Since data was difficult to obtain, so I used one main source (and a handful of other websites) for this post which can be accessed here if you want to learn more:
Most of my information are direct quotes from the book, which will be placed in quotations to give credit. I did this because some excerpts were difficult to place into my own words. Please check out the book and support the authors if you want to learn more about Astronomy in different cultures!
Observations of the sky started thousands of years ago, with the Indigenous people across the globe. These observations were unlike the ones made today with large amounts of advanced technology. These observations paved the way for modern astronomy. But it's more than just the observations that we need to admire. It's the way that these tribes used the stars to guide them during long journeys and the stories that were told about the night sky. We don't know enough about them today because most of the information is lost, but I wanted to share The indigenous peoples of North America (Native American tribes) used the stars for many purposes: farming, hunting and gathering food, developing calendars and telling time, timing ceremonies, seeing symbols, and telling stories. The stars were their guides, and astronomy was incorporated into their everyday lives.
The Native American people monitored the sky very often. They were familiar with the way the Sun moved in the sky during the day and the phases of the Moon at night. They were familiar with seasons and the solstice patterns. They took note of changes in the sky and made stories of the constellations. Planets were also recognized, but there currently is not enough information on how they were kept track of in the sky.
The sky had different meanings, and the indigenous peoples saw the sky as a means of power and knowledge. They believed in powerful beings that controlled the very nature of the world.
Another thing that the Indigenous peoples of North America liked doing was creating astronomical art, whether it was to depict what they were observing in the sky, predictions for the future, or even stories of constellations and the powerful beings in the sky.
I'm going to split this up and talk about different groups of people, so there's no confusion (and so it doesn't seem like I'm jumping around):
Aboriginal Australians: According to the book Astronomy Across Cultures: The History of Non-Western Science, the Aboriginal people of Australia were "arguably" the world's first astronomers. They had complex knowledge of astronomical phenomena that predated other large cultures, such as the ancient Greeks, the Chinese, and the Indians. Obviously, we cannot know exactly what the Aboriginal Australians were thinking whenever they looked up in the night sky, since we are so far removed from their cultured and time period, but we can attempt to re-tell those stories that have been passed down.
Astronomy was a very crucial part of Aboriginal culture. It was not its own separate body of knowledge. The Aboriginals studied astronomy as a broader concept, rather than alongside mathematical calculations. Let's discuss something called "The Dreaming." "Originally, it is believed, the land was flat and featureless and the sky was always dark, but during the Dreaming the Ancestors, creative spirits, emerged from the land or sky, taking the form of men and animals, or even inanimate elements such as fire and water" (The History of Non-Western Science). They created everything that we know: the landforms, the celestial bodies, and all of the living creatures that we know of. The Dreaming is something that is continually happening; everything is united by the spirit of the Ancestors. The elders of the communities had much of the knowledge, and passed it down when others were deemed ready to receive it. Some stories were only kept to initiated men. This was because they had male heroes as the central characters of their stories, which were kept away from women. Besides the gender divide, different communities had different stories depending on where they lived. For instance, people who lived in more coastal areas tended to have their sky stories associated with fishing and canoes, whereas other groups that were more inland did not have these aspects in their stories. Different groups evolved to tell their own stories: "The Meriam people who live on three islands at the eastern end of Torres Strait place great emphasis on the vast constellation of Tagai which embraces the European constellations of Sagittarius, Scorpio, the Southern Cross, Lupus, Corvus and part of Hydra. Tagai represents a fisherman standing in a canoe (the body and tail of Scorpio), holding a three-pronged fishing spear (the Cross) and a fruit" (The History of Non-Western Science).
The Aboriginals were known for their incredibly accurate astronomical observations. They knew about the different types of stars, and created their own complex seasonal calendar based on the positions of the constellations in the sky. The Aboriginal people found that identifying patterns in the sky was more important than looking at single stars. Thus, they focused primarily on small clusters of stars. They did not pay much attention to the brighter stars. For example, "the Boorong people of western Victoria apparently focused their attention on linear patterns of three or more stars" (The History of Non-Western Science). "Unlike the familiar Greek designations, based on a join-the-dot pictorial image, the Aboriginals rarely identified a group of stars with a simple outline of a figure, but rather with the whole cast of characters in a story, the relationship being conceptual rather than visual" (The History of Non-Western Science).
