In the beginning
I sold my first book (a pdf booklet) back in 2003. I was in my 2nd year studying computer science at the West University of Timisoara, Romania. Its name was All About the Universe (Totul despre Univers – in Romanian). It contained general information as well as formulae for computing the 3D coordinates of celestial objects. At that time (never got over it though) I was obsessed with 3D simulators (you can find some on my Github page). Later, in 2004, I published the sequel focusing on the History of Astronomy (Istoria Astronomiei – in Romanian). This was my first contact with archaeoastronomy and over the years I become more and more interested in it. Once I met my future wife, Simina, we started exploring the world, visiting what we read about. I remember our first visits to the French Vosges Mountains (lots of megaliths, especially menhirs – standing stones – and dolmens) and then the 1st of May 2013 trip to Stonehenge and Avebury (UK) followed by Newgrange and Tara (Ireland).
Our books so far
I do not remember exactly when, maybe around 2015, but we started working on our first official book, The Sky of Stone (Cerul de Piatră – in Romanian) which was published by the West University of Timisoara Romania Press in 2018. It was well received given the novelty of the field among the general public. It was followed by Time and the Calendars (Timpul și Calendarele – in Romanian) published in 2019 by the same publishing house.
While both books focused on general archaeoastronomy, we felt that the skyscape in Romania deserved some attention as it was already home to existing studies and received some interest from archaeologists and astronomers working together. As such, we challenged the small community centered around the Romanian Society for Astronomy in Culture to write several articles on topics covering archaeo and ethnoastronomy in Romania. The book containing 15 chapters was called Astronomy of the Ancients: Archaeo and Ethno Astronomy on the current territory of Romania (Astronomia Străbunilor: arheo și etnoastronomie pe teritoriul României) and was published at Jate Press in Szeged, Hungary.
All book covers were designed by students enrolled in my elective module on Astronomy in Culture taught at West University of Timisoara Romania.
Ancient Skies of Banat
And so we reach our latest project. It was a long way getting here. Just before the pandemic we invited our colleagues from Romania, Serbia, and Hungary to participate in a new project, this time written in English and focusing on the Banat region (an area roughly the size of Belgium and covering parts of Romania, Serbia, and Hungary). After over 2 years of hard work, reviewing, proofreading, and editing we are finally at a stage were the publishing house has delivered the ready-to-be printed manuscripts and covers (see above) of our Ancient Skies of Banat. It contains 7 chapters spanning over 380 pages written by experts in their fields (archaeologists, archaeoastronomers, historians of astronomy, and engineers) covering a period from prehistory to modern times and focusing on our ancestors’ view of the skies and the evolution of astronomy as a science and outreach activity in the region. We plan on having an online event in Spring 2023 so stay tuned for updates. The book will be available for sale online!
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