complex relationships that existed through all cultures between the human terrestrial world and the starry celestial world.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021

M. DolanDecoding Astronomy in Art and ArchitecturePopular Astronomyhttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-76511-8_2

2. Basics of Astronomy and Archaeoastronomy

Marion Dolan¹  

(1)

Deerfield Beach, FL, USA

And he gave to the world the figure which was suitable and also natural. What was suitable to the living being which was to contain all living beings was that figure which contains within itself all other figures. Therefore, he made the world in the form of a globe, round as from a lathe, in every direction equally distant from the center to the extremes, the most perfect and the most like itself of all figures.―Plato, Timaeus

Components of Archaeoastronomy

Astronomy is regarded as the oldest of the sciences; it provides a basis to determine our view of the cosmos and define our position within it. In ancient times, the Sun and sky served as tools to help humans orient themselves within time and space. Until accurate calendars, clocks, celestial maps, and atlases became readily available, familiarity with the rhythmic cycles of the celestial vault was a necessity for early societies. Myth and symbolism became the prime means for preserving and passing down that accumulated knowledge for future generations.

Today, although we witness the same stars and stellar motions as Paleolithic people, much of the captivating brilliance of the night sky has been obscured by light and air pollution. The wonders of the night skies pass overhead mostly ignored, except when an extraordinary event such as a comet or eclipse captures our attention. As a result, society today is no longer closely integrated with one of nature’s most fundamental components.

Since most historians, archaeologists, and anthropologists of the modern era were not trained in astronomy, they assumed ancient cultures weren’t either. Since the 1970s, the science of archaeoastronomy has very slowly become accepted by most in the academic community, although some skepticism still remains. Earlier experts dismissed the notion that people during the Old Babylonian and Minoan periods in the fourth and third millennium BCE could have paid close attention to the heliacal rising of stars as absurd. They stated that establishment of the cyclical motions of the celestial bodies through collecting and preserving yearly observations would have been impossible; the ancients could obtain only crude astronomical data. Some stated further that the Greeks could establish right angles with only modest precision. If they wrote that about the very advanced Greek culture, you could imagine what they had to say about the astronomical capabilities of even earlier or less sophisticated cultures, especially the ancient Maya. Because many of the buildings of Maya cities are oddly directed, scholars criticized the builders for not being able to make a right angle, when in reality their architecture was perfectly aligned to their intended targets – the cyclical positions of Venus. The criticisms of such experts were often strongly worded, attributing new ideas to the lunatic fringe and pyramid idiots.

Later technical advancements, computer analysis, and statistical studies demonstrated that encoded astronomical information in early architecture was intentional and quite accurate, well beyond the possibility of chance. Cultural astronomy has advanced greatly in its acceptance by the academic community as a recognized science and is currently being taught at many major universities.

This book is not intended to teach the technical aspects of archaeoastronomy, nor is it a how-to manual for undertaking serious field studies. Instead, it aims to explain the meaning and importance of this early astronomical knowledge and to provide outstanding examples of its universal presence, particularly that encoded in art and architecture. Many books are available that explain the scientific details and exact measurements of these sites. They provide the necessary technical equipment, astronomical computer programs, spherical mathematics, disappearance intervals of stars and planets, and methods of calculating eclipses. This text will only cover the basic information needed to appreciate the abilities of early skywatchers and of the artists and designers that incorporated astronomical data into their works. The central area of interest here is directed to the history, function, and astronomical content of certain natural features and works of art and architecture.

The first area of interest when studying the archaeoastronomy of a location focuses on the alignment of a monument or building to the Sun toward the eastern or western horizon. Standing stones or circles were often positioned so that a certain megalith would be oriented toward the horizon and perform as a seasonal marker when the astronomer/priest or shaman viewed from a specific spot. At times, natural rock formations could be utilized for that purpose. Other questions for investigation included as follows: Was there a connection to the solstices or the equinoxes? Was the position of the Moon or the lunar standstills marked in any way? Some alignments to Venus or to a particular star may be detected, especially in temples of the ancient Maya. Studies in a site’s accuracy in orientation are deemed most necessary for proof that it was actually calculated and intentional. In order to calculate which astronomical positions an early structure or monument marked, a coordinate system for the location is needed. That information is becoming easier to determine with the variety of new technologies available, such as Google Maps.

