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Australia: The Land Where Time Began |
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Records of Supernovae in Indigenous Traditions?
In this paper traditions of Australian Aboriginal people are explored
for possible descriptions of novae/supernovae. There are currently no
conformed accounts of supernovae in indigenous Australian oral or
material traditions, though representations of supernovae may exist in
Aboriginal traditions.
Australian Aboriginal people have a detailed knowledge of the night sky,
as do many indigenous cultures around the world, using their knowledge
for navigation, calendars and time keeping, when to gather particular
types of food, ceremonies and social structure (e.g. Cairns & Harney,
2003; Frederick, 2008; Hamacher & Norris, 2011a; Johnson, 1998).
Involved in the sky knowledge is an understanding and explanation of the
motions of planets, relative to the positions stars, lunar phases and
tides, and the position of the rising and setting Sun throughout the
year with respect to the landscape
(Hamacher & Norris, 2011a; Norris & Hamacher, 2009; Norris et
al., 2013). Explanations of
transient phenomena are included in this knowledge, such as meteors,
comets, eclipses and aurorae (Hamacher & Norris, 2010, 2011b, 2011c; and
Hamacher, 2013, respectively). Oral traditions and material culture were
the forms by which this knowledge was passed down through successive
generations (Clunies-Ross, 1986).
Scientific information explaining the natural world in terms of
cause-effect is contained in astronomical traditions of indigenous
people. This scientific information, which was based on observation and
deduction, was used for predictive purposes. Australian Aboriginal People
linked lunar phases to tides and this knowledge was used as a guide for
deciding when to fish, and their traditions also contained an
explanation of how and why the Moon was connected to the tides (e.g.
Johnson, 1998: 27,37). The Arrival of winter in the Central Desert was
signalled by the heliacal rising of the Pleiades (Tindale, 2005: 374),
while the rising after dusk of the celestial emu indicated that the emu
eggs would be ready to collect (e.g. Fuller et
al., 2014). Also, transient
phenomena, rare or common, were often linked to special events on Earth.
An example is the sudden flash of a meteor may coincide with a death in
the community, or the appearance of a comet or an eclipse might coincide
with a famine, drought or a battle (Johnson, 1998:86-89).
One account confirms the sudden brightening in the oral traditions: the
‘supernova-imposter’ eruption of Eta Carinae in 1843. The Boorong people
of western Victoria, Australia, witnessed this event and incorporated it
into their oral traditions. Stanbridge recorded the required data, such
as the physical appearance of the star, its position in the sky and
catalogue number during the outburst of the star. The Great Eruption of
Eta Carinae was not, however, a real supernova or nova.
One story has been identified as indicating the appearance of a new star
in the sky. This story of “The Fisherman Brothers” is from the Yolngu
people of Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia (Wells, 1873:
31-36).
According to Hamacher this paper establishes criteria that are necessary
to identify novae/supernovae in oral traditions or material culture. He
also suggests that attempts at linking oral traditions or material
culture to novae/supernovae are worthwhile. Understanding of cultural
astronomy and indigenous knowledge traditions will benefit from the
identification of these phenomena in oral accounts or material culture.
Also, astronomers could be led to supernovae remnants that have been
unrecorded.
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Author: M.H.Monroe Email: admin@austhrutime.com Sources & Further reading |