Customer Reviews

In Search of Ancient Astronomies (Mcgraw-Hill Paperbacks)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In Search of Ancient Astronomies ed. by Dr. E.C. Krupp, 1978.


This is an excellent book in PROVING the fact of Archaeoastronomy in ancient cultures and traditions. Dr. Krupps, director of the Griffith Observatory, shows us how Stonehenge, the Maya temples, the Egyptian Pyramids and Babylonian astronomies were developed and built into ancient architecture and megaliths. He shows how the so-called primitive cultures may not have been so primitive as science automatically assumes due to over application of Darwinian theory.

The ancients possessed highly advanced mathematics, calendrics, and architecture.

Dr. Krupps, at the end of this book, also debunks popular myths such as planet hopping amphibians and lizard people. These popular myths were created because our "advanced" society is over judgmental and prejudiced in its attitude toward so-called primitive cultures. Surely these people couldn't have been advanced enough, intelligent enough, to create such amazing structures and understandings on their own - they must have had aliens who came down from Planet Xenu and did it for them. Or maybe more simply, and if we use Occam's Razor, such leaps of logic show OUR lack of ability to think critically rather than our ancestors.

Overall, a 4.5 star work. The book did have trouble drawing me in in several places, but this may be because it is composed of articles written by several scholars instead of the nice flowing of a single author or authorship team working together.

Edwin C. Krupp is the right name, if you are interested in ancient stargazing experiments. As an open minded scientist and one of the most famous archaeoastronomers, Mr Krupp gives you an excellent introduction to the ancient civilizations' astronomical secrets in this well organized and well edited book. As well as being the editor of this book, Mr Krupp also does his own contribution with a very exciting article on Ancient Egypt's most important monuments and their alignments with important stars. The book itself is a brilliant resource for newbies on archaeoastronomy, and it presents the reader a rich content extending from the mysterious builders of Stonehenge to Maya and Ancient Egypt stargazers. With a bunch of articles from the world's most important archaeoastronomers including Mr Aveni, "In Search Of Ancient Astronomies" is a must buy.