Interpreting megalithic tomb orientation and siting within broader cultural contexts

Modern Archaeoastronomy: From Material Culture to Cosmology

Prendergast, Frank^1

College of Engineering and Built Environment, Dublin Institute of Technology, Bolton Street, Dublin 1, Ireland^1

关键词: Axial alignment;    Axial orientations;    Cultural context;    Summer solstice;   

Others  :  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/685/1/012004/pdf
DOI  :  10.1088/1742-6596/685/1/012004

来源: IOP

【 摘 要 】

This paper assesses the measured axial orientations and siting of Irish passage tombs. The distribution of monuments with passages/entrances directed at related tombs/cairns is shown. Where this phenomenon occurs, the targeted structure is invariably located at a higher elevation on the skyline and this could suggest a symbolic and hierarchical relationship in their relative siting in the landscape. Additional analysis of astronomical declinations at a national scale has identified tombs with an axial alignment towards the rising and setting positions of the Sun at the winter and summer solstices. A criteria-based framework is developed which potentially allows for these types of data to be more meaningfully considered and culturally interpreted within broader archaeological and social anthropological contexts.