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Sacred Landscapes and Astronomical Heritage
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Sacred Landscapes and Astronomical Heritage

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Tourism, Culture, and Heritage".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2022) | Viewed by 9957

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Giulio Magli

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Mathematics, Politecnico di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy
Interests: ancient cultural landscapes; archaeoastronomy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, research on ancient cultural landscapes—that is to say, on sacred landscapes, since for the ancients, as Eliade said, “the world comes into existence when the sacred manifests itself in space”—has received a considerable boost. In particular, the definitive establishment of scientific archaeoastronomy and the interaction of studies on religious landscapes and pilgrimage sites with those on ancient topography and astronomy has been of help in understanding key cognitive aspects of heritage sites almost everywhere and anytime in the world, from the Classical Age to Egypt, from imperial China to India, from Meso-America to the Incas. The adjoint value of this research field has yet, however, to be fully exploited both in terms of sustainable development in areas enclosed in cultural landscapes and in the connected terms of preservation and enhancement of cultural heritage. The aim of the issue is to stimulate new contributions to the study of sacred landscapes, taking these issues as a preferred viewpoint.

Prof. Giulio Magli
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • archaeoastronomy
  • sacred landscapes
  • sustainability of cultural landscapes

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 3753 KiB  
Article
Between Land and Sky—A Study of the Orientation of Roman Centuriations in Italy
by Andrea Rodríguez-Antón, Giulio Magli and Antonio César González-García
Sustainability 2023, 15(4), 3388; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su15043388 - 13 Feb 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1428
Abstract
The centuriations were public lands delimited and divided in regular lots by Rome as a result of the conquest but also the conceptual appropriation of new territories, which were transformed according to particular ideas of space. Despite previous works rejecting the astronomical hypothesis [...] Read more.
The centuriations were public lands delimited and divided in regular lots by Rome as a result of the conquest but also the conceptual appropriation of new territories, which were transformed according to particular ideas of space. Despite previous works rejecting the astronomical hypothesis for the orientation of Roman centuriations, recent publications have supported the role of particular astronomical phenomena in the design of Roman land and urbanism in Italy. The aim of this work is to determine whether the orientation of the centuriations follows any pattern, and to determine the precepts, if any, underlying the election of privileged directions. We present a statistical study of the orientation of 67 centuriations in Italy—the largest sample of this type ever studied in this region—that considers the conditions of the surrounding environment together with a comparative analysis with a dataset of the same type that includes 52 Italian Roman towns. The results show interesting patterns shared by both centuriations and towns, some of them coinciding with relevant astronomical events in the Roman context, together with others in which differentrequirements would have been prioritized. In summary, we should consider the sky as an element involved in the creation of Roman urban and rural spaces. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sacred Landscapes and Astronomical Heritage)
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21 pages, 24513 KiB  
Article
Archaeoastronomy and Conflict: On the Orientation of Prehistoric Funerary Monuments in Western Sahara
by Andrea Rodríguez-Antón, Maitane Urrutia-Aparicio and María Antonia Perera Betancor
Sustainability 2023, 15(3), 2005; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su15032005 - 20 Jan 2023
Viewed by 1619
Abstract
A variety of Prehistoric dry-stone monuments are ubiquitous in Western Sahara, a region delimited by the boundaries of the former Spanish colony. With either burial or ritual functions, these monuments are spread throughout the Sahara Desert creating sacred landscapes and housing the memory [...] Read more.
A variety of Prehistoric dry-stone monuments are ubiquitous in Western Sahara, a region delimited by the boundaries of the former Spanish colony. With either burial or ritual functions, these monuments are spread throughout the Sahara Desert creating sacred landscapes and housing the memory of millennia of occupation. Previous research has explored the role of the sky in various aspects of the life of early inhabitants, such as their religious beliefs or funerary practices. These have been identified by the patterns of location and orientation of these constructions and their relation to particular astronomical events. This work presents a statistical analysis of the orientation of more than 200 prehistoric dry-stone monuments in Western Sahara occupied by Morocco, currently the biggest sample ever studied in this area and the first unique sample obtained in situ. The results show that the orientations follow similar trends observed in other areas of North Africa and the Mediterranean and that they fit with the visibility of particular celestial objects. This provides new insights into the ideas about space, time, and death and the cultural changes and mobility of those peoples and contributes to the preservation of a highly threatened heritage that is immersed in a vast land currently under dispute. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sacred Landscapes and Astronomical Heritage)
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18 pages, 5159 KiB  
Article
A Biography of an Ancient Cultural Landscape: The Sky over Tarquinia