The Aboriginal people were also able to distinguish the different types of stars based on their color, which is an indication of their size and used very frequently in modern astronomy as well. In central Australia, the Aranda people had several classifications for these different types of stars: Antares is known as tataka indora (very red), and the stars in the Hyades cluster were tataka (red) and tjilkera (white).
Other astronomical observations that the Aboriginal people were known to keep track of were the nightly movement of the stars from east to west and the gradual shift of the constellations. "Anthropologists have recorded that the Aranda and Luritja peoples around Hermannsburg in Central Australia could predict the position of the constellation they named Iritjinga, the Eagle Hawk with great accuracy throughout the whole annual cycle" (The History of Non-Western Science).
The Aboriginals pursued astronomical knowledge with different motivations than the people in the West. It was carefully intertwined in their culture. They believed that the stars played a large role in their lives, which was completely different from how the Western astronomers viewed it, which was out of pure curiosity for the unknown and what we could discover.
Inca:
It is known the the Inca worshipped the great Sun god, Inti. The Inca had a large interest in the Sun, and historical accounts can confirm that.
Historical accounts of Inca astronomy include observations of large pillars which formed a system of solar markers. One such account from Polo de Ondegardo is as follows:
"Each moon or month had its monument or pillar around Cuzco, where the Sun reached that month. And those pillars were important shrines, to which various sacrifices were offered, and everything that was left over from sacrifices to the Huacas was taken to these spots, which were called Sucanca; and that which is the beginning of winter, pucuy sucanca, and the beginning of summer, chirao sucanca"
The religion of the Inca was very closely tied to astronomy. They worshipped several gods, including: Viracocha (The Creator), Inti (The Sun), and Chuqui Illa (The God of Thunder). The Moon and Sun were seen as gods to the Inca, emphasizing the role of the sky in their religion and society. They built pillars and temples with such precision that the "heavenly bodies" in the sky would pass over the structures on very important days, like the summer solstice. The rising and setting of the Sun, Moon, and stars were very crucial events to the Inca.
One of the reasons that astronomy was so important in Inca culture, was for agriculture. The pillars and structures that they built, were built so carefully that when the Sun rose or set between those pillars, they knew which altitude they had to plant at.
Like the Aboriginals, the Inca also grouped stars into constellations instead of focusing on individual stars. When they looked up at the stars, they noticed animals and other representations that aligned with their culture. One belief they had was that Viracocha, which was the Creator, ensured that every animal had a corresponding star and in turn that all living things were protected.
The Inca had a system for the constellations: they split them up into two groups. The first was the standard connect-the-dots constellations to create images like animals, Gods, heroes, etc. The Pleiades group of stars played a large role in the Inca culture. It was believed to be influential over the well-being of animals. They viewed it as a huaca to make sacrifices to.
The second type of constellations were only observable when there were no stars in the night sky, these were the dark spots in the Milky Way. "The Inca were one of the few civilizations that were able to locate their constellations without the presence of stars" (peruforless.com). Another interesting thing to note is that these dark spots actually made up the Inca zodiac.
(From peruforless.com), here are some of the popular animal constellations that the Inca were able to identify:
Mach'acuay- The Serpent
Hanp'atu- The Toad
Urcuchillay- The Llama
Atoq- The Fox
Kantur- The Condor
We can see that through the Incan worship of the stars and constellations in the sky, that this played a very important role in their culture. It shows us that they believed everything was connected in one way or another. Even the construction of Machu Picchu was connected to the stars, as well as its uses for ceremonies and agriculture.
To quickly contrast Inca astronomy to what was taking place in the West, there is an excerpt from anthropology professor Gary Urton, who wrote:
"The universe of the Quechuas is not composed of a series of discrete phenomena and events, but rather there is a powerful synthetic principle underlying the perception and ordering of objects and events in the physical environment.” This means that the animals on Earth lived in harmony with the animals in the constellations. There is still much to be discovered about the complexities of Incan astronomy. Despite the era of the Spanish conquest, these Incan traditions were still able to survive long after that.
Native Americans:
Native American tribes were known to use astronomical observations throughout their culture and history. They had stories that connected them to the stars. Although I can't go over all the tribes and their relationship with astronomy, I will be going over a couple.
