GIS for Archaeoastronomy studies

webpage of the conference : http://www.caa2006.org/schedule/viewabstract.php?id=187We present an original approach for performing the study of astronomical events around Neolithic tombs. This approach involves three main steps: (i) The definition of a methodology for generating a 360° view of a horizon using a GIS; (ii) The integration of the previous view into a commercial software dedicated to astronomy; (iii) The study of astronomical events linked to the view. We give in this paper a detailed description of software implementation. We point out how the proposed approach has been defined for obtaining an evolving and efficient tool. The rest of the paper is organized as follows. The field of archaeoastronomy, which is the study of the role of astronomy in early human cultures, will be then presented in detail. Then we give a brief overview of our software approach. The third part will deal with the generation of a 360° view using a GIS. In the fourth part we will present how to integrate the previous view into a commercial software dedicated to astronomy. The last part will describe the results obtained when analyzing the astronomical orientations of the megaliths of Corsica. Finally the conclusions and perspectives will be briefly evoked