Paper short abstract:

Indigenous communities of North America have experienced great losses of traditional star knowledge due to ongoing colonization. Case studies utilizing remote sensing and autoethnography facilitate the creation of a digital cultural astronomy archive as a shared system of knowledge.

Paper long abstract:

Indigenous communities of North America have experienced great losses of traditional star knowledge due to the impacts of ongoing colonization. The preservation of Indigenous star knowledge is plagued by uncertainty due to a lack of educational resources pertaining to Indigenous cultural astronomy. There is an ever-present need within Indigenous communities to innovate, adapt, and expand educational tools and methods. I have conducted case studies utilizing remote sensing data collection, digital modeling, and autoethnography. Examples include a digital model and demonstration of Mayan star presession knowledge tracking the movement of the North star at El Castillo in Chichen Ittza of Mexico and a celestial orientation site assessment of the Escalante pueblo in Colorado of the United States. Fieldwork at the House of the Thirteen Heavens at Cañada de la Virgen in Mexico and collaboration with Dr. Rossana Quiroz-Ennis exemplifies culturally informed ground-based photo surveys for archeoastronomy data collection. These case studies facilitate the creation of a digital cultural astronomy archive to build a shared system of knowledge and stabilize heritage documentation for contemporary Indigenous communities. Further utilizing the comparative astronomy presentation model introduced by Nancy Maryboy and David Begay in 2010 provides a framework for the correlation of Indigenous star knowledge and Western astronomy. Additional tools such as Indigenous knowledge tags provided by the Local Contexts project created by Jane Anderson and Kim Christen in 2010 would allow for a collaborative and culturally sensitive approach to compiling archival data to be shared with the broader public.