1982/05/01 by Stephen Hugh‐Jones · 2 citations
Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #Global Maritime and Colonial Histories #Biblical Studies and Interpretation #Travel Writing and Literature
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1982.tb34265.x
openalex publication_date 1982/05/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/03/11
I of an Indian astronomical system from the Northwest Amazon region.1 His account, based on drawings by two Indian informants, has remained one of the most comprehensive descriptions of ethnoastronomy from lowland South America.Scattered references to star lore in the works of other writers,Z together with Koch-Grunberg's own word lists of the many different languages spoken in the area,3 suggest that the basic elements of the system he described are probably common to all the Tukanoanspeaking Indians of the Vaupks and to their Arawakan-speaking neighbors to the north.In his account, Koch-Grunberg identifies some seventeen named stars and constellations and states that knowledge of astronomy is used in time reckoning, orientation, and the regulation of agricultural activities.But little information is given, either by him or by other writers, as to how this knowledge is used and how it relates to the cosmology and world view of the Indians involved.In this paper, I shall try to answer some of these questions with reference to the Barasana.The Barasana are a Tukanoan-speaking group of forest Indians who live on the Rio Pirh-Paranh in the Colombian VaupCs r e g i ~n .~ Their subsistence is based on slash-and-burn agriculture, fishing, hunting, and gathering.Like many tribal peoples, they believe that they live at the center of the world.In their case, living as they do directly on the equator, this belief receives some objective support from the fact that twice a year they see the sun directly overhead at midday and, at night, the stars appear to revolve around the earth in straight paths going from east to west through the zenith.The vertical sun, the marked east-west