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The training required to understand and use astronomical alignments was specialized knowledge that had to be transmitted through apprenticeship. The priests or astronomer-priests who could predict celestial events, who understood sight lines and what they marked, who could use architectural features for calendrical calculations—these knowledge-keepers maintained astronomical traditions across generations. The sanctuaries served as teaching tools, the permanent architectural features preserving knowledge that oral transmission alone might not reliably maintain.
The secrecy that possibly surrounded astronomical knowledge created hierarchy between those who understood celestial patterns and those who merely observed their effects. The ability to predict eclipse, to announce precisely when solstice would occur, to know months in advance when specific celestial events would happen—this knowledge conferred power and status. The architectural encoding of astronomy made the knowledge simultaneously accessible (visible in permanent stone) and restricted (requiring instruction to interpret correctly).
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