Convened By
John Campbell (Australia) and Clive Ruggles (UK)
Theme Details
The overarching links of this theme, ‘The Heavens Above’, are knowledge and beliefs about the sky, use of knowledge about the sky, interpretation and analysis of the sky and the potential for off-world studies in archaeology and related areas. It compares and treats with respect both traditional forms of knowledge and knowledge gained through western scientific studies.
The multidisciplinary area of Archaeoastronomy has a very mixed following around the world ranging from the fully professional with an international refereed journal of the same name to a virtual kaleidoscope of ‘lunatic fringe’ and ‘new age’ ideas and publications. The term itself is still seen as legimate by professionals and eminent holders of knowledge who are directly involved in this work. They range from archaeologists and astronomers to indigenous elders and other holders of traditional non-western knowledge. The term ‘ethnoastronomy’ is also used at times for more recent and current knowledge in non-western societies. In its broader academic and world indigenous views, archaeoastronomy is concerned with evidence for and knowledge of naked-eye astronomy or observations of the sky, and the ways in which traditional astronomies are interwoven with traditional cosmologies, beliefs, landmarks and monuments in the landscape. Although concepts such as a full-on megalithic astronomy’ being behind the building and use of Stonehenge and other henge monuments in Britain have been debunked, there is still a strong case for some of the astronomical alignments. In the Americas various parts of the United States, amongst countries, have strong evidence for archaeoastronomy. Various parts of Asia, the Pacific and Australia also have evidence. Rock art and traditional knowledge of the sky in some parts of Australia present clear cases for naked-eye astronomy associated with long-established belief.
Space Heritage is an appropriate term for the sites and artefacts associated with space exploration which we humans are creating both on Earth and off-world on other bodies such as the Moon and Mars. Although some sites on Earth might be protected by virtue of their continued use by large government and non-government organisations, sites which are off world are not as yet protected, at least not properly. The United Nations Outer Space Treaty recognises the artefacts and other so-called ‘space junk’ on the Moon, Mars etc. as the property of the country which sent the spacecraft or probes to their destinations. However, very much as with Antarctica on Earth, land in space can not be owned by any particular country. This is why the ‘Lunar Legacy Project’ was carried out and partly funded by NASA, namely to assess what is needed to protect the first landing site on the Moon, Apollo 11’s Tranquility Base. Some large private companies are already intending to send robotic missions to bring back artefact samples from other sites such as Apollo 12’s landing site. When people colonise Mars, as they will someday, and perhaps the Moon, there should be international agreements in place to protect at least the more significant sites and artefacts from wanton tourism and ‘souveniring’. There are also sites and artefacts on Venus and further afield. Those on Venus are undergoing severe corrosion.
The professional astronomy search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) carries out a kind of astronomical archaeology by remote sensing of deep space. The early searches were done more at random, and some still are, but other recent searches have become increasingly both more sophisticated and more targetted. Now ‘optical SETI’ has been added to the varied efforts in radioastronomy. Optical SETI looks for laser pulses which might be aimed in our direction. It also sends high intensity laser pulses towards some of the ‘neighbouring’ Sun type planetary systems. When detected, a pulse will be brighter than the star system it has come from, but only for milliseconds. Gas-giant planets have now been detected orbiting stars within 20 to 50 light-years from the Sun, and the hint of rocky, Earth-like plants has begun to emerge. NASA and the ESA are both developing equipment and techniques to find terrestrial planets. As with our own off-world heritage in the Solar System, we have no protocols for how we would deal with or respect artefacts from beyond the Solar System. It is increasingly thought that long distance interstellar travel by living organisms is unlikely, but travel between neighbouring planetary systems might be quite feasible. In fact, other intelligent species might send robotic probes to explore and monitor various planetary systems. These could be self replicating and might be made of materials which are hard for us to detect with radar, infra-red etc. Of course, as with archaeoastronomy’s highly active ‘lunatic fringe’, professional SETI has to deal with and counteract the widely spread obsessions with so-called UFOs, for which there is no hard scientific evidence. Scientific research is showing that Sun-like stars likely have circumsteller habitable zones (as
clearly does ours), and our galaxy, the Milky Way, has a galactic habitable zone with us on the outer edge of the ring. More and more work can be increasingly targetted, and the basic building blocks for life are much more widely spread than previously thought.
