Archaeoastronomy: the science of stars and stones (Giulio Magli)

Welcome to the Politecnico di Milan, Italy.

I am Giulio Magli and I teach here a relatively new science called Archaeoastronomy.
What is it? Almost all of the great civilizations of the past builds spectacular monuments,
which testify about their skills, knowledge, and religious beliefs.
Curiously enough, however, practically all of these monuments are silent: there is no
written source telling us how and why they were constructed.
But there is one thing, which connects many, if not all, of these monuments: astronomy.
In fact, their projects are connected to the sky due to astronomical alignments, which are
the core of Archaeoastronomy, the science of stars and stones.
If used with due caution it can give us many information about the mind of our ancestors
and can also give us the emotion of experiencing today spectacular events, which were
planned thousands years ago: the hierophanies.
In the present course we shall learn, in a very simple way, the fundamentals of Astronomy
with the naked eye and of Archaeaostronomy.
So equipped, we shall leave for a virtual tour which will bring us in search of some of the
most spectacular hierophanies throughout space and time.
Among them, we shall visit Stonehenge at the summer solstice, the Inca citadel of Macchu
Picchu at the winter solstice.
We will assist to the descent of the plumed serpent on the Maya pyramid of Chichen Itza
at the spring equinox.
Up to finish our travel with the spectacular manifestation of the Roman emperor's power
which repeats each year at the Pantheon in Rome, on the 21 of April.
So follow me in this trip: enrol for free at the Archaeoastronomy course, but hurry up,
because as said a somewhat famous Italian poet on a day near the spring equinox more
than 700 years ago:

Follow me, as I would like to go, since the constellation of the Fishes is already darting
the horizon
Dante Alighieri

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Archaeoastronomy