Archaeoastronomy
- Offered byCoursera
Archaeoastronomy at Coursera Overview
Duration | 7 hours |
Start from | Start Now |
Total fee | Free |
Mode of learning | Online |
Difficulty level | Beginner |
Official Website | Explore Free Course  |
Credential | Certificate |
Archaeoastronomy at Coursera Highlights
- 10% started a new career after completing these courses.
- 29% got a tangible career benefit from this course.
- Earn a shareable certificate upon completion.
Archaeoastronomy at Coursera Course details
- Archaeoastronomy is the ?science of stars and stones?. It is an interdisciplinary science in between architecture, archaeology, and astronomy. It studies the relationships between the ancient monuments and the sky, in order to gain a better understanding of the ideas of the architects of the past and of their religious and symbolic world. The course provides the first complete, easy introduction to this fascinating discipline.
- During the course, many spectacular ancient sites of archaeology ? such as Stonehenge in England, Giza and Karnak in Egypt, Chichen Itzá in the Yucatan, Macchu Picchu in Peru and the Pantheon in Rome ? will be visited and the fascinating events occurring there in special days of the year (such as solstices, equinoxes, or the day of the foundation of Rome) will be shown and explained. The course also provides the necessary background on Astronomy with the naked eye and a general introduction to the role of Astronomy in religion and in the management of power among ancient cultures.
Archaeoastronomy at Coursera Curriculum
Week 1
Archaeoastronomy: the science of stars and stones
The celestial coordinates and the apparent motion of the Sun
The constellations and the apparent motion of the stars
Precession and the reconstruction of ancient skies
Sightseeing with an archaeoastronomer's eye
Supplementary Course Text
Astronomy with the naked eye: how the ancients saw the sky
Week 2
Astronomy and architecture: a very early connection
Archaeoastronomy in action: hierophanies and sacred landscapes
The places where Archaeoastronomy was born: Stonehenge
The places where Archaeoastronomy was born: Newgrange
Astronomy, power and architecture
Week 3
The stellar destiny of the Pharaohs
The Great Pyramid and the stars
The horizon of Khufu
Karnak, Abu Simbel and the Egyptian calendar
The Amarna heresy and the horizon of the Aten
Ancient Egypt
Week 4
Maya astronomy and calendar
Chichen Itza and the Serpent Equinox
The Inca pillars of the Sun
Macchu Picchu
The Pre-Columbian world
Week 5
The first emperor and the Terracotta Army
The pyramids of ancient China
Angkor Wat
Between sun and waters: the temples of the Khmer heartland
Archaeoastronomy in Asia
Week 6
Houses of the Gods: the Greek temples of Sicily
Aosta and Augustus' power from the stars
Astronomy and empire at the Pantheon in Rome
The Classical world
Astronomy insights
Conclusions and perspectives
Lunar phases
The eclipses
The change in the rising and setting points of the Moon
The Moon in Archaeoastronomy
Bibliography
The planets visible with the naked eye
The Motion of Venus
Venus in Archaeoastronomy
Bibliography
The Earth's atmosphere
Extincion and Thom's law
Refraction and parallax
Visual alignments
The horizon formula
Graphical tools
Handling archaeoastronomical data
The use of Probability in Archaeoastronomy
Bibliography
Astronomy insight
Archaeoastronomy at Coursera Admission Process
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