by Giovanna Bagnasco Gianni, Andrea Garzulino, Matilde Marzullo and Antonio Paolo Pernigotti
Sustainability 2022, 14(24), 16798; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su142416798 - 14 Dec 2022
Viewed by 1593
Abstract
This paper discusses two kinds of research implemented to federate different disciplines and knowledge in support of archaeological research and the protection of the tangible and intangible heritage of ancient Tarquinia. The first part of the work examines the results obtained from the [...] Read more.
This paper discusses two kinds of research implemented to federate different disciplines and knowledge in support of archaeological research and the protection of the tangible and intangible heritage of ancient Tarquinia. The first part of the work examines the results obtained from the archaeological analysis, the concrete implications on the sustainability of ancient cultural landscapes and their possible transmission over time as an expression of the culture of a community. The second part of the work presents the reading and analysis of the ancient landscape and sites through chrono-stratigraphy, especially regarding two case studies in Tarquinia: the ‘monumental complex’ and the Ara della Regina sanctuary. The work focuses on the intangible aspects of the landscape as a result of archaeological research in the archaeoastronomical field. The orientation of the sacred structures and landscapes is presented herein regarding Etruria and the two case studies. The results shed light on the city’s perception by the population, identifying it as an entity that held and sheltered every aspect of the community’s life. The preliminary results of this study have made it possible to recognise aspects of significant historical and cultural value, which are the heterogeneous expression of a solid identity to be safeguarded and developed in a sustainable way. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sacred Landscapes and Astronomical Heritage)
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20 pages, 5883 KiB  
Article
Revealing the Place: Sacred Architecture along the Portuguese Coastline
by Sérgio Barreiros Proença, Francesca Dal Cin, Cristiana Valente Monteiro and Beatriz Freitas Gordinho
Sustainability 2022, 14(23), 15486; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su142315486 - 22 Nov 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1532
Abstract
Revealing the place addresses the referential role of sacred architecture elements that dot the Portuguese Atlantic coastline in contemporary architectural pedagogy and in the practice of architecture. The long Portuguese coastline, the case study of the research, is dotted with sacred architectural elements—sanctuaries, [...] Read more.
Revealing the place addresses the referential role of sacred architecture elements that dot the Portuguese Atlantic coastline in contemporary architectural pedagogy and in the practice of architecture. The long Portuguese coastline, the case study of the research, is dotted with sacred architectural elements—sanctuaries, churches, chapels and crosses—oriented according to both compositional and canonical cosmological principles. The character of the space of articulation between the land and the sea is made evident by the tension between the sacred elements and the landscape. This paper addresses this relation, resorting to decomposition interpretative drawings and arguments that uncover the formal relationships between sacred architecture and the landscape, proposing an interpretative reading of the built elements that combines type and place. Furthermore, it discusses the transposition of composition principles from sacred to secular architecture, building an analogy for the typological transfer process, considering the transference of existing qualities in sacred architecture for contemporary architectural projects. The hypothesis discussed is that the decoding of the architectural composition of sacred elements in the landscape remains useful both in the pedagogy and practice of architecture. Finally, it is evidenced that this exercise allows us to transfer formal relations established between sacred buildings and the landscape for contemporary architectural practice, revealing type and topos. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sacred Landscapes and Astronomical Heritage)
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19 pages, 3710 KiB  
Article
Land- and Skyscapes of the Camino de Santiago: An Astronomy and World Heritage Sustainable Approach
by Maitane Urrutia-Aparicio, Juan A. Belmonte and Antonio César González-García
Sustainability 2022, 14(5), 3047; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14053047 - 4 Mar 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2636
Abstract
The Romanesque churches dotted along the Way of Saint James are magnificent examples of cultural heritage, and their analysis from the perspective of cultural astronomy may, in an unobtrusive manner, provide information of hitherto unexplored facets of these treasures. This study aims to [...] Read more.
The Romanesque churches dotted along the Way of Saint James are magnificent examples of cultural heritage, and their analysis from the perspective of cultural astronomy may, in an unobtrusive manner, provide information of hitherto unexplored facets of these treasures. This study aims to examine the pilgrimage road as a communication channel and to seek possible regional variations in the Christian kingdoms of Leon, Castile, Navarre and Aragon. Seen as a whole, the Romanesque churches of our sample present two main orientation patterns: towards either the ecclesiastical and astronomical equinox or to certain Easter Sunday celestial phenomena. However, equinoctial orientations are present only in Leon and Navarre, while Easter appears with more or less significance in every kingdom. The Camino de Santiago constitutes a sacred landscape with a common heritage, with a certain degree of cultural diversity that depends on the territory. These subtle differences have surfaced only in light of archaeoastronomical investigations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sacred Landscapes and Astronomical Heritage)
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