Skidi-Pawnee:
The stars meant a lot to the Skidi-Pawnee people. The Council of Chiefs (otherwise known as the Pleiades) was a symbol that united the Skidi people. Pleiades was able to be seen from the Pawnee homeland year round and it reminded them of what brought them all together. Polaris was a special star for the Skidi-Pawnee people; it was known as the Chief Star, and it set the example for political leadership, since it remained in its place year round. This is similar to a Chief, who should always be there for his people and watch over them all of the time. Another pair of stars, dubbed the Swimming Ducks, (the stars that form the stinger on Scorpius), set the beginning of each new agricultural, ceremonial, and hunting year. It is clear that the Skidi people based their lives on their observations of the stars and other celestial phenomena.
The Skidi-Pawnee liked to use astronomical symbolism in their structures. Every ritual that they performed was timed according to celestial and terrestrial observations, and the sacred articles that were used in these rituals were kept in scared bundles. One bundle in particular has stars on it:
The bundle has the stars that were visible and important to the Skidi-Pawnee people. Not every star was able to be identified with the information available, but most were as shown in the image above. This chart is very crucial for the Skidi-Pawnee people because it contains the stars which govern their lives and origin stories.
Navajo:
An excerpt from Astronomy Across Cultures: The History of Non-Western Science gives a Navajo story of how everything came to be: "According to the Navajo, the Sun was formed from a perfect piece of turquoise and the Moon from a perfect piece of white shell. Each was given spirits for movement, feathers for flight, and crystals for light. Pieces of crystal remained and three of the Holy People- the Fire God, known as Black God, First Man, and First Woman- placed these on a buckskin in pleasing patterns to represent the principles that would bring long life and happiness. These would be used to benefit the Earth Surface People, to help them find their own way, always maintaining balance and direction. They would create the stars to provide seasonal and nightly markers for agricultural, hunting, and ceremonial activities."
According to the Navajo, the Holy People were the ones that created the stars and placed them in the sky where they are found today. Some stars were scattered about, while others were placed in proper patterns (constellations). This was because of Coyote, the Trickster, who was getting tired of placing stars, and flung the rest of them into the sky. The Navajo people grouped constellations into male and female pairs, which represent different principles that pertain t harmony and balance, which inevitably lead to happy and long lives.
Another thing that was very important in Navajo culture was symbols. We can find them on various Navajo blankets and rugs. The Navajo people also painted them on the walls and canyons in the areas that they lived in. These symbols were mostly of the Earth and sky. This also includes the stars, which can also be found on various Navajo artifacts and paintings of the sky. They have also been known to place star depictions on ceilings in rock shelters.
Navajo sand-painting of Father Sky and Mother Earth
The Navajo were able to gather meanings from the constellations: "Náhookos bika'ii and Náhookos ba'áadi, Revolving Male (Big Dipper) and Revolving Female (Cassiopeia) are
symbolic of family life within the Navajo home (hogan)" (Astronomy Across Cultures). This is due to these two groups of stars being centered around the Fire Star (Polaris), which represents the central fire in the hogan. The Pleiades (otherwise known as Dilyéhé) is associated with the Black God, who is the fire god and created the stars and the source of the fiery light that shines from the stars at night. "The Pleiades are said to picture seven old men playing a dice game, as well as an event after the game: the man who lost is in front leading his wife and children home, the way they look in the sky" (Astronomy Across Cultures).
Final thoughts:
Firstly, if you've made it to the end of this VERY long blog post, thank you SO much! You're the reason I can continue making posts on interesting topics like these! Obviously, I could have written MUCH more on this subject (the book I used was over 600 pages!), but I couldn't. This subject is so interesting and I wish it was taught more to people. These stories and cultures need to be preserved and talked about more, since the indigenous peoples did not have the technology and methods that we have today to make astronomical observations. They did it all by eye and were INCREDIBLY accurate! Not only that, but their stories are amazing and so diverse across different tribes and countries.
I'm so glad that I was able to research and discuss this topic with you. I encourage everyone to do more research and read the book I linked up above to learn more if interested! Without it, I wouldn't have been able to make this post! Thank you for being patient with me, as I tried to put great care into this one. Stay tuned for more posts! I have some great ideas!