The Imagined Sky

Cultural Perspectives

edited by Darrelyn Gunzburg

Book cover: The Imagined Sky

Extent: 256 pages

Publisher: Equinox Publishing

Subjects: Cultural Studies, Religious Studies

Language: English

Paperback (Published)

(October 2016)

ISBN: 9781781791684

6.1 x 9.17 inches

Price: $39.95

In stock

Hardback (Published)

(October 2016)

ISBN: 9781781791677

6.1 x 9.17 inches

Price: $100.00

In stock

The sky forms fifty percent of our visual world and as such has a voice across cultures. This sky-voice is informed by human images, dreams, and aspirations and thus is complex and contains great diversity. The inherent nature of this sky-voice is transmitted from one generation to another through text, image, oral tradition, physical mapping, and painted description. This volume, written by some of the most noted scholars in their fields, acknowledges the presence of such a voice, from the sky’s movement mirrored in the archaeoastronomy of British prehistory, the apocalyptic myths of comets and meteors, sky cartography reflected in European globes and frescoes, Australian aboriginal sky myths, the issue of disappearing dark skies, contemporary reflections on the sky, and the recognition that sky imagery has persisted in similar forms since its potential roots in the Palaeolithic period.


The sky forms fifty percent of our visual world and as such has a voice across cultures. This sky-voice is informed by human images, dreams, and aspirations and thus is complex and contains great diversity. The inherent nature of this sky-voice is transmitted from one generation to another through text, image, oral tradition, physical mapping, and painted description. This volume, written by some of the most noted scholars in their fields, acknowledges the presence of such a voice, from the sky’s movement mirrored in the archoeastronomy of British prehistory, the apocalyptic myths of comets and meteors, sky cartography reflected in European globes and frescoes, Australian aboriginal sky myths, the issue of disappearing dark skies, contemporary reflections on the sky, and the recognition that sky imagery has persisted in similar forms since its potential roots in the Palaeolithic period. These eleven essays offer critical engagement in understanding the sky in human imagination and culture and contribute to this new field emerging within the academy.

  • Edited by Darrelyn Gunzburg

"This is a rich and varied collection of eleven essays dealing with the role of the sky in human imagination and culture." --Fiona Bowie, Journal of Skyscape Archaeology 4.1