Astronomical complex

<h2 id="ancient-astronomical-complexes">Ancient astronomical complexes</h2>
<p class="note">Further information: <a href="/facts/List_of_archaeoastronomical_sites_by_country/DbP2EFwA">List of archaeoastronomical sites by country</a></p>
<p>Examples of suggested ancient astronomical complexes that may have been used as <a href="/facts/Sun/CadPCVHh">solar</a> and <a href="/facts/Moon/zKHqEMPb">lunar</a> <a href="/facts/Observatories/y0FVg7vS">observatories</a> include, in reverse-chronological order:
</p>
<h3>Mesoamerica</h3>
<ul><li>The E-group ruins of a plaza with three temples and two viewing platforms at <a href="/facts/Uaxact%C3%BAn/jM51NEIV">Uaxactún</a>, near the <a href="/facts/Pet%C3%A9n_Basin/TARKWoeQ">Petén Basin</a>, <a href="/facts/Guatemala/MoMcSnla">Guatemala</a>, accredited to the <a href="/facts/Mayan_civilization/JMynpRSR">Mayan civilization</a> referred to as a <i>Complejo Conmemorativo Astronomico</i>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a></li></ul>
<h3>Western Europe</h3>
<ul><li>It has been suggested that the grouping of <a href="/facts/Stone_circles/IJ2GKh9m">stone circles</a> and ridge-top <a href="/facts/Cairn/wlwuhNvp">cairns</a> on <a href="/facts/Bodmin_Moor/qFeXcJMl">Bodmin Moor</a> in <a href="/facts/Cornwall/9A3TftFP">Cornwall</a> compose a ritual or astronomical complex.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Stonehenge/5TDRUktP">Stonehenge</a> on <a href="/facts/Salisbury_Plain/KLpa0tyq">Salisbury Plain</a> in <a href="/facts/Wiltshire/42kKgE8r">Wiltshire</a>, <a href="/facts/United_Kingdom/kuPAILt2">United Kingdom</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a></li>
<li>The <a href="/facts/Callanish/VNRBKInB">Callanish</a> Complex of megaliths in the <a href="/facts/Hebrides/zsj2EcdF">Hebrides</a> islands.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a></li>
<li>The series of recumbent <a href="/facts/Stone_circles/IJ2GKh9m">stone circles</a> in <a href="/facts/Aberdeenshire/fXYoJksF">Aberdeenshire</a> in the North East of <a href="/facts/Scotland/VGwbbxB2">Scotland</a>, including <a href="/facts/Balquhain/bzWxCDux">Balquhain</a> stone circle and the cupmarked stone on its west flank.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Wandlebury_Hill/BEjTtKX1">Wandlebury Hill</a>, Portingbury Warren Mound in <a href="/facts/Portingbury_Hills/0vfw4s7X">Portingbury Hills</a> and a series of 11 marker stones including the <a href="/facts/Leper_Stone/Qx3Y8Q21">Leper Stone</a> in <a href="/facts/Cambridgeshire/CRuIWvVN">Cambridgeshire</a> and <a href="/facts/Essex/cuUqAlzH">Essex</a> in <a href="/facts/England/U9mE5bGL">England</a>, also known as the <a href="/facts/Wandlebury_Enigma/BEjTtKX1">Wandlebury Enigma</a> or <i>The Wandlebury-Hatfield Heath Astronomical Complex</i>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10"><sup>10</sup></a></li></ul>
<h3>Central Europe</h3>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Goseck_circle/coRd33o3">Goseck circle</a> and other <a href="/facts/Neolithic_circular_enclosures_in_Central_Europe/8ThkB6kd">Neolithic circular enclosures in Central Europe</a></li></ul>
<h3>Levant</h3>
<ul><li>In 2006, then <a href="/facts/Atlit_Yam/rEUNJFly">Atlit Yam</a> was discovered in Israel in 2009, dated with certainty to at least 6300 BCE, at which point it was abandoned and submerged in the Mediterranean, but still being excavated and analyzed as of 2014. Atlit Yam has human skeletons ceremoniously buried, and is a small semi-circle of long, narrow uprighted stones etched with <a href="/facts/Cup_mark/MSEQf6v6">cup marks</a>.</li>
<li>Rogem Hiri, 40,000,000 kg of stone with a 'gate' or opening in the outer stone circle through which the sun rises on each Summer Solstice (with this 'gate' matching the Summer Solstice's sunrise even more accurately millennia ago), and a burial chamber in the center under two 5-tonne megaliths, a layer of circa 3,000 BCE exposed, with a surveyed but unexcavated, estimated 4,000 BCE, layer beneath.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Mnajdra/LhF1M1yo">Mnajdra</a> and other <a href="/facts/Megalithic_Temples_of_Malta/DMzgcUVJ">Megalithic Temples of Malta</a>, circa 3100 BCE and younger.</li></ul>
<h2 id="modern-astronomical-complexes">Modern astronomical complexes</h2>
<p>Examples of modern astronomical complexes of <a href="/facts/Star/PFbd6ICx">stellar</a> observatories include:
</p>
<ul><li>The <a href="/facts/Leoncito_Astronomical_Complex/uGyBSeXk">Leoncito Astronomical Complex</a> in the <a href="/facts/San_Juan_Province_(Argentina)/vdvd0lP5">San Juan Province</a> of <a href="/facts/Argentina/aFSA5bAk">Argentina</a>.</li>
<li>The <a href="/facts/University_of_Idaho/SREXLNYC">University of Idaho</a> Astronomical Complex in the <a href="/facts/United_States_of_America/P0sCdLe5">United States of America</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11"><sup>11</sup></a></li>
<li>The research and observational centre at the <a href="/facts/Instituto_de_Astrof%C3%ADsica_de_Canarias/9mWBEdka">Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias</a> (IAC) and its observatories,  the <a href="/facts/Observatorio_del_Roque_de_los_Muchachos/WzGSXRJR">Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos</a>, on <a href="/facts/La_Palma/3J7sj2oo">La Palma</a> and the <a href="/facts/Observatorio_del_Teide/HpcLFSDF">Observatorio del Teide</a>, on <a href="/facts/Tenerife/FlyhXV7M">Tenerife</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12"><sup>12</sup></a></li>
<li>The observatories of the <a href="/facts/Caltech/3FPcp7BL">Caltech</a> Astronomy Department, <a href="/facts/California_Institute_of_Technology/3FPcp7BL">California Institute of Technology</a> in <a href="/facts/Pasadena,_California/Y6AEEI03">Pasadena</a>, <a href="/facts/California/zLW2vdQJ">California</a>, <a href="/facts/United_States_of_America/P0sCdLe5">United States of America</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13"><sup>13</sup></a></li></ul>

