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[EN] America's first urban centers may have been located in the Supe Valley, Peru. After investigating the location and the orientation of the main built structures, we show that it is not only the presence of the Supe River that determines their orientation but also that astronomical relationships within the orientation of the buildings dictate their setting within the valley. The southernmost position of moonrise on the horizon seems to be the most important astronomical target. There is the possibility of a trend toward attributing greater importance to the June solstice sunrise and the rising of certain stars or asterisms. These orientations could relate to specific moments throughout the year, in particular to seasonal rains, subsequent river flooding, and agricultural cycles. This is one of the earliest examples of the interaction of land- and skyscapes in human cultures and indeed the first in the Americas., [ES] El valle del río Supe en Perú posiblemente alberga una de las primeras manifestaciones de urbanismo en América. Los resultados de la investigación sobre la localización y orientación de los edificios principales muestran que no es sólo la presencia del río Supe la que determina la orientación de estos edificios, pero la localización dentro del valle también viene dictada por posibles relaciones astronómicas. Se muestra que la orientación más importante de estas estructuras concuerdan con la salida más meridional de la luna. Existe la posibilidad de una tendencia de atribuir una importancia creciente del solsticio de junio y la salida de ciertas estrellas y asterismos. Estas orientaciones se pueden relacionar con momentos concretos a lo largo del ciclo anual, en particular con las estaciones de lluvia las crecidas subsequentes del río y los ciclos terrenal agrícolas. De esta manera, los monumentos del valle del Supe aparecen como una de las primeras muestras de interacción del paisaje y el celaje en culturas humanas de América., This work was partially supported by the projects P/310793 “Arqueoastronomía” of the IAC, AYA2015-66787P “Orientatio ad Sidera IV” of the Spanish MINECO, and the AECID grant “Astronomía en la Cultura del Valle del Supe, Perú” from the Spanish MAEC. This research was carried out within the framework of the Archaeological Research Program, “Caral Civilization in the Valleys of Supe and Huaura during the Initial Formative and Early Formative” of the Caral Archaeological Zone, Executing Unit No. 003 of the Ministry of Culture of Peru, which since 2014 has been studying mainly the orientation of the buildings of the Caral archaeological site. We acknowledge support of the open access publication fee by the CSIC Open Access Publication Support Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI).

Archaeoastronomy and cultural astronomy are often considered synonyms, but they actually express different concepts, the former being a sub-discipline of the latter. Cultural astronomy is a fascinating but controversial discipline, which serves as an auxiliary subject to social sciences such as history, archaeology, anthropology, and ethnography, among others. The tools and methodology of astronomy play a relevant role in the discipline, but it should be inserted within social sciences epistemology.

The pilgrimage along the Way of Saint James constituted the principal mechanism for the introduction of new currents of thought into the Iberian Peninsula, such as Romanesque architecture. Taking this into account, we examined whether the standard tradition on the orientation of Christian churches was followed. We measured the orientation of 108 churches built between the end of the 10th and 13th centuries near the French Way, in the ancient kingdoms of Leon and Castile. The statistical analysis shows a clear tendency to orientate the apse of the church eastwards, specifically slightly to the north of due east. Furthermore, we found that the orientation patterns differ from one kingdom to the other. In Leon, there seems to be a predilection for the local tradition of aligning the apse toward the ecclesiastical equinox. Castile, in contrast, built their churches orientated to Easter, one of the most important feast days of Christianity.

The city of San Cristóbal de La Laguna in the Canary Island of Tenerife (Spain) is of exceptional value as the first unfortified colonial city to follow regular plan - a grid, outlined by straight streets that form squares - in the overseas European expansion. It constitutes a historical example of the so-called "Town of Peace", the archetype of a city-republic in a new land that employed its own natural boundaries to delimit and defend itself. Founded in 1496, the historical centre of the old city was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999. We analyse the exact spatial orientation of 21 historic Christian churches currently existing in the old part of La Laguna, which we take as a good indicator of the original layout of the urban lattice. We find a clear orientation pattern that, if correlated with the rising or setting Sun, singles out an absolute-value astronomical declination slightly below 20°, which, within the margin of error of our study, might be associated with the 25th July feast day of San Cristóbal de Licia, the saint to whom the town was originally dedicated. We also discuss at some length some recent proposals which invoke somewhat far-fetched hypotheses for the planimetry of the old city and conclude with some comments on one of its outstanding features, namely its Latin-cross structure, which is apparent in the combined layout of some of its most emblematic churches.

