1
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
E. Boutsikas et al. (eds.), Advancing Cultural Astronomy, Historical & Cultural
Astronomy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64606-6_1
Clive Ruggles and the Development
of Cultural Astronomy
Efrosyni Boutsikas, Stephen C. McCluskey, and John Steele
Clive Ruggles’ work has challenged—and ultimately transformed—the way we
study the astronomies of other cultures (Fig. 1). Before Ruggles’ work, archaeoastronomy was seen by many archaeologists as a not very important ancillary discipline to the field of archaeology (Cotte, this volume) and many of them challenged
the validity of archaeoastronomers’ claims (Salt, 2015: 213). Clive’s earliest work
(Cooke, Few, Morgan, & Ruggles, 1977: 131) responded to this scepticism, speaking of the need to convince sceptical “outsiders to believe the claims being made”
by archaeoastronomical researchers. His method at that time focused on pre- defining
selection criteria, based on the characteristics of the site, and not on any astronomical indication, to determine which alignments were to be measured. These measurements were then converted into astronomical declinations which were used to
identify which measured alignments signified possible astronomical alignments.
This concern with defining methodologically rigorous procedures is an enduring
theme in Ruggles’ work, but at this early stage, cultural context played no role in his
research, reflecting the common practice of contemporary British
archaeoastronomers.
Archaeoastronomy at that time largely consisted of the search for alignments of
ancient structures towards positions on the horizon that seemed to be of obvious
astronomical significance such as the rising point of the sun at the solstices and
equinoxes or the extreme northern and southern rising points of the moon. In its
early British version, this practice of “alignment hunting” was usually constructed
E. Boutsikas (*)
Department of Classical and Archaeological Studies, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
e-mail: E.Boutsikas@kent.ac.uk
S. C. McCluskey
Department of History, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA
J. Steele
Department of Egyptology and Assyriology, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
E. Boutsikas et al. (eds.), Advancing Cultural Astronomy, Historical & Cultural
Astronomy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64606-6_1
Clive Ruggles and the Development
of Cultural Astronomy
Efrosyni Boutsikas, Stephen C. McCluskey, and John Steele
Clive Ruggles’ work has challenged—and ultimately transformed—the way we
study the astronomies of other cultures (Fig. 1). Before Ruggles’ work, archaeoastronomy was seen by many archaeologists as a not very important ancillary discipline to the field of archaeology (Cotte, this volume) and many of them challenged
the validity of archaeoastronomers’ claims (Salt, 2015: 213). Clive’s earliest work
(Cooke, Few, Morgan, & Ruggles, 1977: 131) responded to this scepticism, speaking of the need to convince sceptical “outsiders to believe the claims being made”
by archaeoastronomical researchers. His method at that time focused on pre- defining
selection criteria, based on the characteristics of the site, and not on any astronomical indication, to determine which alignments were to be measured. These measurements were then converted into astronomical declinations which were used to
identify which measured alignments signified possible astronomical alignments.
This concern with defining methodologically rigorous procedures is an enduring
theme in Ruggles’ work, but at this early stage, cultural context played no role in his
research, reflecting the common practice of contemporary British
archaeoastronomers.
Archaeoastronomy at that time largely consisted of the search for alignments of
ancient structures towards positions on the horizon that seemed to be of obvious
astronomical significance such as the rising point of the sun at the solstices and
equinoxes or the extreme northern and southern rising points of the moon. In its
early British version, this practice of “alignment hunting” was usually constructed
E. Boutsikas (*)
Department of Classical and Archaeological Studies, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
e-mail: E.Boutsikas@kent.ac.uk
S. C. McCluskey
Department of History, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA
J. Steele
Department of Egyptology and Assyriology, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA