African Cultural Astronomy by Jarita Holbrook

Star lore often incorporates origin and creation myths of people as well as insightful tales that reflect important aspects of their culture. Examples of star lore include the names of the planets, stars, and constellations along with the stories created about them.

Star Lore: Star Lore refers to the myths and legends surrounding celestial bodies. I hope this article serves as a starting point for individual projects on African Astronomy. Thus, in addition to describing established sites of astronomy, I present many sites where research still needs to be done. Several sites exist but detailed astronomical analysis has not been conducted. A brief overview of the types of astronomy and the locations in Africa where they are practiced are presented. My research goes beyond these two sites to sites all over Africa where various forms of astronomy have been and in some cases are still being practiced today, thus I leave it to the reader to review the extensive literature on those two sites.

However, two African sites of astronomy have been studied in great detail: Egypt and the Dogon region of Mali, West Africa. There is a decided lack of scholarship on African astronomy.

These works have revealed a surprisingly intimate knowledge and understanding of the night sky and its phenomena. Indigenous European, Arabic, American, and Polynesian astronomies have been the focus of many scholars over the last century. Why study African Astronomy? The night sky is the heritage of all peoples and each took countless generations to watch, justify and map the heavens in addition to defining their relationship with it. Instead, 'African Astronomy' refers to the astronomical beliefs, artifacts, and practices of indigenous African peoples. Does it mean academic or European astronomy conducted on African soil? Not in this case. The title of this paper 'African Astronomy' tends to cause readers to scratch their heads in confusion and ask for more details as to what exactly it means. More About the Center for ArchaeoastronomyĪrchive ESSAYS FROM ARCHAEOASTRONOMY & ETHNOASTRONOMY NEWS, THE QUARTERLY BULLETIN OF THE CENTER FOR ARCHAEOASTRONOMY

African Cultural Astronomy by Jarita Holbrook