Silva Fabio, Henty Liz (eds.) Solarizing the Moon: Essays in Honour of Lionel Sims

Archaeopress, 2022. — 258 p.In the United Kingdom and Europe generally, the study of prehistoric monuments has long been the domain of archaeologists who excavate, measure, date and record them. From the 1960s onwards, archaeoastronomers provided an alternative picture based on their belief that the builders understood celestial movements and consequently enshrined astronomical alignments into their monuments. This picture was highly contested by most archaeologists and the two fields, archaeology and archaeoastronomy, have gone their separate ways. One of the scholars who broke this stalemate was Lionel Sims who, as an anthropologist, had a wealth of ethnographic material to draw from, allowing him to envision archaeoastronomy from a multidisciplinary perspective by combining a number of methodologies and approaches to examine how archaeoastronomy could deal with cultural complexity.Lionel Sims has produced an influential body of work which has challenged existing narratives about British prehistoric monuments and, equally importantly, provided innovative ways to approach and think about skyscapes. His work is not without controversy, but his unique take and thought-provoking conclusions have had an impact on the thinking of numerous students and collaborators. This festschrift gathers contributions from many of his colleagues who wish to honour and pay their respects to him. Following an introduction that discusses the legacy of his work, the volume delves deeper into three areas: Anthropology and Human Origins, Prehistory and Megalithic Monuments, and Theory. Its thirteen chapters contextualise Lionel’s work and expand it in new and exciting directions for skyscape archaeology.Fabio Silva is Senior Lecturer in Archaeological Modelling at Bournemouth University and co-founder and co-editor of the Journal of Skyscape Archaeology. His research focuses on how societies have perceived and conceived their environment and used that to time and adjust social, productive and magico-religious behaviours. His books include Skyscapes: The Role and Importance of the Sky in Archaeology (co-edited with N. Campion, Oxbow Books 2015). He was awarded the Fifth Carlos Jaschek Award from the European Society for Astronomy in Culture (SEAC) in 2016.
Liz Henty is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David and co-founder and co-editor of the Journal of Skyscape Archaeology. Apart from her research into the history of archaeoastronomy she also conducts archaeoastronomical surveys at the recumbent stone circles of Northeast Scotland. Her books include Visualising Skyscapes (co-edited with Daniel Brown, Routledge 2020) and Exploring Archaeoastronomy: A History of its Relationship with Archaeology and Esotericism (Oxbow Books 2022).