A Resource Guide to the Astronomy of Non-Western Cultures
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The Dunhuang Chinese Sky: a Comprehensive Study of the Oldest Known Star Atlas
25/02/09JAHH/v4 1 THE DUNHUANG CHINESE SKY: A COMPREHENSIVE STUDY OF THE OLDEST KNOWN STAR ATLAS JEAN-MARC BONNET-BIDAUD Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique ,Centre de Saclay, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France E-mail: [email protected] FRANÇOISE PRADERIE Observatoire de Paris, 61 Avenue de l’Observatoire, F- 75014 Paris, France E-mail: [email protected] and SUSAN WHITFIELD The British Library, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB, UK E-mail: [email protected] Abstract: This paper presents an analysis of the star atlas included in the medieval Chinese manuscript (Or.8210/S.3326), discovered in 1907 by the archaeologist Aurel Stein at the Silk Road town of Dunhuang and now held in the British Library. Although partially studied by a few Chinese scholars, it has never been fully displayed and discussed in the Western world. This set of sky maps (12 hour angle maps in quasi-cylindrical projection and a circumpolar map in azimuthal projection), displaying the full sky visible from the Northern hemisphere, is up to now the oldest complete preserved star atlas from any civilisation. It is also the first known pictorial representation of the quasi-totality of the Chinese constellations. This paper describes the history of the physical object – a roll of thin paper drawn with ink. We analyse the stellar content of each map (1339 stars, 257 asterisms) and the texts associated with the maps. We establish the precision with which the maps are drawn (1.5 to 4° for the brightest stars) and examine the type of projections used. -
IAU Division C Inter-Commission C1-C3-C4 Working Group for Archaeoastronomy and Astronomy in Culture Annual Report for 2019
IAU Division C Inter-Commission C1-C3-C4 Working Group for Archaeoastronomy and Astronomy in Culture Annual Report for 2019 Steven Gullberg (Chair) Javier Mejuto (Co-chair) Working Group Members (48 including Chair and Co-chair) Elio Antonello, G.S.D. Babu, Ennio Badolati, Juan Belmonte, Kai Cai, Brenda Corbin, Milan Dimitrijevic, Marta Folgueira, Jesus Galindo-Trejo, Alejandro Gangui, Beatriz García, César González-García, Duane Hamacher, Abraham Hayli, Dieter Herrmann, Bambang Hidayat, Thomas Hockey, Susanne Hoffmann, Jarita Holbrook, Andrew Hopkins, Matthaios Katsanikas, Ed Krupp, William Liller, Ioannis Liritzis, Alejandro Lopez, Claudio Mallamaci, Kim Malville, Areg Mickaelian, Gene Milone, Simon Mitton, Ray Norris, Wayne Orchiston, Robert Preston, Rosa Ros, Clive Ruggles, Irakli Simonia, Magda Stavinschi, Christiaan Sterken, Linda Strubbe, Woody Sullivan, Virginia Trimble, Ana Ulla, Johnson Urama, David Valls-Gabaud, Iryna Vavilova, Tiziana Venturi Working Group Associates (32) Bryan Bates, Patricio Bustamante, Nick Campion, Brian Davis, Margaret Davis, Sona Farmanyan, Roz Frank, Bob Fuller, Rita Gautschy, Cecilia Gomez, Akira Goto, Liz Henty, Stan Iwaniszewski, Olaf Kretzer, Trevor Leaman, Flavia Lima, Armando Mudrik, Andy Munro, Greg Munson, Cristina Negru, David Pankenier, Fabio Silva, Emilia Pasztor, Manuel Pérez-Gutiérrez, Michael Rappenglück, Eduardo Rodas, Bill Romain, Ivan Šprajc, Doris Vickers, Alex Wolf, Mariusz Ziółkowski, Georg Zotti 1 Objectives The IAU Working Group for Archaeoastronomy and Astronomy in Culture (WGAAC) continues from the 2015-2018 triennium and is in part a discussion and collaboration group for researchers in Archaeoastronomy and all aspects of Astronomy in Culture , and as well for others with interest in these areas. A primary motivation is to facilitate interactions between researchers, but the WG also has significant interest in promoting education regarding astronomy in culture in all respects. -
Comparative Studies of Ancient Chinese and Greek Astronomy
