ABOUT THIS BOOK

Compiled in honor of Anthony F. Aveni, America's leading archaeoastronomer, Skywatching in the Ancient World offers state-of-the-art work in cultural astronomy by well-known experts in Mayan glyphic studies, cultural history, ethnohistory, and the history of science and of religions.

This collection's wide range of outstanding scholarship reveals that cultural astronomy has come into its own. The diverse topics addressed by the contributors include the correlation between Colonial Northern Zapotec and Gregorian calendars, the period of use of the Dresden Codex Venus table and the significance of the Lunar Almanacs that precede it, a new interpretation of an Inka tapestry mantle as a commemorative calendar, temple orientations in Hawai'i and church orientations in Medieval England, and the connection in cultural imagery between astronomers (science) and wizards (magic).

Contributors include: Harvey M. Bricker, Victoria R. Bricker, Edward E. Calnek, Clemency Coggins, John Justeson, Edwin C. Krupp, Stephen C. McCluskey, Susan Milbrath, Clive Ruggles, David Tavárez, Barbara Tedlock, Dennis Tedlock, Gary Urton, and R. Tom Zuidema. Mesoamerican Worlds Series

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Clive Ruggles is Emeritus Professor of Archaeoastronomy at the University of Leicester, U.K. Gary Urton is Dumbarton Oaks Professor of Pre-Columbian Studies at Harvard University

REVIEWS

"With its stunning array of diverse approaches, from the Maya Dresden Codex to Hawaiian astronomy to the alignment of Medieval English churches . . . this volume presents a series of important articles written by eminent scholars in the field of cultural astronomy. In terms of edited volumes, it is the most important contribution to the field in recent memory."
-Grant Aylesworth, University of New Brunswick

"The series of papers necessarily utilize a diverse combination of methodological and interdisciplinary approaches to interpret past social practices related to astronomy. This book will be of interest not only to archaeologists working in Mesoamerica but also to anthropologists who "seek to understand how perceptions of the sky have influenced, and can influence, human thought and action" (p. 12)."
-Reiko Ishihara, The Americas

"Summing up: Highly Recommended."
-CHOICE reviews

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents
 Foreword
 Davíd Carrasco
 Preface
 Clive Ruggles and Gary Urton
 A Partner?s Perspective
 Lorraine Aveni
 Acknowledgments
 Editors? Note
 Introduction
 Clive Ruggles and Gary Urton
 1. The Correlation between the Colonial Northern Zapotec and Gregorian Calendars
 John Justeson and David Tav rez
 2. Kirchoff?s Correlations and the Third Part of the Codex Borbonicus
 Edward E. Calnek
 3. When Was the Dresden Codex Venus Table Efficacious?
 Harvey M. Bricker and Victoria R. Bricker
 4. Moon Woman Meets the Stars: A New Reading of the Lunar Almanacs in the Dresden Codex
 Dennis Tedlock and Barbara Tedlock
 5. Astronomical Cycles in the Imagery of Codex Borgia 29?46
 Susan Milbrath
 6. The Measure of Man
 Clemency Coggins
 7. A Multi-Year Tukapu Calendar
 Gary Urton
 8. Solar and Lunar Observations in the Inca Calendar
 R. Tom Zuidema
 9. Cosmology, Calendar, and Temple Orientations in Ancient Hawai?i
 Clive Ruggles
 10. Calendrical Cycles, the Eighth Day of the World, and the Orientation of English Churches
 Stephen C. McCluskey
 11. High Fashion
 Edwin C. Krupp
 Contributors
 Index

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