ARCHAEOASTRONOMY

I started working in this field in my spare time (which is not much) in 1997, when I commenced a study on the astronomical orientation of the ancient church of St. Martin in Artegna (Friuli-Italy). This building, that has a venerable history, appears to be oriented rather precisely along the East-West direction (the deviation is only 0.7 degrees), even though the natural horizon is disturbed by the presence of some mountains. This triggered my curiosity and, since then, I started a more systematic work in this area. Give a try to the following links to get some more details on my activities in this field.

Publications

• Horizon synthesis for archaeoastronomical purposes, 2011, Astronomical News, 332, 743

• Archeoastronomie in Friul/1, 2007, SLN

• Archeoastronomie in Friul/2, 2007, SLN

• Archeoastronomie in Friul/3, 2007, SLN

• Ricerche archeoastronomiche nel Friuli collinare, 2006, in Buje Pore Nuje

Current Projects

• Mapping Ancient Friulian Sites: the project "A Soreli jevât"

• Astronomical orientation of proto-historical sites in Friuli

• Progetto Equinozio (in Italian)

A few useful Archaeoastronomy links

European Society for Astronomy in Culture (SEAC) International Society for Archaeoastronomy and Astronomy in Culture (ISAAC) Archaeoastronomy - The Journal of Astronomy in Culture The Journal for the History of Astronomy Archaeocosmology The center for Archaeoastronomy Archaeoastronomy page of Victor Reijs Ohio Archaeological Council The Upuaut Project Societa' Italiana di Archeoastronomia Archeoastronomia (Adriano Gaspani) Archeoastronomia Italiana Archeoastronomia Ligustica Calendars Sun and Moon Data JPL Ephemeris Generator Azimuth and Bearing Calculator Calendar History GPS Information Consummer grade GPS accuracy Skymap. Click here for the evaluation version. Magnetic declination Magnetic declination calculator Geodetic azimuth calculators (NGS: forward, inverse) Inverse Geodetic Calculator (NGS)

Ancient astronomers. Giovanni Patat d'Artegna - 2007 (C)

(*) The two pictures at the top show a detail of one of the two stones that are currently inserted in the wall surrounding the St. Mary's church in Artegna (Friuli-Italy). The images of a Star and the Moon are pretty clearly visible. They have been dated as pre-roman (i.e. before 181 b.C), but the dating has been recently questioned. They are certainly not Roman...

Equinox sunset seen from St. Martin. The elevation of the natural horizon in the W direction is about 2.7 degrees.