Advancing Cultural Astronomy

This collection of essays on cultural astronomy celebrates the life and work of Clive Ruggles, Emeritus Professor of Archaeoastronomy at Leicester University. Taking their lead from Ruggles’ work, the papers present new research focused on three core themes in cultural astronomy: methodology, case studies, and heritage. Through this framework, they show how the study of cultural astronomy has evolved over time and share new ideas to continue advancing the field.Ruggles’ work in these areas has had a profound impact on the way that scholars approach evidence of the role of sky in both ancient and modern cultures. While the papers span many time periods and regions, they are closely connected by these three major themes, presenting methodological investigations of how we can approach archaeological, textual, and ethnographic evidence; describing detailed archaeoastronomical case studies; or stressing the importance of global heritage management.This work will appeal to researchers and scholars interested in the history and development of cultural astronomy.

“The volume is definitively worth reading, especially for young researchers.” (Giulio Magli, Journal for the History of Astronomy, Vol. 54 (1), February, 2023)“The contributions are all thoroughly referenced and the production of the book is good. I learnt a lot; but the very breadth of scope and great specialization of the contributions make the book more likely to be dipped into than read through or find a place in many astronomers’ libraries.” (Peredur Williams, The Observatory, Vol. 142 (1286), February, 2022)

John Steele is Professor of the History of the Exact Sciences in Antiquity in the Department of Egytpology and Assyriology at Brown University. A historian of ancient astronomy, his work focusses primarily on astronomy and astrology in ancient Babylonia. He is the author of several books including recently The Babylonian Astronomical Compendium MUL.APIN (co-authored with Hermann Hunger, 2019), The Cuneiform Uranology Texts: Drawing the Constellations (co-authored with Paul-Alain Beaulier, Eckart Frahm and Wayne Horowitz, 2018), and Rising Time Schemes in Babylonian Astronomy (2017).  Efrosyni Boutsikas is Senior Lecturer in Classical Archaeology in the Department of Classical and Archaeological Studies. She investigates the expression of ancient Greek cosmological beliefs and astronomical knowledge discerned in myths and religious performance. Efrosyni has ongoing research projects in Greece and Sicily and has published in a range of classical, archaeological, and archaeoastronomical journals and edited volumes. She is the author of The Cosmos in Ancient Greek Religious Experience: Sacred Space, Memory, and Cognition (2020).Stephen McCluskey is Professor Emeritus of History at West Virginia University. Trained as a Historian of Medieval Science, his research has focused on early astronomies and their relationships with religion and other elements of culture. Among his works are Astronomies and Cultures in Early Medieval Europe (Cambridge, 1998) and numerous other publications on early medieval astronomy, the astronomies of the Hopi and other Puebloan peoples, and on the interactions of astronomy with other cultural traditions. He was recently selected as a Fellow of the American Astronomical Society.