Skywatchers: A Revised and Updated Version of Skywatchers of Ancient Mexico

Anthony F. Aveni

University of Texas Press, Aug 15, 2001 - Science - 411 pages

Skywatchers of Ancient Mexico helped establish the field of archaeoastronomy, and it remains the standard introduction to this subject. Combining basic astronomy with archaeological and ethnological data, it presented a readable and entertaining synthesis of all that was known of ancient astronomy in the western hemisphere as of 1980.

In this revised edition, Anthony Aveni draws on his own and others' discoveries of the past twenty years to bring the Skywatchers story up to the present. He offers new data and interpretations in many areas, including:

The study of Mesoamerican time and calendrical systems and their unprecedented continuity in contemporary Mesoamerican culture The connections between Precolumbian religion, astrology, and scientific, quantitative astronomy The relationship between Highland Mexico and the world of the Maya and the state of Pan-American scientific practices The use of personal computer software for computing astronomical data

With this updated information, Skywatchers will serve a new generation of general and scholarly readers and will be useful in courses on archaeoastronomy, astronomy, history of astronomy, history of science, anthropology, archaeology, and world religions.

Contents

• Contents: 1
• Old and New World Chronologies: 14
• Astronomy with the Naked Eye: 49
• The Azimuth of Sunrise for an Observer in Latitude 20 N: 64
• Eclipses of the Sun and Moon during the 1980s: 76
• Basic Periods in Days for the NakedEye Planets: 87
• Appendices: 96
• Obliquity of the Ecliptic at Different Times in the Past: 103
• Heliacal Rise and Set Phenomena: 110
• Heliacal RiseSet Events for Bright Stars Observed: 114
• E Change of Direction of the Magnetic Compass with Time: 118
• Typical Data Form for Transit Observations: 122
• Additional Selected Readings Electronic Resources: 124
• Days per Given Number of Maya Calendric Units in: 137
• Information Contained in the Calendar on Page 1 of: 151
• Intervals and Cumulatives in the Eclipse Table of: 177
• Scheme of the Ritual Calendar Portion of the Venus Table: 188
• Arrangement of Material on Pages 43b44b of: 199
• Appendices: 207
• Additional Selected Readings: 214
• Appendix A An Analysis of the Pecked Cross Petroglyphs: 329
• Postscript: 339
• Bibliography: 365
• Index: 395

About the author

Anthony F. Aveni is the Russell B. Colgate Professor of Astronomy and Anthropology at Colgate University in New York.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Skywatchers: A Revised and Updated Version of Skywatchers of Ancient Mexico
• Author: Anthony F. Aveni
• Edition: illustrated, revised
• Publisher: University of Texas Press, 2001
• ISBN: 0292705026, 9780292705029
• Length: 411 pages
• Subjects: History / Americas (North, Central, South, West Indies); History / Ancient / General; Science / Astronomy; Social Science / Archaeology