Seasonal calendars were a foundation of early cultures to identify the time for hunting and gathering, planting and harvesting, worshiping and celebrating. Solar seasonal calendars have been identified at Ancestral Puebloan sites in Arizona and New Mexico, at Hohokam sites in the Phoenix region, and at Northern Sinagua locations near Flagstaff, Arizona. While there have been anecdotal reporting of rock art with solar significance within Southern Sinagua areas, none had been documented until recently. This site describes the solar markings near Sedona, Arizona. The Southern Sinagua created these rock art sites sometime between A.D. 900 and 1400.
Archaeoastronomy
Archaeoastronomy is one of the disciplines that has appeared in recent years as a way of interpreting rock art. Numerous interactions have been claimed for sites around the world, and especially here in the Southwestern United States. This site provides a general introduction to this field of study.
Ongoing Surveys
The first archaeoastronomy survey in the Sedona area was conducted at the V-Bar-V Heritage Site in 2005-2006. Several other sites are currently under study and are in various stages of completion. Our survey focus is to record a site for a full year before passing judgment on its solar significance. You are invited to follow the progress of these studies.
Archaeoastronomy of the Southwest
Course Offered
The Verde Valley Chapter of the Arizona Archaeological Society (AAS) will be offering the AAS certification course "Archaeoastronomy of the Southwest" starting on Saturday, September 6, 2008. The course will run on nine Saturdays from 9:30 am to Noon at the Camp Verde campus of Yavapai College, 1-1/2 miles off the Montezuma Castle exit of I-17. The class, taught by Ken Zoll, will cost $75 that includes all course materials including a copy of the new book "Chaco Astronomy" by Anna Sofaer. At least one session will be a field trip to one or more archaeoastronomy sites in the Verde Valley to observe the vernal equinox, weather permitting.
This class will review the current literature on archaeoastronomy in the American Southwest, discuss important issues relating to the naked eye observation of celestial objects in the night sky, and cover basic recordation techniques and methods. This class will sample a small portion of a large body of literature on archaeoastronomy. Mesoamerican archaeoastronomy will be included because of the influence of Mesoamerican cultures on the Southwest and because of the advanced state of archaeoastronomy studies in Middle America.
Class size is limited to 24 participants. The course will be open to the public, but first priority will be given to AAS members, so advanced registration is strongly recommended. Click here for the course outline and registration form.
