The study of ancient alignments and other aspects of the archaeological record and their relationship to ancient astronomical knowledge and events. This was used in the 1900s, such as at the Machu Picchu site in 1911 and more recently as well. The example is from the Machu Piccu site in South America, in which archaeoastronomy was employed to analyze possible ancient astronomical structures, as stated in the Images of the Past textbook. The work of Alexander Thom on the British megalithic circles is relevent to archaeoastronomy, as archaeoastronomical methods were employed in understanding the astronomical significance of the ancient structures.
Composed by Patrick Findlay, Sara Jones, Sally McIver, Joseph Billeaud, and Ted Weiman.
Last updated 25 February 1997