Astronomical phenomena have intrigued people across time. So much so, that for most of recorded history, people have studied the Sun,
Moon, stars, comets, and planets, cataloging significant events, while also basing their civilizations and belief structures on such phenomena.
The people of
Mesoamerica used multiple astronomical markers in creative ways through religion, as well as innovative notions in the form of calendric systems based on the solstices, motions of the planets, and other astronomical events.
Archaeoastronomy is the discipline of studying ancient cultures with the purpose of discovering how a society obtained knowledge of the cosmos, how the knowledge was put to use, and how the knowledge may have differed from knowledge obtained by other societies.
Understanding how ancient people viewed their place in the universe as opposed to modern society, with our vast knowledge of our infinitesimally small place in the universe, can assist anthropologists in drawing comparisons of the human ethnocentric mindset throughout the ages.
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- published: 22 Nov 2014
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