Back to Archaeoastronomy
Politecnico di Milano

Archaeoastronomy

Archaeoastronomy is the “science of stars and stones”. It is an interdisciplinary science in between architecture, archaeology, and astronomy. It studies the relationships between the ancient monuments and the sky, in order to gain a better understanding of the ideas of the architects of the past and of their religious and symbolic world. The course provides the first complete, easy introduction to this fascinating discipline. During the course, many spectacular ancient sites of archaeology – such as Stonehenge in England, Giza and Karnak in Egypt, Chichen Itzá in the Yucatan, Macchu Picchu in Peru and the Pantheon in Rome – will be visited and the fascinating events occurring there in special days of the year (such as solstices, equinoxes, or the day of the foundation of Rome) will be shown and explained. The course also provides the necessary background on Astronomy with the naked eye and a general introduction to the role of Astronomy in religion and in the management of power among ancient cultures.

Status: Architectural Design
Status: Physical Science
BeginnerCourse7 hours

Featured reviews

SB

5.0Reviewed Oct 5, 2018

It is a wonderful course. Easy with short videos. You get to know about why the archaeology was created and what stellar or solar phenomenon can we perceive through those.

KF

5.0Reviewed Aug 1, 2020

The subject matter was exactly what I hoped it to be: a new approach to interpreting ancient structures. Week 7 was more intense than I expected but informative nonetheless.

AF

5.0Reviewed Feb 29, 2024

The course is very distinctive and rich with information of interest to researchers in the field of ancient history. Many thanks to everyone who contributed to the preparation of this project.

WT

5.0Reviewed Sep 16, 2019

It is a great course. I have enjoyed each of the segments covering many more ancient sites than I have known about in the past and explaining the ones I did know about in much greater depth.

VK

4.0Reviewed Feb 11, 2021

Fascinating topic - great videos but I had read the notes as well because I was having difficulty understanding Prof. Magli's accent. Course covered many different parts of the world. Thank you.

TC

4.0Reviewed Aug 23, 2022

Understanding that the lecturer is Italian, but sometimes, it was hard to understand the words. Thanks to the script and subtitle provided in every video that made me complete the couse.

DE

5.0Reviewed Nov 9, 2017

It was a very interesting course, and had addressed the subject matter in an organized manner. It was challenging at times, but maintained my interest throughout the course.

KM

5.0Reviewed Nov 16, 2018

This course has lots of good information with an interesting instructor. The integration of visual images and stories with the astronomy and archaeology data is well done.

HH

5.0Reviewed Sep 22, 2020

A very fun and informative course for people who like history, archeology and astronomy. Slightly hard if you're bad at math like me but other than that, it's great!

IK

4.0Reviewed Oct 15, 2020

The overall course was good but I personally found the last test difficult. I had to read for the test from other websites as I found the readings provided in week 7 insufficient for the test.

FL

5.0Reviewed Sep 24, 2019

A really interesting course, both wide-ranging and detailed. I found some of the astronomical data hard to get my head around, but still thoroughly enjoyed the course - thank you!

SC

5.0Reviewed Aug 13, 2017

awesome course, I had a wonderful time and learnt a lot also the material is very good and is of high quality. The course is well designed and it fulfilled all my needs.

All reviews

Showing: 20 of 443

John Read
3.0
Reviewed Aug 2, 2019
Puneet Rakheja
2.0
Reviewed Apr 30, 2018
Alexander P.M. Vinkeles Melchers
3.0
Reviewed Jul 22, 2017
William Tewelow
5.0
Reviewed Sep 16, 2019
WILLIAM F. LI
3.0
Reviewed Apr 18, 2020
Fiona Leiper
5.0
Reviewed Sep 25, 2019
Javier Andrés Sandoval
5.0
Reviewed Dec 20, 2019
D Eischens
5.0
Reviewed Nov 10, 2017
Muhammad Wahaj Khan
5.0
Reviewed Jan 13, 2019
Olivia LePosa
5.0
Reviewed Jun 13, 2018
Manon van Unen
5.0
Reviewed Aug 10, 2018
antonio barletta
5.0
Reviewed Sep 12, 2019
AJ
5.0
Reviewed May 10, 2019
5.0
Reviewed Mar 3, 2019
Naomi G
4.0
Reviewed Nov 3, 2020
David Peachey
3.0
Reviewed Dec 21, 2021
Ginny Humber
2.0
Reviewed Aug 17, 2017
Aslı Tümerkan
2.0
Reviewed Oct 14, 2018
Kathryn Mann
5.0
Reviewed Feb 3, 2022
Barry Martin Fenby
5.0
Reviewed Mar 20, 2019