Description:
This lecture introduces the connection between the Lanna Kingdom and the night sky. Dr. Prissana will present findings from the growing field of archeo-astronomy. She will focus on how Chiang Mai’s Old City and the Prathat Doi Suthep Temple were planned to align with particular stars and constellations.
You will gain a deeper understanding of how societies built their sacred spaces in relation to celestial events, beliefs, traditions, and calendars, highlighting the often overlooked sophistication of ancient civilizations.
You will explore Vedic architectural principles for harmonizing living environments with the cosmos that are intertwined with indigenous astronomy and cultures.
Dr. Prissansa will discuss the pioneering archaeoastronomy research underway in Thailand and now expanding to other Southeast Asian civilizations. Archaeoastronomy in Eastern culture often involves stellar alignments, which, while more complex than solar alignments, provide significant benefits in site dating by accounting for the precession effect on stars. Archaeoastronomical dating is non-invasive to the ruins, providing insights into the past through astronomical phenomena that are authentic and cannot be altered by human intervention, unlike dating by art and architecture alone
*Archeoastronomy definition = The study of how people in the past understood and used
Celestial phenomena, as well as their cultural significance. It combines astronomy, archaeology,
and other disciplines to examine how ancient societies viewed and interacted with the night sky. This interdisciplinary field explores the astronomical knowledge, beliefs and practices of past civilizations, including their use of stars and other celestial objects for calendars, navigation, and religious purposes
Presenter:
Dr. Prissana Tamboon earned her PhD in Applied Science and Engineering from the University of California, Davis, followed by postdoctoral research on femtosecond laser-matter interaction at Harvard University. After returning to Thailand, she taught Physics and Math at Mae Fah Luang University, then conducted research with relativistic electron beams at Chiang Mai University. She then briefly pursued freelance writing and translation, which sparked an interest in multidisciplinary subjects, including archaeoastronomy. She rejoined CMU as a researcher in the Quantum Technology group, and later, in 2003, she became part of the Archaeoastronomy group, which includes researchers from CMU and the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT).