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...from so simple a beginning, endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.
—Charles Darwin
Fall 2009 Evolution, Diversity and Change
Public Lecture - Footprints in the Stars
George E. Lankford, Lyons College
When: Wednesday, November 11, 2009 @ 7:30 p.m.
Where: Rawles Hall, Room 100
Departmental Sponsor: Department of Astronomy, Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology
Abstract:
The Big Dipper, Orion, Scorpio, and the Pleiades, familiar constellations of western culture, also figure prominently in the sky lore of the prehistoric peoples of the Americas, reflecting their own ancient, naked-eye astronomy.
Their stories of the night sky held the traditions and wisdom linking past and future generations, and the stars represented not the distant gods and goddesses, but a living, passable trail between the earth and the inhabited sky. The varied narratives associated with the familiar asterisms, however, provide clues to the interactions and migrations of different cultures among these early Americans. The prehistoric art and astronomical stories of prehistoric North America likewise provide a path for today's researchers to reconstruct how American Indian peoples understood the universe.
Dr. George Lankford, Professor Emeritus of Social Science at Lyon College, will share his study of the star knowledge among the American Indian peoples of Eastern North America, with illustrations from prehistoric art and the night sky. Professor Lankford is the author of many works, including Reachable Stars: Patterns in the Ethnoastronomy of Eastern North America (University of Alabama Press, 2007) and Looking for Lost Lore: Studies in Folklore, Ethnology and Iconography (University of Alabama Press, 2008). He is also an Indiana University alumnus, having earned his Ph.D. in folklore in 1975.