The work presented in this article is part of a wide-ranging and ambitious project, started few years ago, to study the role of astronomy in Roman urban layout. In particular, the main aim is to check whether Roman cities present astronomical patterns in their orientations. The project emerged from ideas on how to properly orientate the main streets of a Roman town, as attested in a number of ancient texts and later discussions led by contemporary scholars. We present here the final conclusions of a particular study developed in the Iberian Peninsula (Roman Hispania), where the urbanism that we tend to characterize as properly Roman flourished during both the Republic and the Empire. The sample analysed includes 81 measurements of Roman urban entities spread throughout the Iberian Peninsula and is the largest dataset obtained in a specific region so far. Our results present suggestive orientation patterns that seem to point towards an astronomical intentionality.

[ES] En este trabajo se examina, desde la perspectiva de la Astronomía Cultural, si las iglesias románicas del Camino de Santiago siguen un patrón de orientación común a todas ellas. Para ello, se ha obtenido la orientación de 191 templos en los antiguos reinos de León y Castilla, y se ha realizado un estudio comparativo. Ambos reinos comparten orientaciones hacia la salida del sol el domingo de Pascua, probablemente obtenidas en su mayoría mediante observación directa del sol sobre el horizonte, aunque León presenta una fuerte preferencia por el equinoccio eclesiástico del 21 de marzo, que no aparece en Castilla. También se han analizado las iglesias pertenecientes al Camino y una muestra de contraste en cada reino, lo que ha permitido extraer información relevante sobre las iglesias construidas en lugares concretos como Santiago de Compostela, la Ribeira Sacra, Sahagún o la Montaña Palentina., [EN] This paper examines whether the Romanesque churches of the Way of Saint James or Camino de Santiago follow a common orientation pattern from the perspective of Cultural Astronomy. In order to do so, the orientation of 191 Romanesque churches in the former kingdoms of Leon and Castile has been obtained and a comparative study has been carried out. Both kingdoms share the orientation toward the sunrise on Easter Sunday, probably obtained by direct observation of the Sun over the horizon. However, Leon shows a strong preference for the ecclesiastical equinox of March 21, which does not appear in Castile. Churches belonging to the Way and a contrast sample at each kingdom have been also compared, providing relevant information about some churches built at specific places such as Santiago de Compostela, Ribeira Sacra, Sahagún or the Montaña Palentina.

If astronomy can be understood as the contemplation of the sky for any given purpose, we must realize that possibly all societies throughout time and in all regions have watched the sky. The why, who, how and when of such investigation is the pursuit of cultural astronomy. When the research is done with the archaeological remains of a given society, the part of cultural astronomy that deals with them is archaeoastronomy. This interdisciplinary field employs non-invasive techniques that mix methodologies of the natural sciences with the epistemology of humanities. Those techniques are reviewed here, providing an excellent example of sustainable research. In particular, we include novel research on the Bohí Valley Romanesque churches. The results provided go beyond the data. This is because they add new value to existing heritage or discovers new heritage due to the possible relationship to the spatial and temporal organization of past societies. For the case of the Bohí churches the results point to a number of peculiarities of these churches in a valley in the Pyrenees. This links these aspects to the ritual, practical and power sphere of past societies. A wonderful example of such links is the high mountain sanctuaries in Gran Canaria, where archaeoastronomy helps promoting a World Heritage candidacy., This work was partially supported by the projects P/310793 ‘Arqueoastronomía’ of the IAC, and AYA2015-66787 ‘Orientatio ad Sidera IV’ of the Spanish MICIU, We acknowledge support by the CSIC Open Access Publication Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI)

In this paper, we report on three areas of the Iberian Peninsula that were occupied at least during the Iron Age and the early stages of Romanisation, where observations of astronomical phenomena in the landscape, rock carvings, and Latin inscriptions point to a particular method of time reckoning. All of these sites have previously been connected with the Celtic culture. The knowledge of the natural world that Classical sources assigned to these peoples need not have been reflected in a monolithic calendrical system used by all Celtic communities on the Continent. In fact, such a ‘Celtic calendar’ may have had different expressions in different areas, expressed in different ways, although sharing some common characteristics such as the particual use of the lunar and solar cycles.

Pernigotti: Contribution to the study of the orientation of Etruscan temples -- Bagnasco, Pernigotti: Materials for the study of an Etruscan cosmology: the case of the Tumulus of the Broomsat Cerveteri -- DeSantis: Orientation and planning of Roman Albingaunum (Albenga) -- Hatz: How Roman is the layout of the colonial town of Augusta Raurica? -- Gonzalez-Garcia, Rodriguez-Anton, Espinosa, Quintela, Belmonte: Establishing a New Order: Current Status on the Orientation of the Roman Towns Founded under Augustus -- Rodriguez-Anton, Gonzalez-Garcia, Belmonte: The varatio and its possible use in the Roman urban planning to obtain astronomical orientations -- Rosada: Ut ad orientem spectet -- Polcaro, Scuderi, Burgio: The socalled Neo-Pythagorean Basilica of Porta Maggiore in Rome: the most mysterious Roman monument -- Magli: The temple of Jupiter at Baalbek: astronomical and architectural analysis -- Belmonte, Gonzalez-Garcia, Rodriguez-Anton: Arabia Adquisita: the Romanization of the Nabataean cultic calendar and the Tannur "Zodiac" paradigm -- DeFranceschini, Veneziano: The symbolic use of light in hadrianic architecture and the "kiss of the sun" -- Rossi, Magli: Wind, Sand and Water: the Orientation of the Late Roman Forts in the Kharga Oasis (Egyptian Western Desert) -- Carnevale, Monaco: The Mausoleum of Santa Costanza in Rome: a survey of the light phenomenathrough the centuries -- Incerti, Lavorati, Iurilli: relief, geometry, archaeoastronomy of the "Mausoleo di Teodorico" (Ravenna) -- Spinazze: Baptistery and font: an interpretation of the medieval baptistery's orientation in Friuli (Northeast Italy) -- Frischer: Simpiricism comes to archaeoastronomy. The use of interactive 3d interfaces for exploratory research of astronomical of ancient Roman buildings -- Hannah: The choreography of time in ancient and medieval buildings -- Papamarinopoulos, Preka-Papadema, Gazeas, Nastos, Kiriakopoulos: Red droplets and Red clouds described in Iliad -- Zotti, Schaukowitsch, Wimmer: Virtual Archaeoastronomy: The State of Stellarium for Research and Outreach.

Some cities were built with the idea of establishing cosmic order. The sky used to be a very important component of the landscape that has been lost completely in our modern, overcrowded, and excessively illuminated, cities. However, this was not the case in the past. Astronomy actually played a most relevant role in urban planning, particularly in the organization of sacred spaces which were later surrounded by extensive civil urban areas. Today, archaeoastronomy approaches the minds of our ancestors by studying the skyscape and how it is printed in the terrain by the visualization and the orientation of sacred buildings. The Sun was indeed the most conspicuous component of that skyscape and was the primary focus within a large set of very unique cultures of great historical significance. In particular, in this review paper, we will study and compare the case of four ‘solstitial’ cities: Thebes, Hattusha, Carthago Nova, and Petra, capitals of Egypt in the Middle and New Kingdoms, the Hittite Empire, the Carthaginian dominions in the Iberian Peninsula and the Nabataean Kingdom, respectively. We will briefly analyse solar aspects of the religions of these cultures and will scrutinize their capital cities, showing how their strategic geographical position and orography were of key importance. We will also look at how solar benchmarks, and related hierophanies, played a most relevant role in the orientation and/or location of some of their most significant monuments. We will finally incorporate a frame of analysis for these data in order to come to our conclusion that different Mediterranean societies where solar cults or symbolism are strongly substantiated display common characteristics in the orientation and location of these cities connecting them with solstitial orientations.