S-88 – Comparative Studies of Ancient Chinese and Greek Astronomy Ancient & Medieval Science Organizers: 1) Sun Xiaochun, (University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, China), [email protected] 2) Efythymios Nicolaidis, (Institute for Neohellenic Research, National Hellenic Research Foundation, Greece), [email protected] Abstract: This symposium is about ancient Greek and Chinese astronomy. The focus will be on the relationship between cosmological ideas, observations, and computational techniques in both traditions. The Greek astronomy arose from Babylonian antecedents and was developed into a tradition characteristic of geometrical models, culminating in Ptolemy’s almagest. Greek philosophical thought about universe, such as by Plato and Aristotle played an important role in the development of astronomy. The Chinese were good observers of celestial phenomena. They independently developed an arithmetical tradition of astronomical computation. Its connection with cosmological ideas was not as tight as that in Greek astronomy. The two traditions had encountered through various ways in pre- modern times, but still maintained their own characters. Speakers in this symposium will use original texts to compare cosmos, measurement, and computation in the two astronomical traditions. Keywords: Ancient Greek and Chinese Astronomy – Comarative Studies – Astronomical instruments – Cosmological ideas – Computational Techniques. Participants: • Fotini Asimakopoulou • GoEun Choi, GoEun Choi, Ki-Won Lee, Byeong-Hee Mihn, Youg Sook Ahn • Kim Sang Hyuk, Kim Sang Hyuk, Mihn Byeong-Hee, Ham Seon Young • Dirk L. Couprie • Wang Guangchao • Eun Hee Lee • Mao Dan, JIANG Xiaoyuan • Christopher Cullen • Xiaochun Sun, Fan Yang • Dmitri Panchenko • Fung Kam Wing • Liu Weimo . -
The Mathematics of the Chinese, Indian, Islamic and Gregorian Calendars
Heavenly Mathematics: The Mathematics of the Chinese, Indian, Islamic and Gregorian Calendars Helmer Aslaksen Department of Mathematics National University of Singapore [email protected] www.math.nus.edu.sg/aslaksen/ www.chinesecalendar.net 1 Public Holidays There are 11 public holidays in Singapore. Three of them are secular. 1. New Year’s Day 2. Labour Day 3. National Day The remaining eight cultural, racial or reli- gious holidays consist of two Chinese, two Muslim, two Indian and two Christian. 2 Cultural, Racial or Religious Holidays 1. Chinese New Year and day after 2. Good Friday 3. Vesak Day 4. Deepavali 5. Christmas Day 6. Hari Raya Puasa 7. Hari Raya Haji Listed in order, except for the Muslim hol- idays, which can occur anytime during the year. Christmas Day falls on a fixed date, but all the others move. 3 A Quick Course in Astronomy The Earth revolves counterclockwise around the Sun in an elliptical orbit. The Earth ro- tates counterclockwise around an axis that is tilted 23.5 degrees. March equinox June December solstice solstice September equinox E E N S N S W W June equi Dec June equi Dec sol sol sol sol Beijing Singapore In the northern hemisphere, the day will be longest at the June solstice and shortest at the December solstice. At the two equinoxes day and night will be equally long. The equi- noxes and solstices are called the seasonal markers. 4 The Year The tropical year (or solar year) is the time from one March equinox to the next. The mean value is 365.2422 days. -
The 100 Years Anglo-Chinese Calendar, 1St Jan. 1776 to 25Th Jan
: THE 100 YEARS ANGLO-CHINESE CALENDAR, 1st JAN., 1776 to 25th JAN., 187G, CORRESPONDING WITH THE 11th DAY of the 11th MOON of the 40th YEAR of the EEIGN KIEN-LUNG, To the END of the 14th YEAR of the REIGN TUNG-CHI; TOGETIIER WITH AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING SEVERAL INTERESTING TABLES AND EXTRACTS. BY IP. LOUE;EIE,0. SHANGHAI rRINTED AT THE " NORTH-CHINA HERALD " OFFICE, 1872. -A c^ V lo ; ; PREFACE. In presenting the 100 Years Anglo-Chinese Calendar to the public, the compiler claims no originality for his work, inasmuch as, since the year 1832,* Calendars in somewhat similar form have been yearly issued from the press in China ; but, as it is doubtful if a complete series of these exists, and as, in the transaction of business, whether official, legal or commercial, between Foreigners and Chinese, and in the study of Chinese History which is now so intimately connected with foreign nations, a knowledge of the corresponding dates is quite necessary, it is hoped that this compilation will be found useful, and especially so in referring to the date of past events, and in deciding the precise day, according to the Chinese and Chris- tian Calendars, on which they occurred. Commencing with the last quarter of the past century (1st January, 1776), the Calendar embraces the peiiod when the first British Embassy (Lord Macartney's in 1793) arrived in China. For convenience sake the Calendar has been divided into 10 parts, each embracing a period of ten years of the Christian era and ends with the close of the 14th year of the present reign Tung-chi, —the 25th January, 1876. -
