Astronomy is one of the oldest natural sciences.
The early civilizations in recorded history made methodical observations of the night sky.
These include the Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, Indians, Chinese, Maya, and many ancient indigenous peoples of the Americas..
Both words are quite old (astronomy is from the 12th century, and astrology from the 14th), and both share a root with the word disaster (the Greek astron, meaning “star”).
In modern use the two words have quite different meanings, but for hundreds of years they were synonymous..
Early Observations:
Early people noticed constellations of stars in the sky that looked like animals and people, and made up stories about what they thought they saw.
In fact, the oldest records we have of astronomical observations are 30,000-year-old paintings found on the walls of caves..
Both words are quite old (astronomy is from the 12th century, and astrology from the 14th), and both share a root with the word disaster (the Greek astron, meaning “star”).
In modern use the two words have quite different meanings, but for hundreds of years they were synonymous..
Astronomy is one of the oldest natural sciences.
The early civilizations in recorded history made methodical observations of the night sky.
These include the Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, Indians, Chinese, Maya, and many ancient indigenous peoples of the Americas..
Both words are quite old (astronomy is from the 12th century, and astrology from the 14th), and both share a root with the word disaster (the Greek astron, meaning “star”).
In modern use the two words have quite different meanings, but for hundreds of years they were synonymous..
The Oldest Science - Astronomy.
The answer to the question of the oldest is quite complex as science is an interdisciplinary subject.
As per expert views, the historical evidence that includes cave paintings and astronomically aligned prehistoric monuments clearly indicates that astronomy is the oldest science.Jul 14, 2021.
Thus, modern astronomy is part of a continuous tradition, now almost 4,000 years long, that cuts across multiple cultures and languages..
Archaeological records show that astronomy is one of the first natural sciences developed by early civilisations all over the globe.
Ancient astronomers could perform only limited investigations of the sky, using rudimentary aids to the human eye..
Astronomy is one of the oldest natural sciences.
The early civilizations in recorded history made methodical observations of the night sky.
These include the Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, Indians, Chinese, Maya, and many ancient indigenous peoples of the Americas..
Astronomy is one of the oldest scientific disciplines that has evolved from the humble beginnings of counting stars and charting constellations with the naked eye to the impressive showcase of humankind's technological capabilities that we see today.Jul 25, 2023.
The Oldest Science - Astronomy.
The answer to the question of the oldest is quite complex as science is an interdisciplinary subject.
As per expert views, the historical evidence that includes cave paintings and astronomically aligned prehistoric monuments clearly indicates that astronomy is the oldest science.Jul 14, 2021.
The Oldest Science - Astronomy.
The answer to the question of the oldest is quite complex as science is an interdisciplinary subject.
As per expert views, the historical evidence that includes cave paintings and astronomically aligned prehistoric monuments clearly indicates that astronomy is the oldest science.Jul 14, 2021.
The first documented records of systematic astronomical observations date back to the Assyro-Babylonians around 1000 BCE.
From this cradle of civilisation in Mesopotamia – in the southern part of present-day Iraq – astronomers had built up knowledge of the celestial bodies and recorded their periodic motions..
The Oldest Science - Astronomy.
The answer to the question of the oldest is quite complex as science is an interdisciplinary subject.
As per expert views, the historical evidence that includes cave paintings and astronomically aligned prehistoric monuments clearly indicates that astronomy is the oldest science.Jul 14, 2021.
The Oldest Science - Astronomy.
The answer to the question of the oldest is quite complex as science is an interdisciplinary subject.
As per expert views, the historical evidence that includes cave paintings and astronomically aligned prehistoric monuments clearly indicates that astronomy is the oldest science.Jul 14, 2021.
People used this intricate knowledge of celestial objects and events to tell time and navigate, but they also used the stars and planets to tell stories, build societies, and most remarkably understand their own human relationship to the universe surrounding them..
This implies that formal knowledge of the stars stretches back to before recorded history.
These developments weren’t unique to the West
either.
Similar histories played out on different timelines in varied cultures across the world.
And that’s why many historians consider astronomy to be the oldest science.
The oldest surviving planetary astronomical text is the Babylonian Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa
A 7th-century BCE copy of a list of observations of the motions of the planet Venus that probably dates as early as the second millennium BCE.
The Babylonian astrologersalso laid the foundations of what would eventually become Western astrology.[12]
astronomy appeared alongside the dawn of agriculture in the so-called Fertile Crescent
a thin sliver of the Middle East historically thought to be the birthplace of both farming and writing.
As ancient civilizations exploded in Sumer
so did the study of the stars.