The two pyramids built during the Old Kingdom by the Fourth Dynasty King Sneferu at Dahshur are usually considered as two consecutive projects, the second – that of the Red Pyramid – being generated by a presumably failure of the first, the Bent Pyramid. In the present paper, we show that the archaeological proofs of such a scenario are far from obvious and that, on the contrary, a series of architectural, topographical, epigraphic, and astronomical hints point to a unitary project probably conceived from the very beginning in terms of the two pyramids and their annexes. Altogether the two pyramids are thus shown to form a conceptual, sacred landscape associated with the power of the Pharaoh and his afterlife.

13 pages, 8 figures., A statistical analysis of the orientation of Nabatean sacred monuments demonstrates that astronomical orientations were often part of an elaborated plan and possibly a trace of the astral nature of the Nabataean religion. Petra and other monuments in the ancient Nabataean kingdom have proven to be marvellous laboratories for the interaction between landscape features and astronomical events, showing impressive hierophanies on particular monuments related to cultic times and worships. Among other findings, the famous Ad Deir has shown a fascinating ensemble of light and shadow effects, perhaps connected with the bulk of Nabataean mythology, while from the impressive Urn Tomb, a series of suggestive solstitial and equinoctial alignments emanate which might have lately helped its selection as the cathedral of the city. This paper demonstrates that the sky was a substantial element in Nabataean religion and reveals new evidence for cultic worship centred on the celestial sphere.

THE ARCHAEOTOPOGRAPHY OF EGYPT Architecture, Astronomy and Sacred Landscape in Ancient Egypt. Giulio Magli (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2013). Pp. xii + 272. £60. ISBN 9781-10703-208-8.This is not another book on fantastic Egyptian archaeology and astronomy. The reader will not find the typical lunatic fringe theories claiming that monuments of ancient Egypt hold secrets of arcane long-forgotten civilizations. The title is explicit: this book deals with architecture, reflected in the impressive pyramids and the not less suggestive temples; astronomy, expressed in alignments to relevant celestial vault configurations; and sacred landscape, where different elements combine to create what, in the words of the author, would be a dynastic landscape. Here 'dynastic' must be read in the strict sense of the word: how familiar ties were reflected in the architecture and connected with local topography and the sky, creating a symbolic world that, in the mind of the author, must have been obvious to its constructors.The volume analyses the relationship between astronomy and dynastic power in the course of Egyptian history from the proto-dynastic to the New Kingdom. It focuses on the crucial role of astronomy in the creation of the monumental temple and burial complexes, including the pyramids. Magli, an astronomer himself but working in a Faculty of Architecture where he lectures on Egyptian heritage, interprets the term Archaeoastronomy in a very wide sense which might perhaps be more properly termed Archaeotopography, following Michael Hoskin's suggestion.In consecutive chapters, the author travels through the history of ancient Egypt and describes a long series of extremely suggestive interactions. This short review cannot easily go into the details. However several of Magli's key ideas should be stressed. He proposes Akhet Khufu, the burial complex of Cheops, as a single master project integrating most of the monuments of the Giza Plateau, including his and Khefren's pyramids. Cheops would have been following his father Snefru who, according to Magli's theory, also followed a master plan (nothing to do with a trial and error process) in the design and construction of the several pyramids he built. A third highlight of the volume is the idea of several elaborated dynastic landscapes, including the most suggestive topographic and astronomical alignments, and what he has termed 'symbolic invisibility'. One advantage of these hypotheses is that they include a prediction. The author forecasts where some 'lost' pyramids of the Old Kingdom, notably Userkare's, should be located. If he were right, such a find would be a tremendous confirmation of his ideas, which I have found well grounded, if hypothetical.On the other hand, I believe that Magli fails in his interpretation of inter-cardinal directions in Upper Egypt, notably in proto-Dynastic Abydos and New Kingdom Thebes. He claims that the idea that the Egyptian temples were mainly orientated towards the Nile tends to be overplayed in Egyptological literature, an hypothesis (as defended by our research group) which is a workaround to reconcile Nile orientation (notably inter-cardinal) with the astronomical one, an explanation which, according to Magli, would be too far from what we know about the Egyptian architect's way of thinking. …

