The Light, The Stones and The Sacred (eBook)

This book addresses a variety of topics within the growing discipline of Archaeoastronomy, focusing especially on Archaeoastronomy in Sicily and the Mediterranean and Cultural Astronomy. A further priority is discussion of the astronomical and statistical methods used today to ascertain the degree of reliability of the chronological and cultural definition of sites and artifacts of archaeoastronomical interest. The contributions were all delivered at the XVth Congress of the Italian Society of Archaeoastronomy (SIA), held under the rubric 'The Light, the Stones and the Sacred' - a theme inspired by the International Year of Light 2015, organized by UNESCO. The full meaning of many ancient monuments can only be understood by examining their relation to light, given the effects that light radiation produces in 'interacting' with lithic structures. Moreover, in addition to manifestations of the sacred through the medium of light (hierophanies), there are many ties between temples, tombs, megalithic structures, and the architecture of almost all ages and cultures and our star, the Sun. Readers will find the book to be a source of fascinating insights based on synergies between the disciplines of archaeology and astronomy.

Andrea Orlando is an astronomy researcher at the Catania Astrophysical Observatory in Sicily (INAF) and also undertakes research in association with the National Laboratories of the South (Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, INFN). Dr. Orlando graduated in Physics from the University of Catania (with a focus on astrophysics, including an experimental thesis on northern lights undertaken at the Institute of Interplanetary Space Physics in Rome). He then gained an international PhD in nuclear and particle astrophysics at the Graduate School of the University of Catania with a thesis on space weather. Dr. Orlando is a scholar of medieval history and ancient astronomy. He is a member of the Italian Society of Archaeoastronomy (SIA) and is currently the president of the Institute of Sicilian Archaeoastronomy.