Living the Sky: The Cosmos of the American Indian

By Ray A. Williamson

Book Overview

Imagine the North American Indians as astronomers carefully watching the heavens, charting the sun through the seasons, or counting the sunrises between successive lumar phases. Then imagine them establishing observational sites and codified systems to pass their knowledge down through the centuries and continually refine it. A few years ago such images would have been abruptly dismissed. Today we are wiser. Living the Sky describes the exciting archaeoastronomical discoveries in the United States in recent decades. Using history, science, and direct observation, Ray A. Williamson transports the reader into the sky world of the Indians. We visit the Bighorn Medicine Wheel, sit with a Zuni sun priest on the winter solstice, join explorers at the rites of the Hopis and the Navajos, and trek to Chaco Canyon to make direct on-site observations of celestial events. Ray Williamson is Research Professor of International Affairs and Space Policy in the Space Policy Institute, focusing on international issues in environmental security, Earth observation satellite policy, dual-purpose space technologies, and the commercialization of space-related technologies. He has conducted numerous in-depth studies of space technology and policy. From 1979 to 1995, he was a Senior Associate and Project Director in the Office of Technology Assessment of the U.S. Congress.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0806120347
• ISBN13: 9780806120348
• Release Date: May 1987
• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 1.31 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

North American Indians as Astronomers and Cosmologists

Ray A .Williamson, now of the Space Policy Institute at the George Washington University, has written an important narrative and analysis of the astronomy and cosmology of Native America. Concentrating on the American Southwest and the Great Plains, especially the Pueblo, Navajo, and Pawnee, Williamson carefully reconstructs the astronomy of these native peoples and how those understandings related to the manner in which they lived their lives. He emphasizes the role of archeoastronomy in this process, harnessing history, science, sociology, and anthropology to uncover a long distant and poorly understood past in North America. Williamson finds that "To live in harmony with the world and its cycles is the goal of traditional Native Americans. Their patterns for living derive from a deeply held attention to the rhythms of the sky and earth" (p. 319). The result is an important study illuminating the Native American view of existence.