Antiquity (August 2007)
Set the wild echoes flying By Jerry D. Moore Department of Anthropology, California State University Dominguez Hills, 1000 K Victoria Street, Carson, CA 90747, USA (Email: [email protected]) BARRY BLESSER & LINDA-RUTH SALTER. Spaces speak, The two volumes under review are you listening? Experiencing aural architecture. form a complementary pair of xiv+438 pages, 21 illustrations. 2007. Cambridge texts, although not a perfect (MA): Massachusetts Institute of Technology; 978-0- fit. Barry Blesser and Linda- 262-02605-5 hardback £25.95. CHRIS SCARRE & Ruth Salter's book, Spaces GRAEME LAWSON (ed.). Archaeoacoustics. x+126 Speak, Are You Listening?, is a pages, 68 illustrations, 5 tables. 2006. Cambridge: broad overview, an often en- McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research; 1- gaging introduction to aural 902937-35-X hardback £25. architecture and spatial Second only to scent as the most evanescent of acoustics. Archaeoacoustics, sensations, sound would seem particularly elusive of edited by Chris Scarre and archaeological inquiry. And yet — and obviously — Graeme Lawson, is a human life is inherently aural, and ancient sound is collection of conference papers intertwined in our species' evolution and social that present specific case existence. Throughout prehistory humans have studies about the creation extended the ambit of sound with instruments, of auditory spaces and, to a specially created spaces, and composed tonalities. lesser extent, the development of culturally For such reasons, at some level archaeology must formalised -
The History of the Russian Study of Chinese Astronomy
The history of the Russian study of Chinese astronomy Galina I. Sinkevich Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering [email protected] Abstract. The first relations between Russia and China date to the 13th century. From the 16th c., Russia sent ambassadors to China, who made a description of the country. In the 17th century, a Russian Orthodox mission was founded, led by Father Maxim Tolstoukhov. In the 18th century, the scholars of St.-Petersburg Academy of Sciences took a great interest in the history of Chinese astronomy in letters sent by the Jesuit mission in China. In the 19th c., the Orthodox mission in China began to carry out many functions – trade, diplomacy, science. Petersburg academy sent students to study various aspects of life in China, laying the foundations of Russian sinology. In 1848, St-Petersburg academy founded in Beijing a magnetic and meteorological observatory headed by K. Skachkov. He lived in China for 25 years and made extensive studies of the history of Chinese astronomy. He not only mastered Chinese but also studied many old manuscripts on astronomy. He wrote the research “The fate of astronomy in China” (1874). After Skachkov, Chinese astronomy was studied by G.N. Popov (1920), A.V. Marakuev (1934), and E.I. Beryozkina, who translated “Mathematics in nine books” into Russian (1957) and published a monograph on the history of Chinese mathematics, 1980. In 1995-2003, Beryozkina’s post-graduate student at Moscow University, Fang Yao (Beijing), made a partial translation of the “Treatise on the Gnomon” (Zhoubi Suanjing) into Russian. -
Research Designs for Hawaiian Archaeology