Once these alignments are verified as intentional, the researchers begin to place them in their cultural context. Why were these alignments important? How did they function? What did they mean to those who built them and those who tracked celestial motions? Once scholars accepted that early cultures were not only aware of but closely followed heavenly cycles, archaeoastronomy became more and more fascinating, and its study spilled over into all areas of daily life. The perfection and accuracy of alignments gave way to an examination of a culture’s Earth-heaven relationship and to the societal consequences that it produced. Often this relationship was affected for spiritual, astrological, or chronological results thought to benefit the health and well-being of the community. In many cultures, the close connection with the cosmos was associated with the advancement of a ruler’s political power and domination over other societies. By examining the achievements of practitioners of early astronomy, historians also gain insight into the origins of science and a deeper understanding of humanity’s past.

Cycles of the Sun

Through time, the Sun was always the most celebrated of celestial bodies, often personified as a god. Atum, Amen Re, Helios, Apollo, Sol Invictus, Amaterasu, Dushara, and Huitzilopochtli – the list seems endless. Early skywatchers quickly observed that the movement of the starry vault of the heavens through a 24-hour day and a 365-day year seemed quite stable, whereas the Sun, Moon, and planets appear to act in a more erratic manner.

All this apparent movement of course stems from our position on Earth, which is subject to three different motions. First, Earth rotates on its axis daily, changing night into day. Second, it revolves around the Sun, making a complete circuit of 360° in relation to the starry background over one tropical year (365.2422 days). The third motion is more complex caused by a very slow periodic wobble of the Earth’s axis as it spins. The wobble precesses through a lengthy cycle of about 25,772 years and is named the precession of the equinoxes, which will be discussed in context. All the planets of the solar system revolve around the Sun in the same direction as the Earth and also within the same plane, which astronomers think is a vestige of how our solar system formed from a spinning disc of gas and dust.

Similar to all celestial bodies, the Sun always rises on the eastern horizon and sets on the western, but its rising is not fixed to one area on the horizon. Most readers are quite aware that throughout the year, the Sun’s rising point shifts between two extremes, the northern solstice (June 20) and southern solstice (December 20) where it stalls a few days, while it passes through the equinoxes or halfway points (March 20 and September 23) rather quickly. Because Earth’s orbit is elliptical, the days between the two solstices are not exactly the same. Most early societies were satisfied by simply dividing the days between the solstices and equinoxes into four equal quarters, 91 days each (plus one extra day).

The Sun seems to travel its daily path against the background of particular groups of stars, the 12 constellations of the zodiac. This plane, which contains the orbits of the Sun, Moon, Earth, and planets, is called the ecliptic; it spans about 8° of arc. Our Sun, relative to the stars, progresses through the starry background about one degree or double its own diameter each day; but overall, the Sun and constellations together move in a westward direction that opposes its daily motion.

The center of Earth’s mass revolves on an ellipse, with the Sun at one focus while it rotates on its axis. The Earth’s axis is not perpendicular to the ecliptic but inclined by 23° 30′. Since the Earth’s axis wobbles somewhat, the value of the obliquity of the ecliptic is not precisely constant; it shifts between 25° and 22°. This angle of obliquity triggers the changing seasons. When tracking the Sun’s path during the day and that of the Moon and planets at night, you find that they transit the sky in slanted arcs. As the Sun, Moon, and Earth revolve in their orbits within the plane of the ecliptic, they cross paths, but at certain times, the three line up exactly, and a solar or lunar eclipse occurs.

Another important element in astronomical measure is the celestial equator , an imaginary celestial sphere that projects the Earth’s equator on the sky. Because of Earth’s axial tilt, the celestial equator is also inclined by about 23.44° with respect to the plane of Earth’s orbit.

Throughout the year, the star patterns of the constellations appear to shift in position, not in respect to each other but relative to the Sun. Those particular stars that appear just above the eastern horizon as the evening sky darkens rise a few minutes earlier each day; as a result, new constellations will begin to appear. The moments of appearance and disappearance of a star is called its heliacal rising or its setting. Through history, these sightings remained one of the most utilized and reliable time-keeping methods for numerous societies; the most notable example was in Egypt, where the brightest star Sirius’ heliacal rising announced the yearly flooding of the Nile.

