A group about Cultural Astronomy
The Cultural Astronomy group AsCultA, born on Adamo’s initiative in 2021, works on themes of the history of astronomy, philosophy and methodology of astronomical action; on topics of sociology applied to the study of the research environment, but also of the society that incorporates the scientific acquisitions produced by us; of ethnology used to investigate the astronomical knowledge gained in particular geographical areas and imbued with local culture; on typical themes of archaeoastronomy which, among other things, primarily tries to find possible correlations between the architectural choices made in the past in relation to some particular positions of the stars in the sky. Finally, the group also investigates the relationship between astronomy and the arts (literature, music, painting, comics, graphics, …): all fields in which the cultural astronomer typically works by implementing, hopefully, a conscious link between the obvious knowledge of his own methods of scientific investigation and those – for him less obvious to possess – typical of the other disciplines with which he finds himself interacting from time to time.
From a historical point of view, Archaeoastronomy, born as a support technique for archaeological research for the classification of structures and artifacts in the astronomical field, has shown its usefulness for an understanding of the culture of ancient civilizations. The diversity of methodologies and the development of other fields then led to the definition of Cultural Astronomy (Ruggles & Saunders 1990; Tirapicos 2019; Boutsikas et al. 2021) and it is plausible to think that these studies will be increasingly developed and integrated. Our group is made up of various researchers, technologists, associate astronomers, full professors and research fellows, belonging to various INAF offices, who intend to intercept, anticipate and favor this evolution.
INAF Team:
Angelo Adamo, P.I., Tecnologo, INAF/ASF Palermo
Elio Antonello, Collaboratore, Astronomo Associato, INAF Merate
Alberto Cappi, Collaboratore, Astronomo Associato, INAF OAS
Manuela Coniglio, Collaboratrice, Assegnista, INAF OAPA
Giangiacomo Gandolfi, Collaboratore, Tecnologo INAF OAR
Salvatore Gulglielmino, Collaboratore, Ricercatore INAF OACT
Paolo Molaro, Collaboratore, Astronomo Associato INAF OA Trieste
Francesco Poppi, Collaboratore, Tecnologo INAF OAR
Roberto Danizi, Collaboratore, Assegnista INAF OAR
You must be logged in to post a comment.