<ul><li><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=JCTryg7lKcMC">Burl, Aubrey., Prehistoric Astronomy and Ritual, Shire Archaeology, 2010</a>[<i>permanent dead link</i>‍]</li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>Juan Pedro Laporte (1993). Tikal y Uaxactún en el preclásico. UNAM. pp. 5, 9, 27, 37, 38, 72, 79, 81, 86 & 90. ISBN 978-968-36-2673-8. Retrieved 13 March 2011. <a href="978-968-36-2673-8" target="_blank">978-968-36-2673-8</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>Fialko, Vilma., Laporte, Juan Pedro., New Perspectives on Old Problems: Dynastic references for the Early Classic at Tikal. In Vision and Revision in Maya Studies, edited by F. Clancy and P. Harrison, pp. 33–66, Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>"National Parks and Reserves in Argentina: El Leoncito National Park". Ripio Turismo. Archived from the original on 8 September 2006. Retrieved 2006-09-06. <a href="http://www.ripioturismo.com.ar/np-leo.htm" target="_blank">http://www.ripioturismo.com.ar/np-leo.htm</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:4"><p>"Public Outreach". Complejo Astronomico El Leoncito. Archived from the original on 2006-08-29. Retrieved 2006-09-06. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20060829173510/http://www.casleo.gov.ar/indexingles.htm" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20060829173510/http://www.casleo.gov.ar/indexingles.htm</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:5"><p>Prudence M. Rice (2004). Maya Political Science: Time, Astronomy, and the Cosmos. University of Texas Press. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-292-70569-2. <a href="978-0-292-70569-2" target="_blank">978-0-292-70569-2</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:6"><p>University College; London. Institute of Archaeology (2000). Archaeology international. Institute of Archaeology, University College London. Retrieved 22 April 2011. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=6z5mAAAAMAAJ" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=6z5mAAAAMAAJ</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:7"><p>Hawkins, Gerald., Stonehenge Decoded, Nature, 200, 306–308, 1963 <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:8"><p>Hawkins, Gerald., Callanish, a Scottish Stonehenge, Science, 147, 127–130, 1965. <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:9"><p>D. C. Heggie (1982). Archaeoastronomy in the Old World. Cambridge University Press. p. 191. ISBN 978-0-521-24734-4. <a href="978-0-521-24734-4" target="_blank">978-0-521-24734-4</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:10"><p>Hoppit, David (1978). "The Wandlebury Enigma Solved? – Line A Loxodrome". Sunday Telegraph Magazine, Issue 78, March 18th. <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:11"><p>Johnson, Mark, R., University of Idaho Astronomical Complex, Moscow, Idaho, 214 pages, University of Idaho, 1984 <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=M6ZuNwAACAAJ" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=M6ZuNwAACAAJ</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:12"><p>Grothkopf, Uta., Astronomical Society of the Pacific conference serie, Volume 153, p. 3, Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 1998. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=IY1-AAAAIAAJ" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=IY1-AAAAIAAJ</a> <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:13"><p>Henry Robinson Luce, Time, Volume 87, Issues 1–12, p. 84, Time Inc., 1966. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=MnHgAAAAMAAJ" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=MnHgAAAAMAAJ</a> <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Astronomical complex open-in-new

Astronomical complex