People and the Sky: Our Ancestors and the Cosmos (Hardcover)

Oxbow says: In the modern world technology has meant that night no longer means darkness, we don't rely on the sun to keep us warm and the celestial sky, and what is beyond, is there to be quantitifed and theorised about. Although modern science means that we can explain a great deal about the sky, as individuals we no longer rely on it to guide our lives. Written by the renowned archaeoastronomer Anthony Aveni, this book describes what we have lost - how our ancestors used, and relied upon the sky in their everyday lives. Written in an informal and engaging style, each chapter takes a different theme beginning with stories from a number of different cultures about the sky. Aveni discusses why constellations were invented, how stars were used in navigation, how the cosmos acted as a seasonal clock for farmers, the importance of the sky in urban design and in legitimating the power and ancestry of rulers, and the development of timekeeping. Covering a broad range of cultures, the book explores different views of the sky by different people, and different places and different points in history.