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What practical value did astronomy offer to ancient civilizations?
- December
- 14
10:07 pm History
What practical value did astronomy offer to ancient civilizations?
It allowed them to predict eclipses with great accuracy.
It helped them understand our cosmic origins.
It helped them find uses for ancient structures like Stonehenge.
It helped them keep track of time and seasons, and it was used by some cultures for navigation.
3 comments
It helped them keep track of time and seasons, and it was used by some cultures for navigation.
Posted by CanProf, on December 20th, 2008, at 3:05 pm. #.
Are you giving answers or what? I think the ancient peoples would have managed growing seasons, regular floods and so on without astronomy, simply by counting days and watching plants and weather. Basically, astronomy had no necessary practical value. It was unnecessary to use it for agriculture and even harmful, because the weather is not regular like the stars. It helped a bit with navigation, but was only needed when one was far from the shore, therefore rarely.
Posted by mai-ling, on December 23rd, 2008, at 8:38 am. #.
Much more important, it predicted growing seasons.
Posted by Warren, on December 18th, 2008, at 4:49 am. #.