The predictable nature of these basic celestial motions establishes a reliable sense of cyclic time, order, and symmetry for humans. The consistent appearances of the celestial bodies provided a sense of stability not seen on Earth itself, where the natural forces and unpredictable events were the reverse: disruptive, destructive, and deadly. In contrast, the dazzling heavenly bodies overhead were perfect and eternal. For this reason, they became personalized and deified, considered to be alive; in this way, they inspired not only exceptional works of art and architecture but also poetry, song, and myth.

Cycles of the Moon

The movements of the Moon display greater variability, are faster, and are more complicated than those of the Sun. The Moon is tidally bound as it revolves around Earth, always showing the same face to those on Earth. The Moon completes its orbit of Earth in relation to the fixed stars in a sidereal month, about 27.3 days. The cycle of the Moon’s phases from one new Moon to the next comprises its synodic month, which transpires every 29.5 days. A further complication is the Moon’s axial tilt; this measures only 1.5422°, much less than the Earth’s 23.44° slant. The axial tilt affects Moon’s orbit, making it harder to determine its position in advance without scientific instruments.

The Moon’s size appears to be almost the same as that of the Sun since the projected diameters of both are 30° as viewed from Earth. Of course, the Sun is actually about 400 times the lunar diameter and distance. Nevertheless, this effect allows the Moon to at times block out the brilliance of the Sun and reveal new insights about the star. Important information on the motions of the Sun can be gathered during a partial eclipse. A total eclipse allows the disc of the Sun to be entirely blocked, cutting off its direct light. At those few minutes of totality, astronomers have the opportunity to observe and photograph different features of the Sun that are normally obscured by its intense brilliance. Only during an eclipse can astronomers view and photograph the Sun’s corona, the solar atmosphere, and the brightest nearby stars that are ordinarily invisible.

There are two points where the orbit of the Moon intersects the ecliptic, called the lunar nodes. The ascending (or north) node is where the Moon moves into the northern ecliptic hemisphere. The descending (or south) node is the point that the Moon enters the southern ecliptic hemisphere. Solar eclipses at the ascending node occur in March and solar eclipses at the descending node in September. Therefore, lunar eclipses at descending node occur in March and lunar eclipses at ascending node in September. The megalithic monuments of England and Ireland appear to designate those particular times.

The Moon deviates from the center line of the ecliptic plane by 5° with a maximum deviation on either side, but it does slowly return. The Moon travels in a zone about 20 moon-breadths wide, half the year north of the ecliptic and half south of it. Tied to the Sun, the Moon travels to its northernmost and southernmost limits along the horizons. This varying range between the extreme points of its declination, its standstills or lunistices, changes over the course of about 2 weeks or one-half a sidereal month, 13.66 days. Declination is a celestial coordinate measured as the angle from the celestial equator, analogous to latitude. It is one of two angles that pinpoint the position of a star, measured from north or south of the celestial equator. The other angle is the right ascension, which is measured eastward along the celestial equator from the Sun at the vernal equinox dividing the equator into 24 hours, each of 60 minutes. The declination of the celestial equator is 0°.

One major or one minor lunar standstill occurs every 18.6 years due to the precessional cycle of the lunar nodes at that rate. Examples have been found showing that ancient cultures marked alignments to the moonrise or moonset on days of lunar standstills. The complex motions of the Moon’s cycles make gathering accurate data and demonstrating lunar alignments much more difficult than is necessary for verifying solar alignments. Consequently, when archaeoastronomers investigate a site searching for evidence of lunar observations, the results are often unsatisfactory. As a result, the Moon has not been as instrumental in investigating earlier astronomical knowledge as the Sun, stars, and planets have been. But lunar cycles and phases were certainly watched and recorded by early humans; this has been demonstrated in early carvings on bone and ivory and by markings of lunations in painted caves. Early cultures often preserved that lunar knowledge by implanting it in their myths, using it to assist in keeping their calendars and staying aware of the cosmic cycles. Unfortunately, positive proof cannot yet be established in many of these cases.

The Milky Way Galaxy

The night sky glows vividly bright, rich in stars of various magnitudes and muted colors. All visible stars belong to our Milky Way Galaxy except for one, which is actually the Andromeda Galaxy. The Milky Way forms a barred spiral galaxy and consists of an enormous collection of stars orbiting its central nucleus. It exists as only one of billions of galaxies throughout the limitless universe. The hazy trail of the Milky Way that we see is actually the edge-on view of the galaxy that spans the night sky from one side to the other. In the brightest portions of the Milky Way, the stars cannot be distinguished individually since we are looking into its dense center.

The darker part of the Milky Way is sometimes called the Great Rift, or the Dark River. Many cultures refer to it as a celestial river flowing through the sky. The darkness within the hazy band is composed of interstellar dust clouds that block the stars found in the various arms of our galaxy. The dark masses are shaped in distinctive irregular forms that never change. There were only two known cultures to identify these forms as dark constellations: the Incas and the Australian Aborigines. Skywatchers of Australia and of the Andes in South America envision these various dark shapes within the Milky Way as familiar animals, such as the llama, fox , and toad, and they believe that other dark areas encode information important for their survival. The Aborigines call their most well-known dark constellation the Emu in the Sky. Anthropologists have uncovered quite a lot about their methods of passing down crucial astronomical information.

Viewed from Earth, the positions of most stars seem to change as they appear on the horizon throughout the year, not in relation to each other but in relation to time. Some stars never descend below the horizon; these stars follow circular paths and share a common central point, the North Celestial Pole, which moves but very slowly due to precession. This center slowly shifts through the centuries; it is now occupied by the almost motionless star Polaris in Ursa Minor. In the northern hemisphere, the night sky appears to revolve around this unique spot. The stars that circle closely around Polaris are called circumpolar stars. Facing north, the stars move counterclockwise around it.

Origin of the Constellations

The scattered positions of the stars may appear totally random, impossible to sort out. It is easier to remember different groupings and individual stars if we form them into familiar images and associate them with memorable stories. Many of the brighter stars were named and then arranged into small gatherings, asterisms, or constellations quite early in human history. An actual time period will never be known for many constellations accumulated over a long period of time. Experts suggest that several of these most recognizable star groups were even recorded in the prehistoric painted caves (Chap. 3).

Different cultures established their own particular star formations. Ancient Chinese astronomers were naming and recording asterisms of only three or four individual stars in the third millennium BCE (Chap. 6). Egyptian astronomers had already grouped stars into clusters by the early Dynastic periods and pictured these formations on tomb walls and ceilings. They also oriented the shafts in the King’s and the Queen’s Chambers within the Great Pyramid to specific stars with special meanings in their mythology around 2800 BCE.

The long-accepted 48 constellations of the Northern Hemisphere that are most familiar today were previously thought to be organized, named, and written into numerous myths by the early Greeks, many inherited from the Babylonians. But it is now thought that many of these constellations date back to much, much earlier times. The origin of the constellations arises from a long and complicated process. As societies moved through a wide geographical area, the stars, the names, and the stories attached to them were passed down from a broad base of backgrounds.

Hesiod, the early Greek poet active between 760 and 750 BCE, wrote his works in traditional meter poetry, the most successful means for remembering. Hesiod is considered the creator of instructive and moralizing poetry defined as didactic. Known as a major source for Greek mythology, Hesiod set down his musings on astronomy and time-keeping around the same period as Homer. Both poets mentioned Orion and the Great Bear, including the Big Dipper, which is a part of it; the Bears as circumpolar constellations do not bathe in the ocean. The Greek poets also reference two long-established asterisms, the Pleiades and Hyades, and two of the brightest stars, Sirius and Arcturus.

The astronomical poem Phaenomena, c. 270 BCE, composed by the famous Greek poet Aratus of Soli (315–240 BCE), survives as the oldest record of the risings and settings of each constellation. Aratus based his account of stellar positions and their relationships to each other on the astronomical writings of Eudoxus of Cnidus (c. 390–337 BCE, a student of Plato). Eudoxus wrote his book of astronomy and the classical constellations around 370 BCE, including some constellations from non-Mesopotamian and non-Greek sources. None of the writings of Eudoxus survive except as mentioned by other Greek and Hellenistic authors (Chap. 11).

The Hellenistic astronomer, mathematician, geographer, and astrologer, Ptolemy (c. 100–170 CE) of Alexandria, wrote the most fundamental basis of astronomical and mathematical theory in his 13-book masterpiece, the Almagest. His book describes the complex motions of the heavens and names 48 constellations based on Babylonian and Indian observations and their lunar theories. Ptolemy’s famous tome became lost to the Latin West in the early centuries of the Common Era but was recovered from Arabic libraries in Spain and translated into Latin in the twelfth century. The Almagest remained the foremost authoritative manuscript on astronomy until the paradigm shift created by Copernicus in the sixteenth century.

The 48 constellations of the Northern Hemisphere had been long established, but those of the Southern Hemisphere were not added to the European star almanacs until the Age of Exploration was underway in the mid-sixteenth century, when navigators first observed the unknown skies over unexplored regions formerly below the horizon. The navigator-astronomers began to organize and chart the newly discovered stars into constellations and introduce them into the celestial maps and world globes. The number of constellations gradually expanded as the entire world was explored. Currently, astronomers recognize 88 constellations; some of the very large constellations, such as Argo, the ship of Jason and the Argonauts in the southern sky, were divided into smaller constellations.

The entire celestial sphere is now totally mapped, and any particular spot can be pinpointed for its accurate location. But studies of the constellations no longer have much relevance to astronomy today. The stellar components of a constellation, formerly believed to be securely imbedded in a celestial sphere, are widely scattered into deeper distances of space and do not offer any real alignments. Yet the constellations participated significantly in mythology and have become significant components within cultural astronomy. Many myths have been encoded with specific, unusual astronomical events in the past, such as planetary conjunctions. Transits, comets, asteroids, and eclipses had a strong impact, as did natural calamities, and these are still being interpreted by experts to reveal their truths.

Popular myths, mostly dated to the ancient Greeks, helped non-literate people to remember the positions of the constellations and their relationships to others in the heavens. The most easily found star group is the Big Dipper, which is a bright asterism, part of the much larger constellation Ursa Major. Orion the Hunter, located along the celestial equator and visible throughout the world, appears as another of the most recognizable constellations. Orion continually chases the beautiful Seven Sisters (the Pleiades) and the Scorpion chases him, always striving to bite his heel. Nightly, Perseus arrives to rescue Andromeda from Cetus, the dreadful sea monster, while she waits vulnerably, half-naked, and chained to the rocks by her father, King Cepheus. Regretfully, he sacrificed his daughter to save his kingdom. Her mother Queen Cassiopeia sits on her throne, arms outstretched, and hangs upside down half the year as punishment for her vanity. The Babylonians identified Hydra, important since Hydra was positioned along the celestial equator from 6000 BCE to CE 1000. Understanding the wealth of information embodied in ancient myths helps us better interpret the relationship between astronomy and aspects of early civilizations.

A good software program can help one learn the constellations; it can also recreate the night sky for any location and at any time period. Stellarium Astronomy and Virtual Globe Software are helpful in researching archaeoastronomical sites. If you know the date and site of a particular event or ceremony, the programs can exhibit the exact positions of the rising stars, the phase of the Moon, the position of a comet, or the time of the setting Sun at that moment and latitude. A computer can also calculate the astrological chart for that moment in time, which would have been meaningful during certain eras, especially royal and papal courts of the Renaissance that consulted with their court astrologer to determine auspicious times.

