Archaeoastronomy
Overview
 
Archaeoastronomy is the study of how people in the past "have understood the phenomena
Phenomenon
A phenomenon , plural phenomena, is any observable occurrence. Phenomena are often, but not always, understood as 'appearances' or 'experiences'...

 in the sky
Sky
The sky is the part of the atmosphere or outer space visible from the surface of any astronomical object. It is difficult to define precisely for several reasons. During daylight, the sky of Earth has the appearance of a pale blue surface because the air scatters the sunlight. The sky is sometimes...

 how they used phenomena in the sky and what role the sky played in their culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...

s." Clive Ruggles
Clive Ruggles
Clive L. N. Ruggles is a British astronomer, archaeologist and academic, regarded as one of the leading figures in the field of archaeoastronomy and the author of numerous academic and popular works on the subject. Ruggles is Emeritus Professor of Archaeoastronomy at the School of Archaeology and...

 argues it is misleading to consider archaeoastronomy to be the study of ancient astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...

, as modern astronomy is a scientific discipline, while archaeoastronomy considers other cultures' symbolically rich cultural interpretations of phenomena in the sky.
 
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