Eyes on the sky, Feet on the Ground: How Stars Have Aided The Development Of Our Architecture
Ancient humans had their eyes fixated on the skies as they believed that stars had power over what took place on earth. These ancient humans associated various myths with the patterns they found in the stars.
Our ancestors used star constellations to navigate from the deepest seas to the furthest lands. This led many of the ancient civilizations to use the stars to create buildings and architecture.
One very visible constellation is Orion, which is easily located as it contains three bright stars in a line. It also helps us identify other significant stars such as Sirius — the brightest star of the night time sky. Thus, it was not surprising that ancient Egyptians built the three largest pyramids on the Giza Plateau in correlation with the Orion. The stars of Orion became associated with Osiris — the god of rebirth and afterlife.
Among other archaeological sites, the belt also points to the Chaco Canyon, which is a sacred pilgrimage site and is of immense importance to the living ancestors of the ancient Pueblo people. Added to this, the Hopi, a native american population who had great astronomical knowledge built their temples following the pattern of the Orion.
Similarly many other monuments have been inspired by the stars! The location of the Great Sphinx corresponds to Leo — the twelfth largest constellation in the sky.
By making such connections with the stars the architects of these ancient places wanted to sketch a sacred landscape on Earth. This information is useful because it puts archaeologists one step closer to understanding the minds of our ancestors.
Constellations haven’t lost their importance as even today in the southern hemisphere the famous Southern Cross constellation or the Crux provides a point of orientation for people.
This also helps uncover why these sites are so perfect in architecture; because they are pegged to the heavenly bodies above. By knowing that these ancient sites are influenced by the heavens, we do not need to reach far above to understand our star systems.