The Signs of the Zodiac

Stars are beautiful, but they must not take an active part in anything, they must just look on forever. It is a punishment put on them for something they did so long ago that no star now knows what it was.―J. M. Barrie

The narrow band circling the sky, which the Sun follows during the year and the Moon travels in about a month, consists of the 12 constellations of the zodiac. The visible planets follow approximately the same path within a narrow plane that extends eight degrees north or south as measured in celestial latitude of the ecliptic. In astrology, this path through the heavens is divided into 12 equal sections of 30° each, known as the signs of the zodiac. These 12 portions of the sky almost coincide with the 12 constellations along the path of travel, which constitute a convenient time-keeping system. The zodiacal signs and their symbolic interactions with the planets developed over a long period of time. Some evidence leads back to the fourth millennium, while other evidence shows that the zodiac was well established in Babylonian astronomy by the Chaldean period (mid-first millennium BCE). In Babylonianastrology, horoscopes were used only for predictions of the state or the royal court; individual horoscopes did not appear until the Hellenistic period. The zodiacal signs and their astrological significance quickly spread around the Hellenistic Egyptian and Mediterranean areas. Historians think that the zodiacal constellations were the last to have Greek myths attached to them.

Religious structures throughout the ancient world were oriented in accordance with their understanding of astronomy, which they encoded within the temples and shrines of ancient Egypt, India, China, British Isles, Mesoamerica, and Peru. In fact, intentional alignments with astronomical cycles appeared in ancient ruins and monuments across the globe. The community’s sacred sites were intended to help keep time and followed a cosmic order.

Further Reading

Aveni, A F. (1997) Stairways to the Stars: Skywatching in Three Great Ancient Cultures, New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Barber, E. W. and Barber P.T. (2004) When They Severed Earth from Sky: How the Human Mind, Princeton University Press.

Kelley, D.H. and Milone, E.F. (2011) Exploring Ancient Skies: A Survey of Ancient and Cultural Astronomy, New York: Springer.Crossref

Krupp, E.C. (1983) Echoes of the Ancient Skies: The Astronomies of Lost Civilizations, New York: Harper and Row.

Magli, G. (2009) Mysteries and Discoveries of Archaeoastronomy, Copernicus Books, New York: Springer Science, Business Media.

Magli, G. (2016) Archaeoastronomy Introduction to the Science of Stars and Stones, New York: Springer.

North, J. (2008) Cosmos: An Illustrated History of Astronomy and Cosmology, University of Chicago Press.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021

M. DolanDecoding Astronomy in Art and ArchitecturePopular Astronomyhttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-76511-8_3

3. World’s Earliest Art and Architecture

Marion Dolan¹  

(1)

Deerfield Beach, FL, USA

Upper Palaeolithic people were familiar with parallel lines and array of curves, translation, axial and point symmetry, the right angle, the angle bisector, the perpendicular bisectors of the sides, the division of the circle, the construction of geometrical 2D and 3D objects.―Michael Rappenglück

Introduction

Surviving material evidence has revealed advancements in human development at the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic period, around 50,000 years ago, which prompted significant changes in their behavior and activities. Archaeologists have identified the initial appearance of language, figurative art, and even forms of religious activities from that early time – all behaviors requiring abstract thought.

Human migrations expanded around 40,000 years ago; small groups moved north out of Africa into different areas of Europe, which were already occupied by Neanderthals. After contact with Homo sapiens, it was previously thought that all Neanderthals were quickly eliminated. But actually, the two groups coexisted for a rather long period. The most recent studies have demonstrated that, in opposition to long-held beliefs, Neanderthals possessed intellectual capacities similar to anatomically modern humans; there were no dramatic cognitive differences between the two populations. Research has still not established whether Neanderthals eventually died out or were merely assimilated into the new population.

Human inhabitants throughout this lengthy time period were migratory hunter-gatherers, but they were not brutish or primitive as previously believed. Their brains were as developed as modern people. The scientific community agrees that from that early era until the present day, little of our physical makeup has changed.

Neolithic groups did not wander arbitrarily but were close observers of animal migration patterns, watching their seasonal activities, the ripening of fruits and nuts, and the rhythmic cycles of nature’s flora and fauna, all of which were essential for their survival. People used the height of the Sun for the approximate time of day; the first appearance of certain bright stars on the horizon told the approximate month, and seasonal changes revealed the general time of year. Diligently, they watched and notated both the predictable yearly cycles and the unpredictable transient events on Earth.

To their minds, those earthly cycles in nature were obviously controlled by the yearly cycles of the Sun, Moon, and stars. Therefore, celestial knowledge was also a necessity for survival. Findings have