Contact:
Dr G. Seth Shostak
SETI Institute
2035 Landings Drive
Mountain View, California 94043
USA
email: seth@seti.org
John B Campbell DPhil(Oxon) FSA(Scot) MTPS MSAA
Cairns Campus Co-ordinator
School of Anthropology, Archaeology & Sociology
James Cook University
PO Box 6811
Cairns Qld 4870
AUSTRALIA
Tel: +61 (0)7 4042 1395
Fax: +61 (0)7 4042 1380
Mob: +61 (0)408 880 265
Email: John.Campbell@jcu.edu.au
Sessions
Archaeoastronomy: Conflicting Perspectives?
Organized By
Clive Ruggles (UK) and Hugh Cairns (Australia)
Session Details
Session 1: Wednesday June 25 09:00-11.00
World archaeoastronomy: contrasting approaches. Chaired by Clive Ruggles.
Position papers representing a range of disciplinary and theoretical approaches, and covering a range of case studies in Europe, the Americas, and Japan.
9.00-9.05 Introductory remarks. Clive Ruggles
9.05-9.30 The dead in Neolithic landscapes: an agricultural metaphor in the funerary tradition of the TRB culture in the Sandomierz Upland, Poland. Stanislaw Iwaniszewski.
9.30-9.55 Monuments and celestial bodies in Japanese archaeology. Simon Kaner
9.55-10.20 Archaeoastronomy in the Americas: A perspective for the new millennium. John Carlson
10.20-10.40 A data-driven approach to investigating the orientations of European temples and tombs. Michael Hoskin. [To be presented in absentia by Clive Ruggles]
10.40-11.00 Viewing the cosmic order. Gail Higginbottom, Ken Simpson and Andrew Smith
[Poster] Ordering nature in the Pueblo world. Stephen C. McCluskey
[Poster] Dolphin-watching in Ancient Greece. Efrossini Boutsika and Alun Salt
Session 2: Wednesday June 25 11:30-13:00
Archaeoastronomy and ethnoastronomy in Australia. Chaired by Hugh Cairns.
A session focussing on Aboriginal sky knowledge, particularly highlighting some of the contrasts between indigenous and non-indigenous approaches.
11.30-12.00 Our Wardaman Creation Story and Night Sky. Bill Harney Yidumduma
12.00-12.20 Cosmic spiritualities within a Wardaman Aboriginal tradition of night sky phenomena. Hugh Cairns
12.20-12.40 The Astronomy of the Boorong. John Morieson
12.40-13.00 Solar-based lithic design in Victoria, Australia. John Morieson
[Associated Poster Exhibition] Wardaman Aboriginal Australian night skies. Bill Harney Yidumduma and Hugh Cairns.
[Poster] Celestial associations in indigenous art in Western Australia. Michael Diplock.
Session 3: Wednesday June 25 16:00-18:00
Forum. A panel-led forum focusing on some of the key theoretical and methodological issues that face archaeoastronomy.
Panellists: Clive Ruggles, Stanislaw Iwaniszewski, John Carlson, Hugh Cairns and Bill Harney Yidumduma.
16.00-16.30 Position paper: “Archaeoastronomy: Conflicting Perspectives?” by Clive Ruggles. [Written version to be posted in advance]
16.30-17.15 Pre-prepared comments and commentaries by panellists
17.15-18.00 General discussion
Presentations
The Dead In Neolithic Landscapes: An Agricultural Metaphor In The Funerary Tradition Of The TRB Culture In The Sandomierz Upland, Poland
Stanislaw Iwaniszewski (State Archaeological Museum, Warsaw, Poland and National School of Anthropology and History, Mexico City, Mexico) Archaeoastronomy: Conflicting Perspectives?
