The Archaeoastronomy of Modern Civilization

Abstract

The desire to align buildings to recreate the cosmic order in the works of humans is not confined to the past. The desire is universal across the Earth and can be seen within our current societies. It is possible to analyze our present-day civilization much as we have considered earlier civilizations. We find that our civilization, like others before us, responds strongly to the power of the stars, with structures and cities aligned with the Sun and stars. The surprising survival of astrology, and other astronomical symbols within our twenty-first century civilization also, makes archaeoastronomy (ancient astronomy) something we can study in the present day. In this chapter, we examine the ways in which our modern civilization practices ancient astronomy even in the twenty-first century.

To one who has been long in city pent,

‘Tis very sweet to look into the fair

And open face of heaven, — to breathe a prayer

Full in the smile of the blue firmament.

John Keats, Sonnet XIV

Towered cities please us then,

And the busy hum of men.

John Milton, L’Allegro (1631)