Important developments have taken place in the world of prehistoric archaeology since the first edition of this Little History of Astro-Archeology in 1976. To accommodate these the book has been extended, but for the most part it retains its original form, and its purpose remains the same. It illustrates the beginnings and growth of a subject new to scholarship, concerning the relationship of ancient monuments and temples to the positions of the heavenly bodies as observed by their builders. Only a few years ago the subject was almost unmentionable in academic circles. Today its basic premises are generally regarded as self-evident. This quick switch of orthodoxies is an interesting phenomenon in itself, and represents a change of attitudes towards the past which may have wider repercussions far beyond the realm of antiquarianism.
The current fashion is to call the subject archeoastronomy, as if it were more the business of astronomers or historians of astronomy than of archeologists. Indeed, astronomers have made the largest contribution to its development so far, and their interest in it is obvious and legitimate, but it is now clear that astronomy is but one aspect of a traditional code of science which was known to the megalith builders and to architects of temples throughout the ancient world. In their siting, orientation and inter-relationships, these structures are generally related to the pattern of the heavens, but they have many features which cannot be explained astronomically. Their secrets lie not merely in the stars, but on the same ground which their builders trod. This restores to archaeologists the responsibility for investigating the ancient science, for recognizing and co-ordinating the many different approaches which are now being made to the subject. In its title and throughout this book the term used is still, therefore, astro-archaeology.
There are many deep secrets in the stones, but they have long been forgotten. They may not however, be beyond recovery. In this hook are summarized the main researches which have led to the present state of knowledge, and suggestions are made about the direction of future studies in this most interesting subject.
In these pages we follow the rise of an archaeological theory which relates the designs and locations of megalithic sites to the observed positions of the heavenly bodies at the time they were constructed. The idea seems harmless enough, but it arouses passions; for behind the question of whether or not the megalith builders four thousand years ago practised scientific astronomy there are other, more serious issues; and these concern the history and very nature of civilization. Two historical world views are here displayed in mutual opposition. The modern view, informed by the theory of evolutionary progress, is of civilization as a recent and unique phenomenon. Against this is the older orthodoxy of Plato and the pagan philosophers, that civilization proceeds in cycles, from primitive settlement, through the development of agriculture and technology, to empire, decadence and oblivion - a pattern of events constantly repeated. The first of these beliefs, enshrined in modern orthodoxy, serves to justify many of the political and academic modes now dominant. It will not therefore lightly give way before its rival. Resistance to astro-archaeological theory has been intensified by the understanding that, if ancient people of Neolithic culture are credited with an astronomical science far in advance of medieval, and even in some respects of modern standards, current faith in the unique quality of our own scientific achievement is undermined. Yet evidence of a remarkably developed and widespread Stone Age science continues to accumulate. The citadel of archaeological orthodoxy is under siege, and a new historical paradigm is emerging to replace the old. The following essay is designed to illustrate the stages by which a new idea, in this case the theory behind astro-archaeology, promotes itself in status from lunacy to heresy to interesting notion and finally to the gates of orthodoxy.