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List of archaeoastronomical sites by country

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This is a list of sites where claims for the use of archaeoastronomy have been made, sorted by country.

Contents

Clive Ruggles and Michel Cotte have edited a book on heritage sites of astronomy and archaeoastronomy that provides a list of the main archaeoastronomical sites around the world.

Armenia

  • Zorats Karer (aka Carahunge), archeological site claimed by many to have astronomical significance.

    • Australia

  • Ngaut Ngaut oral tradition says these engravings represent lunar cycles.
  • Wurdi Youang, a stone arrangement with possible solar alignments

    • Brazil

  • Calçoene (called "Amazon Stonehenge")

    • Bulgaria

  • Magura Cave, Bronze Age "paintings of staggered black and white squares could have been used to count the days in a calendar month", possibly indicating the number of days in the solar tropical year.

    • Cambodia

  • Angkor Wat
  • Phnom Bakheng, According to Jean Filliozat of the École Française, the center tower represents the axis of the world and the 108 smaller ones represent the 4 lunar phases each with 27 days.

    • Canada

  • Petroforms
  • Medicine Wheel

    • Colombia

  • El Infiernito, (Spanish for "Little hell"), is a pre-Columbian Muisca site located in the outskirts of Villa de Leyva, Boyacá Department, Colombia. It is composed of several earthworks surrounding a setting of menhirs (upright standing stones); several burial mounds are also present. The site was a center of religious ceremonies and spiritual purification rites, and also served as a rudimentary astronomical observatory.

    • China

  • Puyang tomb, dated from 5000 BP, depicts a mosaic of constellations.

    • Egypt

  • Abu Simbel, The axis of the temple was positioned by the ancient Egyptian architects in such a way that twice a year, on October 20 and February 20, the rays of the sun would penetrate the sanctuary and illuminate the sculpture on the back wall, except for the statue of Ptah, the god connected with the Underworld, who always remained in the dark.
  • Great Pyramids of Egypt
  • Nabta Playa

    • Finland

  • The so-called Giants' Churches (Finn. jätinkirkko), which are large, from ca. 20 m to over 70 m long rectangular or oval stone enclosures built in the Neolithic (ca. 3000-1800 BC), have axis and doorway orientations towards the sunrises and sunsets of the solstices and other calendrically significant days. E.g., the Kastelli of Raahe, which is one of the largest Giants' Churches, had its five "gates", i.e. wall openings oriented towards the midsummer sunset, the winter solstice sunrise, winter solstice sunset, the sunrises of the mid-quarter days of early May (Walpurgis, Beltaine) and August (Lammas), as well as the sunrise 11 days before the vernal equinox in 2500 BC.

    • France

  • Carnac stones

    • Germany

  • Goseck circle
  • Glauberg
  • Magdalenenberg (disputed)

    • Guatemala

  • Tikal
  • Uaxactun

    • Honduras

  • Copán Ruinas [1]
  • El Puente

    • Indonesia

  • Borobudur
  • Prambanan

    • India

    For a full list see the chapter on India in the ICOMOS book edited by Clive Ruggles and Michel Cotte. These sites include:

  • Brahmagiri
  • Hanamsagar
  • Udayagiri
  • Sun temples of Varanasi
  • Vijayanagar
  • Jantar Mantar
  • Gyarah Sidi

    • J.M. Malville and Rana P.B. Singh have done much work on the archaeoastronomy of sacred sites in India.

    Iran

  • Persepolis
  • Naqsh-e Rustam

    • Ireland

  • Brú na Bóinne, AKA Newgrange, once a year, at the winter solstice, the rising sun shines directly along the long passage into the chamber for about 17 minutes and illuminates the chamber floor.
  • Knowth
  • Dowth
  • Loughcrew
  • Carrowkeel
  • Mound of the Hostages
  • Drombeg stone circle, at the winter solstice, the sun sets into a v formed by two distant overlapping hills and makes an alignment with the altar stone and the two main uprights. Due to the nature of the site and the western hills, local sunset is c. 15:50.
  • Beltany stone circle

    • Israel

  • Rujm el-Hiri, ancient megalithic monument in the Golan Heights.