For various reasons, Archaeoastronomy has not been one of the favourite disciplines of the Egyptologists in the past. Probably because of that, important questions such as the orientation of Egyptian temples and the relevance of astronomy in this respect had never been afforded with the necessary seriousness and deepness. The Egyptian–Spanish Mission for the Archaeoastronomy of ancient Egypt has, among its various priorities, the solution of this problem. In order to achieve that, we have measured the orientation of some 330 temples in the Valley, the Delta, the Oases and the Sinai so far. The aim is to find a correct and almost definitive answer to the question of whether the ancient Egyptian sacred constructions were astronomically aligned or not. Our data seem to answer this question in the affirmative sense. Besides, they offer a very interesting new perspective in the field of landscape archaeology, a new discipline hardly worked in Egypt so far, in which terrestrial landscape, dominated by the Nile, and celestial landscape, dominated by the sun and the stars, would combine in order to permit the establishment of Ma’at, the Cosmic Order, on Earth.

30 pages., [EN]The article examines the orientation with respect to the sky of ancient temples in Middle Egypt and Sudan. A previous paper compiled facts concerning the location of temples, and from these facts postulated a theory that connected temple siting to celestial phenomena. The current paper describes two separate efforts based on temples in Middle Egypt and Sudan to either refute or confirm this theory. The authors' presentation presents strong evidence of the impact sky-watching had on ancient culture, religion, and architecture., This work is partially financed in the framework of the projects P310793 "Arqueoastronomía" of the Instituto -de Astrofísica de Canarias, and AYA200 "Orientaio ad Sidera II" of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation

Over the past five years, the Egyptian-Spanish Mission on the archaeoastronomy of ancient Egypt and its collaborators has been performing an ambitious scientific project with the aim of studying the cosmovision of the ancient civilization of the pharaohs. Part of the project has consisted of a re-analysis of the iconographic and historical sources that has allowed, among other things, a reassessment of the calendar theory and a new proposal for the sky-maps of ancient Egypt. For various reasons, Archaeoastronomy has not been one of the favourite disciplines of egyptologists in the past. Probably because of this, important questions such as the orientation of Egyptian temples and the relevance of astronomy in this respect had never been afforded with the requisite seriousness and depth. Our work has had among its various priorities, the solution of this problem. In order to achieve this, our team has so far measured the orientation of some 330 temples in the Valley, the Delta, the Oases and the Sinai. The aim is to find a correct and almost definitive answer to the question of whether the ancient Egyptian sacred constructions were astronomically aligned or not. Our results may provide an affirmative answer.

L'orientation des nuraghes en Sardaigne est analysee. Ces tours ont ete construites par les civilisations nuragiques et ont ete classifiees en fonction de leur architecture interieure

Cet article presente les resultats de travaux sur le terrain conduits au cours des annees 90 dans la plupart des regions de la Peninsule riches en tombes megalithiques. Les auteurs s'attachent dans cette etude a inventorier les donnees qu'ils ont recueillies, se reservant de les interpreter dans une etude ulterieure.

De nombreuses fouilles ont ete menees ces dernieres annees en relation avec les monuments megalithiques de la peninsule Iberique, des iles de l'ouest de la Mediterranee, et des Iles Canaries. Les resultats ont demontre l'importance de la topographie sacree et l'existence possible du culte des astres dans les pratiques funeraires des societes pre-romaines de cette region. Le present article rapporte les resultats de la premiere campagne de prospection en ce sens conduite en 1997 dans le nord de la Tunisie.

En aout 1996, l'auteur a conduit une campagne d'etude archeotopographique et archeoastronomique sur deux groupes dolmeniques de la vallee est du Jourdain : la necropole d'Ala Safat comprenant plus de 150 tombes (cistes, chambres et dolmens) attribuees a l'Age du Bronze ancien palestinien et les dolmens de Tell al Matabi, datant probablement du Ghassoulien ancien (Chalcolithique palestinien)

Suite de l'article paru dans ARCHAEOASTRONOMY 21 (1996), livrant les resultats d'une exploration des sites les plus importants des Canaries pre-hispaniques, ayant pour but d'observer les phenomenes solaires et d'examiner les elements indiquant si les populations Guanche savaient determiner l'equinoxe et employaient cette donnee dans la realisation de leur calendrier. Cette seconde partie concerne le site de Roque Bentayga et livre les conclusions de l'ensemble de ces recherches