Clive Ruggles (Professor of Archaeoastronomy, University of Leicester, UK)
Viewing The Cosmic Order
Gail Higginbottom (Centre for European Studies and General Linguistics), Ken Simpson and Andrew Smith (Department of Physics and Mathematical Physics, University of Adelaide) Our Wardaman Creation Story and Night Sky
Bill Harney Yidumduma
Cosmic Spiritualities Within A Wardaman Aboriginal Tradition Of Night Sky Phenomena
Hugh Cairns The Astronomy of the Boorong
John Morieson
Solar-based Lithic Design In Victoria, Australia
John Morieson Monuments and celestial bodies in Japanese archaeology
Simon Kaner (Assistant Director, Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, 64 The Close, Norwich NR1 4DW)
Archaeoastronomy In The Americas: A Perspective For The New Millennium
John B. Carlson (Center for Archaeoastronomy, Maryland, USA) A data-driven approach to investigating the orientations of European temples and tombs
Michael Hoskin (University of Cambridge, UK)
Poster Paper 1: Ordering Nature In The Pueblo World
Stephen C. McCluskey (West Virginia University, USA, and University of Leicester, UK) Poster Paper 2: Dolphin-watching in Ancient Greece
Efrossini Boutsika and Alun Salt (University of Leicester, UK)
Poster Paper 3: Celestial Associations In Indigenous Art In Western Australia
Michael Diplock
Session Time
Day Wednesday Date 25th June
Time 9AM-1PM & 4-6PM Room No Details Available
SETI And The Potential For Exoarchaeology Beyond The Solar System: How Does One Imagine Or Assess Non-human Perspectives?
Organized By
John B. Campbell (Australia) and Douglas Vakoch (USA)
Session Details
The professional astronomy field known as Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) carries out a kind of astronomical archaeology by remote sensing of deep space. Some of the early searches were targeted on particular stars and galaxies and some were done more at random. The earliest work was done in the United States, Russia and Australia, in that order. Some searches are now “all sky”, but other recent searches have become increasingly both more sophisticated and more targeted. “Optical SETI” has been added to the varied efforts in SETI astronomy. Optical SETI looks for laser pulses which might be aimed in our direction. It also sends high intensity laser pulses towards some of the “neighbouring” Sun-type planetary systems. When detected, a pulse will be brighter than the star system it has come from, but only for milliseconds. Gas-giant planets have now been identified orbiting stars within 20 to 60 light-years from the Sun, and the hint of rocky, Earth-like planets has begun to emerge. NASA and the ESA are both developing equipment and techniques to find terrestrial planets.
As with our own off-world heritage in the Solar System, we have no protocols for how we would deal with or respect artefacts from beyond the Solar System. It is increasingly thought that long distance interstellar travel by living organisms is unlikely, but travel between neighbouring planetary systems might be quite feasible. In fact, other intelligent species might send robotic probes to explore and monitor various planetary systems, as we already do within the Solar System. These extraterrestrial probes could be self replicating and might be made of materials which are hard for us to detect with radar, infra-red etc. Of course, as with archaeoastronomy’s highly active “lunatic fringe”, professional SETI has to deal with and counteract the widely spread obsessions with so-called UFOs, for which there is no hard scientific evidence. Scientific research is showing that Sun-like stars have circumstellar habitable zones (as clearly does ours), and our galaxy, the Milky Way, has a galactic habitable zone in orbit round the center of the galaxy, with us on the outer edge of this ring or band of habitability.
The basic building blocks for life are much more widely spread than previously thought, and recent discovery and investigation of “extremophiles” on Earth (i.e. various species of microbes which thrive in very extreme environments: deep sea thermal vents; boiling mud; polar ice; kilometres into bedrock; very high altitudes) have lent much support to assumptions that at least microscopic life might be almost universal, especially in the habitable zones. However, whether intelligent life is common is quite uncertain. The so-called “rare Earth hypothesis” would argue against this view, but there are also flaws in the arguments which support the “rare Earth” idea. Given increasing knowledge of neighbouring Sun-like systems, SETI work could be aimed even more at promising planetary systems. In this, archaeology could assist with remote-sensing detection of evidence for alien civilisations and with the construction of what in the SETI research community are called “interstellar messages”. Experience with decoding a wide range of ancient languages could be at least indirectly useful, even though the “languages” of any ETI would doubtless be vastly different, if indeed “languages” are used by other intelligent species.