    • Italy

  • Alatri
  • Nuraghe

    • Kenya

  • Namoratunga

    • Korea

  • Cheomseongdae, ancient observatory in Gyeongju, Republic of Korea.

    • Republic of Macedonia

  • Kokino Situated 1030 m above sea level on the Tatićev Kamen Summit near Kumanovo.

    • Malta

  • Megalithic Temples of Malta
  • Mnajdra

    • Mexico

  • Calakmul
  • Cantona
  • Casas Grandes
  • Chichen Itza, the caracol is theorized to be a proto-observatory with doors and windows aligned to astronomical events, specifically around the path of Venus as it traverses the heavens. El Castillo the main pyramid also has archeoastronomy features.
  • Coba
  • Dzibilchaltun, Spring equinox, the sun rises so that it shines directly through one window of the temple and out the other.
  • Ikil, Hierophany where the sunrise on the day of the solar zenith transit aligns with the summit of Ikil Structure 1 as viewed from an observation point within Ikil Cave 1.
  • Izamal
  • Mitla
  • Monte Alban, zenith tube
  • Palenque
  • La Quemada
  • El Tajín
  • Teotihuacan, the pecked-cross circles as survey-markers
  • Tulum
  • Uxmal, Venus alignment of the "Governor's Palace"
  • Xochicalco, zenith tube
  • Yagul

    • Netherlands

  • Funnel Beaker Culture megalith graves ("hunebedden") in the eastern Netherlands might be oriented on moonrises.

    • Pakistan

  • Lahore Fort

    • Peru

  • Buena Vista
  • Chankillo
  • Cusco
  • Machu Picchu
  • Nazca Lines
  • Choquequirao
  • Ollantaytambo

    • Portugal

  • Almendres Cromlech
  • Anta Grande do Zambujeiro
  • Dolmen of Cunha Baixa

    • Romania

  • Sarmizegetusa Regia

    • Russia

  • Arkaim

    • Syria

  • Rujm el-Hiri in the Golan Heights, territory occupied by § Israel.

    • Sweden

  • Ale's Stones

    • Switzerland

  • Columna Jovis

    • Turkey

  • Göbekli Tepe

    • United Kingdom

  • Ballochroy
  • Callanish Stones
  • Maeshowe, it is aligned so that the rear wall of its central chamber, a rough cube of five yards square held up by a bracketed wall, is illuminated on the winter solstice.
  • Prehistoric Orkney
  • Stonehenge
  • Woodhenge

    • United States

  • America's Stonehenge in New Hampshire
  • Anderson Mounds, Anderson, Indiana.
  • Bighorn Medicine Wheel
  • Cahokia, large Mississippian culture site with numerous solar and other alignments
  • Mound 72, summer solstice sunrise/winter solstice sunset aligned burial mound
  • Casa Malpaís Archaeological Site, Springerville, Arizona. Summer solstice at noon and sunset.
  • Chaco Canyon, cardinal orientations, meridian alignment, inter-pueblo alignments
  • Chimney Rock Archaeological Area, near Pagosa Springs, Colorado
  • The 3-Slab Site atop Fajada Butte in Chaco Canyon, which marks the solstices.
  • Cliff Palace in Mesa Verde National Park
  • Crack Cave at Picture Canyon (Colorado) in Comanche National Grassland
  • Emerald Mound and Village Site, Lebanon, Illinois
  • Haleets on Bainbridge Island in Washington state
  • Hovenweep Castle
  • Holly Solstice Panel in Hovenweep National Monument
  • Moorehead Circle, timber circle in Ohio
  • Octagon Earthworks
  • Serpent Mound
  • Skystone near Naches Trail in Washington state
  • Wally's Dome in Sacramento Mountains (New Mexico)

    • References

    List of archaeoastronomical sites by country Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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