The study of ancient structures through which ancient people deliberated and understood the phenomenon in the sky is referred to as Archaeoastronomy. It further includes the study of mythologies, astronomical practices, religions and world views of all ancient cultures. Many of the great ceremonial constructions and monuments of early civilizations were aligned astronomically. The accurate fundamental orientation of the Great Pyramid at Giza in Egypt or the Venus alignment of the wonderful Maya Palace are outstanding examples. This study helps to learn much about the cosmological thought and development of science of both the ancient astronomies as well as the surviving native traditions around the world. Almost all ancient civilizations experienced astronomy at some level. Egyptians built remarkable structures for observing the sky. Others built structures to assist them mark the seasons. One of the oldest vertical man-made structures used to mark seasons are Stonehenge in Southern England. It is the remains of a ring of…show more content… He related this event with the rise of Sirius star over Stonehenge. Gerald Hawkins in 1963 claimed in his publication “Stonehenge Decoded” that he observed dozens of solar and lunar alignments. He believed that Stonehenge could have been used to forecast eclipses. Due to the use of computer calculations, his book received wide publicity. He had studied 165 important features at the monument and cross checked every arrangement between them beside every setting and rising point for Sun, Moon, planets and stars in the locations they would have been in 1500 BC. He found 11 lunar and 13 solar correlations precisely matched against the early features at the site. He also suggested a method to predict lunar eclipses by moving indicators from hole to hole using Aubrey Holes. Through his findings, he recommended that the monument was a Neolithic