Presentations
Archaeological Contributions To Interstellar Message Design
Douglas A. Vakoch (SETI Institute, 2035 Landings Drive, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA) The Potential for Archaeology in SETI Research
John B. Campbell (SAAS, James Cook University, PO Box 6811, Cairns, Qld 4870, Australia)
Ways In Which Archaeology Could Assist With The Detection Of Technologies Created By Remotely-based Intelligent Species
Informal Workshop 1 Employing Experience with Decoding Ancient Human Languages to Encode and Decode Interstellar Messages
Informal Workshop 2
Session Time
Day Thursday Date 26th June
Time 11.30AM-1PM Room No Details Available
Space Heritage And The Potential For Exoarchaeology In The Solar System: National And International Perspectives
Organized By
John Campbell (Australia) and Beth O’Leary (USA)
Session Details
Space Heritage is an appropriate term for the sites and artefacts associated with space exploration which we humans are creating both on Earth and off-world on other bodies such as the Moon and Mars. Although some sites on Earth might be protected by virtue of their continued use by large government and non-government organisations, sites which are off world are not as yet protected, at least not properly. The United Nations Outer Space Treaty recognises the artefacts and other so-called “space junk” on the Moon, Mars etc. as the property of the country which sent the spacecraft or probes to their destinations. However, very much as with Antarctica on Earth, land in space can not be owned by any particular country. This is why the “Lunar Legacy Project” was carried out and partly funded by NASA, namely to assess what is needed to protect the first landing site on the Moon, Apollo 11’s Tranquility Base. Some large private companies are already intending to send robotic missions to bring back artefact samples from other sites such as Apollo 12’s landing site (they were initially intending to sample Apollo 11 but have backed away from that proposal). When people colonise Mars, as they will someday, and perhaps the Moon, there should be international agreements in place to protect at least the more significant sites and artefacts from wanton tourism and “souveniring”, as well as uncontrolled or unmonitored scientific sampling. On Earth archaeologists normally obtain permission from the relevant communities and authorities before carrying out excavations. Excavating or sampling sites off-world should also require permission, though the difficulty of course is from whom? There are also sites and artefacts on Venus and further afield. Those on Venus are undergoing severe corrosion. Sites have been created on some of the asteroids as well, such as Eros, and they will be created on some of the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, such as Europa and Titan (both of which are of interest because they might harbour life), and eventually further out in the Solar System. Artefacts in orbit round Earth and Mars, as well as eventually elsewhere, should also be considered, even if most of the items now in orbit round the Earth might be considered “space junk”.
This session has four papers, invited commentaries, open discussion of the issues and a workshop which will attempt to come up with some concrete proposals for the development of space heritage legislation and protocols. The urgent need for a new UN Space Heritage Treaty will also be addressed and a draft proposal planned.
Presentations
Assessing And Managing Human Space Heritage In The Solar System: The Current State Of Play And Some Proposals
Dr John B. Campbell (School of Anthropology, Archaeology and Sociology, James Cook University, PO Box 6811, Cairns, QLD 4870, Australia) Cultural Heritage Management in Orbit
Dr Alice C. Gorman (Environmental Protection Agency, PO Box 3130, Rockhampton, Qld 4701, Australia)
The Cultural Landscape Of Space
Dr Alice C. Gorman (Environmental Protection Agency, PO Box 3130, Rockhampton, Qld 4701, Australia) Lunar Archaeology: A View of Federal U.S. Historic Preservation Law on the Moon
Dr Beth L. O’Leary (Department of Sociology and Anthropology, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88003, USA), Ralph Gibson (Kell House Museum, Witchita Falls, TX 76301, USA), John Versluis (North Platte Valley Museum, Gering, NE 69341, USA) and Leslie Brown (Department of Physics, Astronomy and Geophysics, Connecticut College, New London, CT 06320, USA)
Session Time
Day Thursday Date 26th June
Time 9-11AM Room No Details Available