Native Americans Recorded Supernova Explosion

New Scientist ^ | 6-5-2006 | Zeeya Merali - Kelly Young

[blam]

GGG Ping.

[gcruse]

Has to be the bottom science story of the month. Anyone who didn't see and note a bright new star is two arrows short of a quiver.

[kinoxi]

You might just be right.

[Antonello]

I'm not sure I get it. Are people shocked that supernovas seen in Europe were visible over the American continent too? Or are they just amazed that the American Indians were able to tilt their heads up and, you know, see them?

[giobruno]

Maybe it represnts what frogs look like when you throw them at a rock.

[thoughtomator]

It depicts a scorpion and an eight-pointed star. "I had just been reading about the supernova of AD 1006 and I knew it appeared in the constellation Scorpius, so the connection flashed into my mind."

But how would the American Indians have known the constellation was "Scorpio"?

[From many - one.]

What I find interesting is the scorpion.

Why should the two continents have the same celestial imagery?

[Rhetorical pi2]

Then again, it just may be a really memorable 4th of July fireworks display.

Perhaps they threw a couple of scorpions on the grill, knocked back some "firewater" and next morning said,"man we had one supernova party last night"! :o)

...yeah, I know. It's a groaner.

[kinoxi]

How does one come to acquire such knowledge anyway?

[cripplecreek]

are they just amazed that the American Indians were able to tilt their heads up and, you know, see them?



Well duh.

[raybbr]

It doesn't say how long the supernova might have been visible. Any idea?

[blam]

Supernova 1006 AD

"The remnant of this supernova was only rediscovered by radio astronomers in the 1960s."

[taxesareforever]

LOL!

[F.J. Mitchell]

LOL! Or what spiders look like when Garfield the cat is finished with them.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Why should the two continents have the same celestial imagery?

It wouldn't be the only time.

Ursa Major was known as the Bear to the American Indians as well as Greeks.

[Brad from Tennessee]

Pioneer psychiatrist Dr. Carl Jung came up with his theory of psychic archetypes and the collective unconscious. Under this idea symbology is universal in the human race. This is why myths (the great flood myth for example) is found in various versions all over the world. And symbols like the cross or the swastika are used all over the world by different cultures.

[maine-iac7]

I'm not sure I get it. Are people shocked that supernovas seen in Europe were visible over the American continent too? Or are they just amazed that the American Indians were able to tilt their heads up and, you know, see them?

Or why Native Americans who lived 1000 years ago are "pre-historic"?

Does the fact the the Euopeans didn't know they existed make them prehistoric?

Why do we continue to discount that they had civilzations, histories, cultures = even observatories, long before we knew there were continents here.

When the white man came, they found cities that surpassed those in Europe - and astronomical observatories, planetary observations, calendars, predictions and a numerical system that surpassed that of the old world.

Even Chaco Canyon was a remarkable community where over 5000 people lived for a few hundred years. They observed the planets, kept track of the solstices, ...

We try to ignore the histories of the Native Americans because we haven't grown up enough yet to admit they were not just a bunch of wild savages whose lands we were meant to take thru' "manifest destiny."

[BenLurkin]

My question as well.

[qam1]

What I find interesting is the scorpion. Why should the two continents have the same celestial imagery?

Probably because Scorpio is one of the few constellations that actually looks like what it's suppose to be.