When I was first introduced to archaeoastronomy I thought that it might possibly be about discovering how humans in the past tried to map and understand celestial bodies. The ways in which I thought they might have done this is looking at monuments and oddly placed structures to see if they were in any way lined up with certain stars or planets or even if they represent the movement of planets or the sun.

Chichen Itza- 

Then when I researched it on the internet and in books (The books were: Astronomies and culture, Astronomy in prehistoric Britain and Ireland) I found out that while I was partly right there is more to it than just how they mapped them. Such as how they were involved in their culture and what significance they had in that culture. I also found out the ways in which people found this out: for example astronomical alignments, artifacts, art and ancient text. A good example of an astronomical alignment is Stonehenge (image to the left) which is believed to be astronomicaly aligned.

Stonehenge is believed by many to be aligned with the sun at the midsummer solstice (June 21st, when the day is longest in the northern hemishpere) when the sun rises, however other people also believe it to be aligned with the midwinter solstice (December 21st, when the day is shortest in the northern hemisphere) when the sun sets.

Daniel Thorne