equator, dubbed the Gauge of the Red Road, was particularly
important, as it allowed for increased accuracy in the mea-
surement of the paths of the sun and moon; the astronomer
Geng Shouchang, who lived during the fi rst century b.c.e., is
credited with the invention of the equatorial ring. In the fi rst
century c.e. an even more important ring was added: one de-
noting the ecliptic, or the path taken by the earth around the
sun, allowing for even greater accuracy in measurement tak-
ing and prediction making, especially with regard to eclipses;
this ring was dubbed the Gauge of the Yellow Road. Overall,
Chinese astronomical predictions never equaled those of the
Greeks, whose geometry was more refi ned.
One of the most renowned Chinese astronomers was
Zhang Heng, who lived in the second century c.e. and was
also a poet. He is widely credited with the invention of the
fi rst comprehensively functional armillary sphere, featuring
rings representing the equator and the ecliptic as well as a
meridian, circling the earth over the poles, and a horizon. Th e
accuracy of this sphere, which was a yard in diameter and was
dubbed the Gauge of the Enveloping Sky, allowed a fourth-
century astronomer named Yu Xi to discover the fact that
the equinoxes occurred some 20 minutes earlier every year,
a process called the precession of the equinoxes. (Th is process
was actually fi rst discovered by the Greek Hipparchus around
120 b.c.e.) Zhang Heng is also presumed to have built the fi rst
orrery, a smaller armillary sphere combined with representa-
tions of other bodies in the solar system, all of which moved
in accordance with reality using water power. Th is smaller
sphere was a prototype for modern clockwork.
Advances in astronomy were also achieved in ancient
India, though on a less defi nitive scale. One known fact is
that during the rule of the Guptas, in the fourth and fi ft h
centuries c.e., the number of days in the year was calculated
with accuracy exceeding that attained by the Greeks. Other-
wise, generally speaking, scientifi c knowledge was recorded
in such elaborate Sanskrit that the sharing—and further de-
veloping—of that knowledge was somewhat hindered. Other
Asian and Pacifi c cultures, including those in Japan, Korea,
Southeast Asia, and Australia, are known to have amassed
knowledge of the stars, particularly of the appearances of
constellations, over the millennia. However, little concrete
evidence exists to demonstrate how far back into ancient
times this knowledge existed.
EUROPE
BY STEPHEN M. FABIAN
Hesiod, a Greek poet-farmer of the seventh century b.c.e.,
provides a calendar that weds productive human activity
to astronomical observations. “At the time when the Pleia-
des, the daughters of Atlas, are rising,” he says, “begin your
harvest, and plow again when they are setting. Th e Pleiades
are hidden for forty nights and forty days.” Recorded two
centuries aft er he lived, Hesiod’s Work s and D ays combines
astronomy with mythology, religion, the cycles of fl ora and
fauna, farming and sailing, and the celebration of holidays,
indicative of astronomy’s integration into ancient cultures.
But Hesiod’s ability to use accurate observations of celestial
events, such as the heliacal rising of the Pleiades (their fi rst
appearance near sunrise aft er a period of invisibility due to
proximity to the sun), and their timing with important tasks
must be the result of years—even generations—of careful sky
watching. Th is and other evidence suggest a long prehistoric
European tradition of systematic astronomical observations
that were the basis for successfully coordinating and synchro-
nizing human activity with the perceived natural and cosmic
cycles engendering life, power, and fecundity.
Th e roots of European astronomy run deep. Th e archaeol-
ogist Alexander Marshack interprets the crescent-shaped and
circular carvings on an eagle’s wingbone from the Dordogne
Valley, France (ca. 30,000 b.c.e.), as tallies recording the syn-
odic—or lunar phase—cycle. While Marshack’s interpreta-
tions remain the subject of controversy, researchers have found
precise astronomical alignments among many of the hun-
dreds of megalithic (“large stone”) constructions—including
mounds and passage tombs, single standing stones (menhirs),
and stones in rows, circles, and other geometric patterns—of
Neolithic peoples from the Mediterranean to Ireland and the
North Sea built between 4500 and 2000 b.c.e.
Th e Scottish engineer Alexander Th om visited and made
measurements at many of these sites in the middle decades
of the 20th century. His main postulates include a standard
megalithic unit of measure (for example, the “megalithic
yard”), and he theorizes that this unit of measure allowed
for the precise layout of features (such as Pythagorean tri-
angles), that these features oft en incorporated astronomical
alignments to the rising and setting positions of important
celestial bodies, and that such layouts functioned to mark off
important events and periods of time which included a stan-
dardized megalithic year and even allowed for eclipse predic-
tion. Scholars continue to debate Th om’s specifi c claims, but
his work and that of others make it indisputable that astrono-
my was signifi cant to life in ancient Europe.
Th e oldest reliably dated mega lithic site with a precise as-
tronomical alignment is that of Dissignac in Brittany, France
(4500 b.c.e.). Its main feature is a mound with two passage
tombs, one of which is oriented so that the rising December
solstice sun shines directly down the 7-meter passage to il-
luminate the rectangular burial chamber. Another important
passage tomb is the mound and site of Newgrange (ca. 3000
b.c.e.) in Ireland. Th ere the light of the rising December sol-
stice sun penetrates approximately 20 meters to the burial
chamber via its main passage and a “roof box” feature above
it. Th e mound at Newgrange also is surrounded by rings of
stones, many of which are engraved, and some scholars inter-
pret astronomical relevance in the iconographic (symbolic)
features of these stones, their placement, and the eff ects of
their shadows, such as the shadow cast on the December sol-
stice from a stone of one ring onto a three-leafed spiral design
of another stone directly at the tomb’s entrance.astronomy: Europe 129