Research Designs for Hawaiian Archaeology Research Designs for Hawaiian Archaeology Agriculture, Architecture, Methodology Thomas S. Dye, editor Special Publication 3 Society for Hawaiian Archaeology All rights reserved. Copyright © 2010 by Society for Hawaiian Archaeology. Published in 2010 in the United States of America by Society for Hawaiian Archaeology, P.O. Box 23292, Honolulu, HI 96823. Contents List of Figures vii List of Tables ix 1 Watershed: Testing the Limited Land Hypothesis Robert J. Hommon 1 2 Traditional Hawaiian Surface Architecture: Absolute and Rel- ative Dating Thomas S. Dye 93 3 Lady Mondegreen’s Hopes and Dreams: Three Brief Essays on Inference in Hawaiian Archaeology Dave Tuggle 157 Index 185 v List of Figures 2.1 Map of the Hawaiian Islands . 96 2.2 Oblique schematic of Kaneaki Heiau . 98 2.3 Plan of site 50–10–04–22268 ................... 104 2.4 Interior of the U-shape enclosure at site 50–10–04–22268 . 105 2.5 Panoramic view of site 50–10–04–22268 ............ 106 2.6 Hypothetical stratigraphic section . 110 2.7 Bayesian calibration yields interpretable results . 113 2.8 Deduction and induction . 115 2.9 Plan of site 50–10–04–22119 .................... 121 2.10 Dated enclosure at site 50–10–04–22119 ............ 122 2.11 Plan of site 50–10–04–22201 ................... 124 2.12 Plan of site 50–10–04–22248 ................... 125 2.13 Plan of site 50–50–17–1089 .................... 127 2.14 Plan of site 50–50–17–1088 .................... 128 2.15 Estimated ages of construction events . 132 2.16 Plan of H¯apaiali‘i Heiau . -
Update: January 2012 Uring Her Long and Distinguished Career, Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
director’s commentary CSWu p d atJANUARY e2012 Celebrating Sondra Hale appy New Year! I would like to begin this year by congratulating Professor Sondra Hale on her retire- Hment and thanking her for all her contributions and service to CSW. She can still continue her important research and teach if she wants, but she never has to go to another meeting! In addition to her many other accom- plishments, Professor Hale has long been an integral part of CSW. She served on the CSW Faculty Advisory Committee since 2000, but her involvement in the Center goes back to CSW’s earliest days. She held one of the very first Research Scholar Appointments and was a member of the news- letter’s Editorial Committee in 1990 and 1991. Hale has contributed to conferences, symposiums, and performances sponsored by CSW, including “Research in Motion: Affili- ated Scholars Exchange,” “Women at Work II,” and “Capitalist Development and the Liberation of Women: First World, Third World.” Hale was also central to the move by CSW 1 director’s commentary CSWu p d atJANUARY e2012 to become more actively and visibly involved in the public international exchanges between CSW, Women’s Studies, her 1996 research on “The Gender Politics of Social Move- policy arena. At one such forum in 1990, she presented and women’s/gender studies institutions in Middle East/ ments: The Case of Eritrea.” She has served on committees “Revisioning Education: Knowledge and Action in the 21st North Africa and Muslim South Asia. Its primary goal was to for the selection of research scholars and for the awarding of Century,” wherein she called for an action agenda to create a facilitate dialogue on emerging theories, concepts, pedago- grants. -
{Download PDF} Astronomy Through the Ages the Story of the Human
ASTRONOMY THROUGH THE AGES THE STORY OF THE HUMAN ATTEMPT TO UNDERSTAND THE UNIVERSE 1ST EDITION PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Anne Bradstreet | 9780674050273 | | | | | Astronomy Through the Ages The Story of the Human Attempt to Understand the Universe 1st edition PDF Book See all 10 - All listings for this product. Stock photo. Papers about Chinese, Japanese, Islamic, and Mesoamerican cultures. Jarita Holbrook. For example, at the Harvard Observatory Henrietta Swan Leavitt discovered the cepheid variable star period-luminosity relation which she further developed into a method of measuring distance outside of the Solar System. Theories and sociology Historiography Pseudoscience. Realizing that the same force that attracts objects to the surface of the Earth held the Moon in orbit around the Earth, Newton was able to explain — in one theoretical framework — all known gravitational phenomena. Haynes, R. Further information: Jyotisha. Hardcover Ex-Library Books. Nota, Antonella, et al. Best Selling in Nonfiction See all. This improvement came because Kepler realized the orbits were not perfect circles, but ellipses. In the 14th century, Nicole Oresme , later bishop of Liseux, showed that neither the scriptural texts