I suppose I could be wrong, but what if this is why ancients tracked planetary movements so much?

Is there a reason that the ancient people trasking the stars were important to their culture, aside from inferred spiritual beliefs? I'm working under the hypothesis (without evidence for the most part) here that perhaps it was not spiritual, and was not ancient alien stuff either, but was a practical practice for (bear with me here) early civilizations who may have had some form of space travel. Keep in mind how science and technology have been advancing quickly in the last hundred or so years, and how long humans have been on the Earth. Regardless of the weather you believe the earth is over four billion years or sixty-four hundred years old (please do not get into that debate here), this concept I'm about to mention still holds true. Either way, we have gone from Amish level tech to space stations and smartphones in under 200 years. I doubt anyone believes the Earth is only two hundred years old, lol.

Keep reading, there's a point to this paragraph. Population density drives technology. Generally once your population reaches a few hundred you are forces to spit off into new villages or start developing technologies. You also have evidence that a lot a lot of ancient societies had heavy populations. There are even some indications that technologies existed in the past. Some well known examples are the automated ancient roman bread factories, Baghdad batteries, and the (perhaps contested) Egyptian lightbulbs, and strong evidence of ancient nuclear explosions in India (artificiality is contested, however backed up by Indian texts); and of course ancient mythologies about space stations lasers and devices analogous to smartphones. Where are the powerlines? A lot of ancient myths speak to wireless power grids, which we could build today as shown by Nikola Tesla.

What else might they have had if this is true, and how does it relate to astronomy? If you were colonizing other planets in the solar system, your monuments built by your civilization might point to where your friends and family are. If you are planning a trip to Mars, perhaps you want to track its location and plan your trip accordingly. Imagine if islands floated around the ocean and you wanted to go to the Carribean, wouldn't our society have devices for tracking its movement? This obviously does not happen, but with planets it seems that everyone was tracking them and the cultures that did track them had myths of "magical devices". Simply replace the word " magic" with the words "high tech" and a magic tablet becomes a smartphone and a magic wand becomes a remote control.

Now of course we don't find smartphones and spacest stations just laying around, but would we? When this society fails, only these large monuments survive. You can watch the television series, "Life after People" to see what happens to the rest of the infrastructure. Space stations fall when their fuel runs out, smartphones turn into sand and rust, power transmitters erode away, skyscrapers fall eventually, etc. Only the large monuments survive. It just so happens that the larger monuments may before tracking the largest things. Of course, there could have been apps for that.

I'm looking for other ideas and to see if anyone else thinks this.

a reply to: just2cents

They wuz kaangs.

Using the stars and constellations to travel, navigate an map ones way across the globe is a lost art.

a reply to: Specimen

That's also very likely I suppose. I wonder if navigating by the stars will be picked up as we travel in to space in the future?

There really wasn't much to do at night besides look up at the sky.
Add in that religion and superstition were the major focal points of life due to ignorance, which led people to ascribe meaning to the star's alignments. Plus navigational uses.

Equals why early civilizations tracked stars.

a reply to: watchitburn

I'm not discounting that, for sure, but I feel that the alignments of certain monuments and the effort which went into them are so enormous it had to be something bigger than just personal beliefs which lead people to build such massive undertakings.

a reply to: just2cents

Going out on the end of a limb but, probably to track the seasons, relevant to crops and food and, well you know, planting and harvesting and trying to live
Why do people overthink what is so simple. Today, right now we track the stars to navigate as well as work out seasons, rainfall, temperature.
Why go all esoteric?

oops Diamond double post

Because what happens above, also happens below.

a reply to: NoPants

Gravity acting in energy/mass? That's about it.

a reply to: Raggedyman

That's a good point, food is important.

The Sphinx used to be the fastest space party bus in the galaxy until white privilege grounded it.

a reply to: toms54

originally posted by: Raggedyman
a reply to: just2cents

Going out on the end of a limb but, probably to track the seasons, relevant to crops and food and, well you know, planting and harvesting and trying to live
Why do people overthink what is so simple. Today, right now we track the stars to navigate as well as work out seasons, rainfall, temperature.
Why go all esoteric?

I would think that back in those days the night sky would have seemed much more mysterious to the people. Stories and myths developed around astronomical events, gods and messengers spring to mind. We also have so much light pollution in our cities and the distractions of modern day living. All of that on top of what you say really answers the OP's question.
We also celebrate astronomical events so much so that they are entwined in our culture and tradition.

a reply to: Quetzalcoatl14

If you keep posting comments like this I may break a rib. That's funny.

originally posted by: Specimen
Using the stars and constellations to travel, navigate an map ones way across the globe is a lost art.

Stars, sure.

But what about planets?

Did the tracking of planets help one navigate the seas?

originally posted by: watchitburn
There really wasn't much to do at night besides look up at the sky.
Add in that religion and superstition were the major focal points of life due to ignorance, which led people to ascribe meaning to the star's alignments. Plus navigational uses.

Equals why early civilizations tracked stars.

I think he said planets.

originally posted by: Raggedyman
a reply to: just2cents

Going out on the end of a limb but, probably to track the seasons, relevant to crops and food and, well you know, planting and harvesting and trying to live
Why do people overthink what is so simple. Today, right now we track the stars to navigate as well as work out seasons, rainfall, temperature.
Why go all esoteric?

What in Gods name do the other planets have to do with OUR weather amd seasons?

I think You are the one going Esoteric on us...?

originally posted by: NoPants
Because what happens above, also happens below.

With that username? Really?? And you put a wink at the end?

Guys...?
I think OP has a secret admirer....but maybe not the good kind. I dunno, you two figure it out.

a reply to: just2cents

To use the similar methods that ancients used would be really tough to do unless they get very familiar with a new planet and it solar cycle, especially in space since it matter of perception.

Resonance. Lost now, ancient knowledge of the power of sound, vibration. We once had the ability to truly connect with the universe, be part of the great vibrationary moments in time when our being resonated with the All.