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A major focus of the archaeoastronomical research conducted around the world focuses on understanding how ancient cultures observed sunrise and sunset points along the horizon, particularly at the solstices and equinoxes. Scholars argue that observations of these solar points are useful for developing calendars, informing ritual/ceremonial practices, and predicting seasonal change. This is the foundation of the Eurocentric four-season Julian (and later Gregorian) calendar. Famous examples include Stonehenge, Newgrange, Chichen Itza, and Chankillo. Studies at these and other sites tend to focus on solar point observations through alignments in stone arrangements, and the orientations of monuments. Despite the ongoing study of Indigenous Knowledge in Australia revealing a wealth of information about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander observations and interpretations of solar, lunar, and stellar properties and motions, very little has been published about the importance and use of solar point observations. The authors examine this topic through four case studies, based on methodological frameworks and approaches in ethnography, ethnohistory, archaeology, and statistics. Our findings show that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people observe the solstices and other significant sunrise/sunset points along the horizon for timekeeping and indicating seasonal change - but in ways that are rather different to the four-season model developed in Western Europe.
The oral traditions of Aboriginal cultures across Australia contain references to the presence of multiple Suns in the sky at the same time. Explanations of this have been largely regarded as symbolic or mythological, rather than observations of natu
Song and dance are a traditional means of strengthening culture and passing knowledge to successive generations in the Torres Strait of northeastern Australia. Dances incorporate a range of apparatuses to enhance the performance, such as dance machin
Studies in Australian Indigenous astronomical knowledge reveal few accounts of the visible planets in the sky. However, what information we do have tells us that Aboriginal people were close observers of planets and their motions, noting the relative
English: To the Meriam Mir people of Mer (Murray Island) in the eastern Torres Strait, bright meteors are an important element of death customs and beliefs. We draw from a combination of ethno-historic studies and interviews with Meriam elders to und
Australian Indigenous astronomical traditions hint at a relationship between animals in the skyworld and the behaviour patterns of their terrestrial counterparts. In our continued study of Aboriginal astronomical traditions from the Great Victoria De