nor the physical arguments advanced against the movement of the Earth were demonstrative and adduced the argument of simplicity for the theory that the Earth moves, and not the heavens. This historic study investigates how artists have shaped their cosmic discoveries into provocative images, while it traces the complex search to understand the universe. Main article: Chinese astronomy. Neil deGrasse Tyson. While focusing on the human side of astronomical discovery, Wilson also provides readers with a basic understanding of difficult concepts, explaining relativity and quantum mechanics without using technical language or mathematics. -
Indigenous Astronomies and Progress in Modern Astronomy
Indigenous Astronomies and Progress in Modern Astronomy Clive Ruggles1 School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester University Road, LEICESTER LE1 7RH, U.K. E-mail: [email protected] From an anthropological point of view, the whole concept of a ‘path of progress’ in astronomical discovery is anathema, since it implicitly downgrades other cultural perspectives, such as the many ‘indigenous cosmologies’ that still exist in the modern world. By doing so, one risks provoking those who hold them and—as is most obvious in places such as Hawaii where the two ‘world-views’ come into direct contact—creating avoidable resistance to that very progress. The problem is complicated by the existence of ‘fringe’ and ‘new-age’ views that are increasingly confused with, and even passed off as, indigenous perceptions. In a modern world where widespread public perceptions include many that are unscientific in the broadest sense of the term, I shall argue that there are actually a range of positive benefits for progress in scientific astronomy to be derived from the mutual awareness and comprehension of ‘genuine’ cultural world-views whose goals—in common with those of modern science—are to make sense of the cosmos within which people live. While two-way education is clearly a prerequisite, I shall argue that the necessary level of reconciliation can only be achieved through more fundamental attempts by modern astronomers to understand, and ultimately to respect, both the non-Western frameworks of thought that give rise to other cultural perspectives and the heritage associated with them. One of the most obvious potential benefits could derive from common attitudes towards the natural heritage of astronomy, namely dark skies. -
Stellarium for Cultural Astronomy Research
RESEARCH The Simulated Sky: Stellarium for Cultural Astronomy Research Georg Zotti Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology, Vienna, Austria [email protected] Susanne M. Hoffmann Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Michael-Stifel-Center/ Institut für Informatik and Physikalisch- Astronomische Fakultät, Jena, Germany [email protected] Alexander Wolf Altai State Pedagogical University, Barnaul, Russia [email protected] Fabien Chéreau Stellarium Labs, Toulouse, France [email protected] Guillaume Chéreau Noctua Software, Hong Kong [email protected] Abstract: For centuries, the rich nocturnal environment of the starry sky could be modelled only by analogue tools such as paper planispheres, atlases, globes and numerical tables. The immer- sive sky simulator of the twentieth century, the optomechanical planetarium, provided new ways for representing and teaching about the sky, but the high construction and running costs meant that they have not become common. However, in recent decades, “desktop planetarium programs” running on personal computers have gained wide attention. Modern incarnations are immensely versatile tools, mostly targeted towards the community of amateur astronomers and for knowledge transfer in transdisciplinary research. Cultural astronomers also value the possibili- ties they give of simulating the skies of past times or other cultures. With this paper, we provide JSA 6.2 (2020) 221–258 ISSN (print) 2055-348X https://doi.org/10.1558/jsa.17822 ISSN (online) 2055-3498 222 Georg Zotti et al. an extended presentation of the open-source project Stellarium, which in the last few years has been enriched with capabilities for cultural astronomy research not found in similar, commercial alternatives.