Ancient Light Summary

Dr. Erica Ellingston’s talk Ancient Light discussed her recent work in the deserts of the American southwest studying the ways in which ancient civilizations in the region experienced and interacted with astronomical phenomena. The program explored cosmic occurrences and their potential artistic, architectural, and religious impact on the historical inhabitants of Chaco Canyon the surrounding areas. Using both modern and historical understandings, Dr. Ellingston suggests how human interactions with astronomy informs conceptions of place and time in a way that fundamentally shapes human narratives of identity.

The initial focus of the program was on geography, specifically of the Chaco Canyon site.. Examined from above, it becomes clear that the site is laid out in a precise geometry. The main wall of the massive Pueblo Bonito is aligned perfectly east-west along the path of the summer solstice. A second wall bisects the big house in a north-south direction. Enormous roads, some hundreds of miles long and wide enough to accommodate processions, follow similar lines. Regardless of the terrain, they cross vast stretches of desert and climb directly up the steep mesas. Chaco Canyon marked the endpoint of this network of ancient highways. The connectedness of this place is reinforced by archeological finds

There is evidence of a major solar eclipse being recorded; in that same year, a massive supernova occurred that was brighter than the sun. These events are arguably depicted in petroglyphs at the Chaco Canyon site. As Dr. Ellingston emphasized, there is something strikingly human about this image. Much of the architecture and archeology of this site emphasizes the human desire to understand ourselves by understanding our place in the sky, by looking up. The very stone used in construction of sacred kivas or the precise Sun Dagger speak to the communication through materiality of the terrestrial and