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In the ancient Egypt seven goddesses, represented by seven cows, composed the celestial herd that provides the nourishment to her worshippers. This herd is observed in the sky as a group of stars, the Pleiades, close to Aldebaran, the main…
We agree with the interpretation of W. Schlosser, that the Nebra Sky Disc is a reminder of a method of determining a start date (and possibly also an end date) of the farming year. We extend this interpretation. We think that we found the…
From al-Sufi's tenth-century observation of the Andromeda Galaxy as a "little cloud" to contemporary space missions, Islamic astronomy represents a millennium-spanning tradition of innovation and knowledge. This study traces its trajectory…
The Ancient Egyptians wrote Calendars of Lucky and Unlucky Days that assigned astronomically influenced prognoses for each day of the year. The best preserved of these calendars is the Cairo Calendar (hereafter CC) dated to 1244--1163 B.C.…
Early ethnographers and missionaries recorded Aboriginal languages and oral traditions across Australia. Their general lack of astronomical training resulted in misidentifications, transcription errors, and omissions in these records.…
An ancient Egyptian Calendar of Lucky and Unlucky Days, the Cairo Calendar (CC), assigns luck with the period of 2.850 days. Previous astronomical, astrophysical and statistical analyses of CC support the idea that this was the period of…
This article provides information about the factors that necessitated the need to adjust the calendar during the time of Umar Khayyam, the method of choosing the beginning of the year, and the length of the months. It also attempts to…
The Arabia Shield has a volcanic nature inside. A region of the Western Saudi Arabia is in fact covered with vast fields of lava known as harraat. These lands are spotted by many stone circles and other quite interesting archaeological…
Prehistoric sanctuaries of Daunia date back several thousand years. During the Neolithic and Bronze Age the farmers in that region dug hypogea and holes whose characteristics suggest a ritual use. In the present note we summarize the…
Daunia is a region in northern Apulia with many interesting archaeological sites, particularly of the Neolithic and Bronze Age. Beginning from the fifth millennium BC, the farmers living in the wide plain of Daunia dug hypogea and holes in…
Conceptual landscapes in Egypt show a remarkable continuity - for as long as 2000 years - in the use of symbols and in the interplay between natural and man-built features. Directionality, both in the sense of succession of elements and of…
The application of photography to astronomy was a critical step in the development of astrophysics at the end of the nineteenth century. Using custom-built photographic telescopes and objective prisms, astronomers took images of the sky on…
The Nabateans built several monuments in Petra and elsewhere displaying a decoration with a preference for astronomical motifs, possibly as a reflection of their religion. However, due to the lack of direct written accounts and the scarcity…
Indigenous peoples across the world observe the motions and positions of stars to develop seasonal calendars. Additionally, changing properties of stars, such as their brightness and colour, are also used for predicting weather. Combining…
Traditional Aboriginal Australian cultures include a significant astronomical component, perpetuated through oral tradition and ceremony. This knowledge has practical navigational and calendrical functions, and sometimes extends to a deep…
Recently some stone structures covering the harraat of the Syrian desert had been investigated using satellite imagery (arXiv:1106.4665). Dispersed in an arid landscape, they were probably made during the Neolithic period. Some of these…
It is known since the 19 century that in the layout of the pyramid field of the pharaohs of the 4 th Egyptian dynasty at Giza, a main axis exists. Indeed, the south-east corners of these monuments align towards the site of the temple of…
The possible discovery of astronomical effects due to precession - such as the shift in the declination of heliacal raising of bright stars or the precession of the equinoxes - is reviewed for various ancient cultures in the world. Although…
We have summarized here the astronomical knowledge of the ancient Hindu astronomers. This knowledge was accumulated from before 1500 B.C. up to around 1200 A.D. In Section \ref{equiv} we have correlated terms used by the Hindu astronomers…
This paper investigates the determination of the Qibla direction using both astronomical and geometrical approaches. The study reviews historical and classical methods employed by Muslim scholars and astronomers including the use of…