Archaeoastronomy: Comparing Astronomic Traditions of Torres Strait Islanders with Quantitative Evidence

Abstract

Located north of Cape York in Australia lies the Torres Strait and the indigenous people who call it home. Torres Strait Islanders have a rich culture including song, dance, folk tales, and other traditions. Western ethnographers have diligently sought to record this culture. Imbedded in these traditions are generations of astronomic observations that correlate the motions of celestial objects with animal migrations, times of cultivation, and seasonal weather changes. Records gathered from modern Torres Strait Islander elders and artists come together with published Western ethnographic resources (such as the journals from A. C. Haddon) and published indigenous resources (like Eseli’s Notebook) to be able to piece together a more complete record of astronomic traditions. This ethnographic evidence when combined with modeled celestial motion, patterns of animal migration and behavior, and documented weather patterns allows for quantitative data analysis and further correlation of Western star identities with the celestial objects in Torres Strait astronomy. In turn these studies help archaeoastronomers better understand the reasons for the traditions that describe the patterns of sky motion that have been understood by Torres Strait Islanders for generations.