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SEAC 2015 - November, 9-13 2015

Astronomy in Past and Present Cultures

Rationale

The European Society for Astronomy in Culture (SEAC; web site http://www.archeoastronomy.org/) is a professional association of scientists working in the field of Cultural Astronomy, including the interdisciplinary fields of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy. In principle, past cultures should have been interested in all astronomical phenomena visible to the naked eye. However, it is obvious that some of these phenomena are so evident and linked to vital factors that it is difficult to believe they were ignored in any cultural context. The term “Archaeoastronomy” is currently used to define the studies concerning “what peoples throughout history and prehistory have made of the phenomena in the sky, how they used these phenomena and what role they played in their cultures” (Sinclair 2006), while Ethnoastronomy concerns the study of the influence of celestial phenomena on present day population folklore. To date, Archaeoastronomy, Ethnoastronomy and Historical Astronomy (the studies dedicated to recovering data of astrophysical interest from historical documents of pre-telescopic epoch, i.e. before the 17^th century AD) are grouped as “Cultural Astronomy”. However, researchers in nearby fields of science like History of Astronomy and Mythology are also welcomed in SEAC conferences. Furthermore, the present day cultures are also strongly influenced by astronomy: we will be glad to discuss also about these relationships.

http://www.archeoastronomy.org/

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g together astronomers, archaeologists, anthropologists, ethnologists, sociologists and historians of science involved in studies on the relationships between astronomy and society in past and present cultures.

We hope that this meeting will produce a fruitful interdisciplinary exchange of knowledge, methodologies, perspectives and worldviews that allows all participants to develop their own research towards more and more advanced results.