Abstract
The Navajo (Diné) are an Athabascan-speaking people who migrated from the far northwest of America into the desert southwest where they became the largest surviving Native American culture. Three words portray Diné philosophy – beauty, harmony, and balance. Their traditions are rich with astronomical symbolism found in literature, ceremony, iconography, artifacts, rock art, and the sacred landscape. This chapter summarizes Diné astronomical traditions, identification of stars known to be important to the Diné, and how these are depicted on artifacts and rock art.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Babcock CM (ed) (1973) Walk quietly the beautiful trail. Hallmark Cards, Inc, Kansas City
Bahti M (2009) Navajo sandpaintings, 3rd edn. Rio Nuevo, Tucson
Calloway CG (2003) One vast winter count: the native American West before Lewis and Clark. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln
Chamberlain VD (1983) Navajoconstellations in literature, art, artifact and a New Mexico rock art site. Archaeoastronomy: Journal of Astronomy in Culture 6:48–58
Chamberlain VD (1984) Planetariums can be visual computers for ehnoastronomers. Archaeoastronomy: Journal of Astronomy in Culture 7:12–15
Chamberlain VD (1989) Navajo Indian star ceilings. In: Aveni AF (ed) World archaeoastronomy. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp 331–340
Chamberlain VD (2004) Father sky on mother earth: Navajo celestial symbolism in rock art. In: Matheny RT (ed) New dimensions in rock art studies. Occasional papers series no. 9. Museum of Peoples and Cultures, Brigham Young University, Provo, pp 195–226
Chamberlain VD (2005) The sky is an ethnographic treasure trove. In: Chamberlain VD, Carlson JB, Young MJ (eds) Songs from the sky: indigenous astronomical and cosmological traditions of the world. Ocarina Books, Bognor Regis, pp 1–8
Chamberlain VD, Rogers HC (2001) On the trail of Dinétah skywatchers: patterned dots and scattered pluses. In: American Indian rock art, vol 27. American Rock Art Research Association, Tucson, pp 49–58
Chamberlain VD, Rogers HC (2005) Tracking stars in Dinétah: astronomical symbolism in Gobernador Phase rock art. In: Fountain JW, Sinclair RM (eds) Current studies in archaeoastronomy: conversations across Time and Space. Carolina Academic Press, Durham, pp 221–242
Chamberlain VD, Rogers HC (2006) On the trail of Dinétah skywatchers: sun and moon. In: Bostwick TW, Bates B (eds) Viewing the sky through past and present cultures. Pueblo Grande Museum anthropological papers no. 15. City of Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department, Phoenix, pp 155–167
Chamberlain VD, Schaafsma P (1993) The origin and meaning of Navajo star ceilings. In: Ruggles CLN (ed) Archaeoastronomy in the 1990s. Group D Publications, Loughborough, pp 227–241
Chamberlain VD, Schaafsma P (2005) The origin and meaning of Navajo star ceilings. In: Chamberlain VD, Carlson JB, Young MJ (eds) Songs from the sky: indigenous astronomical and cosmological traditions of the world. Ocarina Books, Bognor Regis, pp 80–98
Chamberlain VD, Rogers HC, Walters H (2010) Sonsela Buttes; where stars fell down to earth. Archaeoastronomy: Journal of Astronomy in Culture 23:19–26
Christian TM (2012) Under the Navajo stars: The intersection of mythic narratives, archaeology, and star ceilings. Published doctoral dissertation, Pacifica Graduate Institute, Carpinteria, CA
Griffin-Pierce T (1992) Earth is my mother, sky is my father: space, time and astronomy in Navajo sandpainting. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque
Haile B (1947) Star lore among the Navaho. Museum of Navajo Ceremonial Art, Santa Fe
Locke RF (1976) The book of the Navajo. Mankind Publishing Company, Los Angeles
Matthews W (1897) Navajo legends. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, reprinted (1994) University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City
McCluskey SC (1982) Historical archaeoastronomy: the Hopi example. In: Aveni AF (ed) Archaeoastronomy in the New World. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge/New York, pp 31–57
Newcomb FJ (1967) Navajo folk tales. Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, Santa Fe, Republished (1990) University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque
Newcomb FJ, Fishler S and Wheelwright MC (1956) A story of Navajo symbolism. Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography, vol. 32, no 3, Cambridge MA
O’Bryan A (1956) The Diné: origin myths of the Navaho Indians. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, Republished (1993) with new title Navaho Indian Myths, Dover Publications, New York
Parezo NJ (1983) Navajo sandpainting from religious act to commercial art. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque
Peterson MB (2005) Using a planetarium to study Navajo star lore. In: Chamberlain VD, Carlson JB, Young MJ (eds) Songs from the sky: indigenous astronomical and cosmological traditions of the world. Ocarina Books, Bognor Regis, pp 65–72
Reichard GA (1977) Navajo medicine man sandpaintings. Dover, New York
Reichard GA (1983) Navajo religion: a study of symbolism. University of Arizona Press, Tucson
Yazzi E (1984) Navajo history. Navajo Community College Press, Tsaile
Young MJ (1988) Signs from the ancestors: Zuni cultural symbolism and perceptions of rock art. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque
Zolbrod PG (1984) Diné Bahané: the Navajo creation story. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this entry
Cite this entry
Chamberlain, V.D. (2015). Diné (Navajo) Ethno- and Archaeoastronomy. In: Ruggles, C. (eds) Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6141-8_44
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6141-8_44
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-6140-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6141-8
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics