Skywatchers, Shamans & Kings: Astronomy and the Archaeology of Power (Delete (Wiley Popular Science))
by E. C. Krupp

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• ISBN13: 9780471329756
• Condition: New
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Book Reviews of Skywatchers, Shamans & Kings: Astronomy and the Archaeology of Power (Delete (Wiley Popular Science))

Book Review: The Next Horizon
Summary: 5 Stars

A cross-cultural comparative analysis assembled out of archaeological sites the author has visited, "Skywatchers, Shamans & Kings" uses an entertaining anecdotal writing style to teach a few basics of astronomy without being didactic. Skywatchers, Shamans & Kings have shaped civilization from the very beginning, and their story paints a provocative portrait of humanity. The sky our ancient ancestors saw has influenced the establishment and alignment of monuments and whole cities, authorized wars, sanctified empires, and solidified society. Ancient astronomers were responsible for knowledge so valuable their services have been commissioned by Emperors & Kings in every epoch of history and on every continent of the earth.

"Skywatchers, Shamans & Kings'" focus is primarily on the world of the ancients however, parallels between ancient and contemporary cultures are emphasized throughout. Modern society is in mourning over the loss of wholeness that "The Center of the World" had once given us, 'what "cosmovisions" can guide us across this wilderness of contemporary affairs?' Secularization was meant to temper influence and limit power yet, news headlines tell us of theocratic agendas still accountable for political unrest the world over. Even thousands of years later, increased globalization and current events demonstrate that we continue to confront issues raised by power from the skies.

Skywatchers - Ideological reactions to the sky are from perceptions made through a physiological and earth-bound frame of reference.

Shamans - Human cultures evolve ideological explanations of the physical universe to create social cohesion.

& Kings - Power from the sky authorizes social control. Contemporary people are haunted as deeply by their myth-bound minds as the ideologies of the ancients were haunted by their earth-bound view of the sky.

"Skywatchers, Shamans & Kings" investigates the cultural evolution of societies from the end of the last Ice Age, through the end of the Second World War, ultimately arriving at the global conflicts of today. Edwin Krupp's intimate knowledge of more than 1,700 ancient sites worldwide, guides a journey of discovery leading from our most ancient ancestors to our future selves. An eclectic romp through history with all its ideological forces laid bare, "Skywatchers, Shamans & Kings" is history shown through the lens of archaeoastronomy, but it may as well be a biography of humanity's confrontation with consciousness where, the sky plays the recurring main character. From the Venus warfare of the ancient Maya, to the fate of modern political states, "Skywatchers, Shamans & Kings" is a thorough and rational interdisciplinary analysis, with an optimistic message for our future.

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